Easyuni Ultimate University Guide 2015

In Jul's Guidebook, we dared you to act to realize your defining moment. In this issue, as you take stock of where you stand in your pursuit towards your defining moment, #beinspired by Justin Borja, our #featuredstudent and all-round talented bloke, as well as this issue's #featuredmentor Ching Wei, Group CEO of iMoney. Clutter through the crap to chase your dreams and read up our seven habits to make you more effective person. Also, read up how minimalist life can make you more successful by focusing only on things that matter.

As I write this, I reflect on my life - the hits (& misses), the bold and triumphant moments, the mistakes, joys and life lessons - I’m thrown back to a particularly quiet night picking up calls during a graveyard shift at my first job, where I spent most of my time robotically going through verbal scripts to handle customer complaints - not very fun, mind you. “Isn’t it nice that our jobs are so easy and we don’t have to think or do much?” asked my colleague, Vee, as he played some online games while handling a customer call. “Nice?” I asked. “This can’t be what work should be - mind-numbingly, routine tasks requiring almost zero thought. Work must have passion, challenges and purpose - which this place definitely offer. Without these, what’s the point?” “You know,” Vee continued, “you should do your own business or write a book. All you ever do is write, plus you always have a ton of great ideas.” The air around me seemed easier to breathe, as if immersed with opportunity. Now, I recognize why: This was my defining moment. Even though I’d spent much of my time writing, thinking and talking with people my thoughts and ideas - I didn’t consider a career or business where I can apply what came naturally to me - my love for writing, ideation and application. Over the next few weeks, I left my job and got myself into a PR & Advertising agency to start learning and applying my craft. You see, our lives are full of defining moments. Some we invite; others we don’t. Then, there are those we ignore - moments that would've, could’ve or should’ve become defining moments if we only dared to turn left or right, instead of continuing straight on. I’ve been there; I’m sure you have as well. Having regrets is a horrible thing to feel, let alone dwell on. These defining moments have the power to fundamentally change the course of our lives. As we fast approach the first half of 2015, it’s a good time to reflect on how far we’ve come (or maybe, where we’ve fell short), and think about what you’re doing (or, not doing) to live the life you want. That’s why for this issue of the easyuni University Guidebook, we’ve re-done how we create our #courses&careers section with the hope that it’ll not only educate but inspire you. We also added new sections like #beinspired, #featuredmentor and #featuredstudent that showcases people who dared to chase their dreams. We hope it will help you recognize and react to your defining moments when they come. And trust me, they will come. I always tell my children, “Always step forward when you see an open door, even if you don’t know where it will lead you.” I’ve try to live off this mantra. But, doors can be scary when you can’t see what’s on the other side. My advice to you: Stop. Look around. Spot the open doors. Then choose: Stay put or step forward. You know the right choice. Trust it. The question is, do you dare? Be awesome & enjoy the read,

By the time you get your hands on this magazine, a wave of changes is expected to happen - tension of the recent SPM exams would have plummeted as the holiday spirit envelops us, and while everything is bright and merry, some of you cpuld be at the FACON Education Fair in KLCC this December deciding which course to take whilst silently hoping you get aces on your actual SPM results - nagging thoughts you would rather muffle with the latest Star Wars movie or New Year's dinner party. Nerve wracking it is, change is exciting. It's a cycle that all of us operate in and that's totally fine as I've been there, too. Taking over the magazine with a fresh team of young writers was a tought experience but it was a great opportunity to decide and flesh out new ideas. Thoughts of failing trouble our minds but those are the very things that hinder us from growing. After having said that, I would encourage all of you to be recipe for change. Don't be afraid to cook up some trouble.

