Sunways vs Taylors

I have endured (and still enduring for precisely four weeks) doing the mundane job of typing the words “Sunway University College”, “Canadian International Matriculation Programme”, and “Ontario Secondary School Diploma”, whenever curious people out there nudged me and asked me where am I studying, what course / academic programme am I doing, and whether it is A level or not. (Probably because of my personal message at the not-so-accessible-lately MSN Messenger that went like “College is cool!”)

For the first question and answer:

The usual response in return was “Huh? So far…”

But mostly, people find themselves questioning my judgement and wisdom (if they are necessary in selecting college), uttering phrases like “Why don’t you choose xxx? Xxx is better”.

It seemed like SyUC’s fan base is not as large as that of other private learning institutions in Malaysia.

For the very few days before 4^th of January (the beginning of the college’s academic term in Malaysia), I’ve been totally indecisive, and was uncertain over which college to head to.

You see, I have Canadian Pre-U in mind, way before I took my SPM examination. And fortunately, only two private colleges in Malaysia are offering such programme. You have to guess which the two are.

The Sunway-Taylors battle slowly illustrated itself in my mind, and my conscience was literally fooling around.

Sometimes, I felt that Sunway is better, and other times, I tried to downplay what Sunway has to offer and tell myself that Taylors is way better; and vice versa.

But my aim remained the same. My educational goals remained vivid and firm. All I wanted are quality education, good facilities, and anything else that could ensure the US$ 70 application fee that I am bound to pay to an Ivy League university will not go straight down to the drain. J

Essentially, the indecisive and tentative thinking I had will never bring me anywhere.

And this is not good. The orientation day was approaching real soon. I began to embark on a series of Campus trips and open days, and began to interrogate my acquaintances to find out how and what they think, too.

Let me start off with the interrogation part.

Can you believe it, of all whom I interrogated, EVERYONE said, “Get your ______ (fill in whatever body parts) to Taylors!”

The only non-bias (read: neutral) view that I obtained is from Tan Shiow Chin, a reporter from The Star Education. She opined that Taylors is well known for Pre-U programme, while SyUC has excellent facilities. Her colleague advised to compare the price.

I must admit that I trusted the journalist from The Star Education, as she has been dealing with private colleges hand in hand for several years already. My interpretation of Shiow Chin’s opinion is that both colleges have their equal amount of pros and cons, and this adds up to a same level of playing field for both college. And so, the price became the solitary determinant.

Sunway won the first round hands down. Taylors’ fee is much more expensive. Plus, the quality of facilities is not commensurate with the hefty sum. (Reason #1). This is totally in contrast with the common oh-so-wrong fallacy that Sunway is only exclusive to elite group and rich kids, and that its tuition fee is extortionately priced.

Everyone seems to like Taylors. My cousin is there, and several other friends are there too. I would attribute this phenomenon to the differing branding capabilities of both colleges.

Taylors itself is a brand, a strong brand. It represented young teenagers who are rich enough to flaunt the latest sports car from Lexus and the latest jeans from Tough. And as [somebody whom I know] puts it, “if you can’t beat them, join them!”

I guess this is it: everyone wants to be part of the perceived “coolness”. I must admit that I, too, had once dream of being part of the Taylors family.

But things changed. For the past few years, I have embarked on several “distinctive branding exercises”. From then on, I do stuffs that people don’t usually do; I’ve learnt not to follow the crowd. I want to take on “the road not taken”! (Literature education in Malaysian schools not wasted)

Everyone seems to be going to Taylors. And yes, another reason to choose SyUC (Reason #2).

Also, since everyone is there, I’ll most likely hang out with somebody I already knew if I were to enrol there. The urge to make new friends and build up my network will never be as great as being in a whole new environment, where I know virtually no one. If I were to enrol in Taylors, I will be talking about music with Elizabeth Chua (who is currently doing Australian Pre-U over there) all the time, and by the end of my academic semester, I will hardly get more than a handful of new friends. (Reason #3)

SyUC is different. Nobody from SMKTBM went there… (…as far as I know at that time, until I bumped into seniors Gurrubren and Ong Sheau Theng on two separate fateful days after I enrolled)

And now, I believe I have more new friends than what I might get if I were to be called a Taylorian (as Eli puts it).

And the icing of the cake is, of course, getting to know people from not just Malaysia, but from all over the world.

My close friend Jeremy Gan has been home-schooling since he was young (I didn’t know home-schooling existed in Malaysia!)

There are also several “connections”.

For instance, there is a guy named Ng Hao Wei, who in turn knows Joanne Tan from SMKTBM, and it turns out that they were studying in the same school at the primary level.

Then, there is this girl. Simone Phong is her name, and I certainly felt that the world is so darn tiny when I was enlightened that she is actually an acquaintance of the “fabulous four” (ex-) Convent Bukit Nanas girls : (Ahem) Li Nar a.k.a Danielle a.k.a. Danny, Nuraini a.k.a Demon Llama, Sasha a.k.a. Bubu (?? wonder what that means…), and of course Nisha.

As for international students, I have a guy from Yemen sitting behind me in Maths class. I have several Indonesian friends from the same maths class. Nearby, there is a girl from Bangladesh. And there are several familiar faces that I don’t know their name and nationality, but a simple salutation has always surfaced whenever we meet each other.

In physics class, there is this outspoken guy from Sudan. And believe it or not, his name is Aladdin! There are also several Indonesians whom I grew quite close with. There is this guy with the name Erwin whose name sounded darn similar to that of mine. He was often mistaken for being Aaron whenever the hilarious Mr Gillich (Physics teacher) marks the attendance.

In English class, there is a Negro whom Ashvin (the girl who parties till 5am) called Akon. There are two guys from Iran across the table, and there is even a girl from Canada.

Outside the classroom, a Mongolian girl is always seen walking around. And some guys think she is terrifically hot. And Chan Vee Nee has been accusing me of trying to pick her up, and this is arguably the most baseless notion in the entire freaking world.

Speaking about my social relationship with her, I was reminded about the incident at the CIMP office during the Orientation Day. I was lining up amid the long queue as everybody wanted to get their timetable for the preceding semester. She suddenly walked in and queue in front of me. I was utterly shocked, but I think she already booked her spot in front of me because she was sitting on the bench way before I arrived.

And then, she spoke to me. And was speaking, speaking, and speaking. At the end of her, err, sentence(s), I said, “Huh?”

I don’t mean to be rude, but I can’t comprehend a single word at all. I said, I am sorry, and she repeated herself. Again, I don’t get it!

And I guess she is fed up with the duck-talking-with-chicken situation. And I was really feeling sorry for her. Anyway, I managed to ask if she was from Japan, because she looked and spoke like one. She said, “Mongolia”

That, I understand.

And since then, our relationship has been limited to the universal “hi” and “bye”, and I think I will never be seen talking to her about other stuffs other than hi and bye, as I don’t want to repeat the embarrassing moment.

That’s all about selecting college. Regrets? None.