LPDP Scholarship Journey #2

[Picture Source: Toga MBA Consulting]

In this post, I would like to explain about the substantial selection which is the next selection after you successfully pass the administrative selection. All the things about the administrative selection, you can visit here. The substantial selection is the crucial factor in deciding whether you are qualified or not to be the awardee, so you have to prepare a lot for this last selection. There are 3 kinds of substantial selection, they are on the spot essay writing, leaderless group discussion, and interview session. All of the types of the selections are using English. 

Either on the spot essay writing or leaderless group discussion, you have to be aware of the hot topic at that time. If you don't know the topic you won't be able to write the essay and you won't be able to speak during the leaderless group discussion. The topic will be given directly on the spot and you will not have time to do research about it. LPDP considers you that you have known about the topic, if you are not knowing about it, it will be a disaster for you, you may not get any high score and it can impact whether you will be considered to get the scholarship awardee or not. In other words, you have to be literate, you have to know every hot topic every day.

To be literate, I always read every news in Kompas.com and watch the news on the television every day. Besides that, the writing skill also has to be sharpened. You have to practice writing the essay. After you read or watch a news, try to write your opinion either in your blog or your other social media. If you practice it for several times, you will be adapted to write the essay spontaneously as you have learned the pattern in delivering your idea into a collection of the words. In the end, you will not feel difficult when writing the essay on the spot as you have practiced it a lot. 

The leaderless group discussion is the selection to know how well you involve in a group discussion. Since, it's a leaderless group discussion, the psychologist who assesses your performance just let the group flow by the group member's own will without any direction. There may be around 8-10 people in the group, try not to dominate, try also not to be passive. Be active but in the better way by knowing the ethics when you involve in the group like respecting a member who is delivering his/her idea by not cutting him/her or not arguing him/her aggressively. Try to deliver your idea in well structured, audibly, and easy to be understood. It's okay to agree or not agree, at the time when you disagree with someone opinion, please never hurting him/her by not looking down his/her ideas, try to give your appreciation toward his/her opinion and explain why you disagree so what your thinking is. 

Having no direction doesn't mean that the discussion run carelessly. Your group has to decide how the discussion will run. For example, at my time, we decided one person to be the moderator to control the discussion. We also decided that every member is obligated to speak, to deliver his/her ideas/opinion toward the topics in the same quantity of the time so there will be no dominant member who will talk so much than the others and also there will be no passive member who may speak lesser than the others. Hence, the discussion ran like this, the moderator introduced the topic and delivered his/her idea, then let the members one by one to deliver their own idea. After every member had their own time to speak, the moderator started to let every member give the response toward each member's idea. In the end, the moderator gave the conclusion and everybody had approved the conclusion. If I wasn't wrong, the time for the leaderless group discussion provided is only about 30 minutes, so if there are 10 people, it means that one person may only have the opportunity to speak 3 minutes in total. 

If you are a person who is quite clumsy every time you have to speak in promptly, why don't you practice? Since practice makes perfect. Try to find your friends who are also striving to apply for the LPDP scholarship. Create a group and practice the leaderless group discussion at a certain day when all of you are able to attend. By practicing together, all of you can know which part of each other has to be improved. In the next-next meeting, all of you can master the discussion. 

The last, the interview session. This is the part that is the most decisive whether you are eligible or not to be the awardee. Interview session is the time when you can explain about your study plan and convince them that you are qualified to be the awardee and potential to give a big contribution in the future for the society and the nation. Of course, you have to be your own self and be honest. There will be 3 interviewers, 1 of them is a psychologist, while 2 of them are well understood about your study interest. Since it's about yourself, you must know really well for the answer, but sometimes you may not give the best answer, so I suggest you also to practice. By practicing, you will be more prepared and give your best answer during the real interview. The interview will spend for about 30 minutes. 

I practiced with not only 1 friend, but also my other friends, since every person may have their opinion. They can help you to assess whether you have given the best answer or not. They also can assess your performance. Being nervous has to be avoided, by practicing you can get rid of your nervousness. During the practice, I have prepared around 50 questions and the answers that may be asked during the interview. If you would like to see the list of the questions and how I try to answer it, you can contact me by giving your email address in the comment column below. 

Actually, there is like a passing grade, every applicant is being assessed and given a score. For example, if the passing grade is 700 and your total score is not reaching the passing grade you are not considered to be accepted. If you can reach the passing grade, you have the opportunity to be considered as the awardee, there will be other factors whether you are able to be accepted or not, one of the factors is whether you are recommended by the interviewers or not. If not, even though you are reaching the passing grade, you may not be able to be accepted. So, after you have tried your best during the substantial selection, it's time for you to keep praying, may God touches the LPDP committee's heart to let you become the awardee. 

Just for your information, the comparison of the score for the on the spot essay writing, leaderless group discussion, and interview session respectively are about 1:1:5. So, the interview session truly takes the big part in your total score. So, pay attention more to it, but it doesn't mean you pay less attention to other parts, you have to pay attention to them also. 

That's all about the explanation of substantial selection in order to get the LPDP scholarship. If you are in the state of undergoing this selection, give your best efforts, never give up, and keep praying. Thanks for visiting my blog. I felt sorry if there are any mistakes. See you in LPDP awardee big-family.