New Year, New Possibilities Happy 2015! Time really fl ies and we’re already on our fi fth issue of the easyuni.com Ultimate University Guidebook. The start of every year is a time fi lled with optimism, hopes and aspirations. It’s when plans and resolutions are made to achieve new breakthroughs and success. What’s sad though is most people fail to realize their goals - by giving up, not working hard enough, or even not having the courage to see through hard times. For the most part though, it’s due to not being 100% absolutely clear on your goals and knowing what to do to achieve them. That’s why easyuni.com was born to help students make the best possible decision for possibly the most important decision in their life - knowing what and where to study. We’re super excited with our fi rst issue of 2015 and hope it gets you pumped up to achieve your goals, face new challenges head-on, grow and discover just how awesome you are! In this issue, you defi nitely want to check these out:• Music fans can check out how to be a superstar music teacher • College life stressing you out? Read up some cool and creative ways to stay stressfree and kick-butt in college • See how being a hero online-gamer can possibly earn you some serious moolah (Yeah, we’re awesome like that - to go out of our way to give you best advice to have a rocking college life). And many more cool stuffs on school scholarships and some cool tips on how to ace your classes. Psst… We’re cooking something super top-secret and exciting for April’s issue, and because we love our student readers so much, here’s a tiny teaser - it’s bloody ace, mate and gonna be epic! (hint: note the colloquialism and you may have an idea!) Wishing you a rocking 2015 and hoping you enjoy this issue! Edwin Tay CEO

In this issue, we’ve covered hot technology fields like robotics and 3D printing as well as give you a peek at what we feel may be the top 20 jobs in the future. We’ve also covered a relatively unknown field called Knowledge Management and got a chance to speak with a real-life professional to give some great advice and insights into this field. For those with a love for the written word, you don’t want to miss our article on Journalism where it’ll give you the lowdown on the profession and tells you how to get there.

Hi there! It’s nice to present you once again with another ‘hot’ issue of easyuni. On 11 June this year, we launched the unifrens social platform, an extension to easyuni’s existing vision of providing comprehensive and accurate information to students about colleges and universities. This is another milestone in the history of easyuni as one of Asia’s most popular education portals, committed to helping students with their higher education plans. unifrens is a social platform which allows students, searching for universities and colleges with similar interests, to connect with each other to help them make unbiased and community-driven decisions about their higher education. It also allows them to connect with students who are currently enrolled at universities who can tell them about their experiences about a particular city, country, university or a course. unifrens is something we had been planning for a while to complement our current family of tools for students. We always knew that our users would love it as they want more community-driven information instead of promotional content from universities and “study abroad” consultants. I believe this feature will democratise the way information about specifi c courses, countries or institutions is presented and this can only mean good news for students and their parents visitors, as it helps them make more informed decisions about which course, institution or country to pick. Students can also pose questions to their groups, which will be answered by experts and the community. The feature is still in its beta stage but has gained massive traction with over 100,000 users already registered and assigned to groups. Exciting, isn’t it? The issue you’re holding now has so much to offer as well. So, read every page and fi ll yourself with all the knowledge needed to make informed decisions about your higher education.

Every issue of easyuni is organised in such a way that crucial information is succinctly delivered to you. We are also constantly exploring new mediums to maximise the reach of information to you. That’s the main reason easyuni magazine was started; we found that many readers would benefi t from this information in this form. We believe this is only logical as we’ve received an overwhelming response from our readers for the past two issues which has motivated us to bring you even more quality content in subsequent issues. Among the many improvements on easyuni.com is the revamped course recommendation tool – a step closer towards our vision of enhancing students’ capacity to make the right decisions about their tertiary education. The new course recommender is aimed at students who are not very certain about what to study, and our intelligent system recommends courses based on the personality and interests of an individual. As for the magazine: we have also listed some of the top universities in Asia that offer the courses covered in this issue along with numerous ways to apply for them. We have what we believe is the best tertiary education advice to help you make better decisions about your future. Every bit of information is helpful in guiding you to reach your higher education goals. We enjoyed getting this magazine out to you, and we believe you’ll enjoy reading every page.

Kudos, students! Our team in EasyUni have felt the youth power. As evident in the overwhelming response to our Internship positions - it was a good teastament on how students stood up and looked for opportunities, instead of just sitting and waiting for miracles. In this issue, we feature not just one, but two awesome students who have become inspiration to their peers in their own ways. To help educate students, we also feature stories on how to make money now.