Getting the Yellow Jacket: Ways of Entering Universitas Indonesia

Universitas Indonesia's logo, the makara.

(source: id. wikipedia.org)

The University of Indonesia (UI), is one of the best universities in my country. Every year, many high school students from all over Indonesia (and some other countries, perhaps) struggle to get into the college. With the name of the country used to name the university, in my opinion it's not a strange thing.

An advertisement that inform about the usage of jakun.

(Source: www.anakui.com)

There are three ways for all students to enroll to the university that is famous by its yellow jacket (or jaket kuning in Indonesia, often abbreviated as jakun): via Seleksi Nasional Masuk Perguruan Tinggi Negeri (SNMPTN) Undangan, Seleksi Bersama Masuk Perguruan Tinggi Negeri (SBMPTN) and Seleksi Masuk UI (SIMAK UI). One other way is also available for those who won the National Science Olympiad (Olimpiade Sains Nasional or OSN), but the choice of faculty is restricted; the medalists are only able to choose the faculty that study about the lesson he/she won.

1) SNMPTN Undangan is an enrollment that based itself on the scores given by school in students' three-year (or two-year for accelerated student) study. Every school gets its own quota; the determination of this is an authority for the universities joining the program, the universities owned by the country. The students of each school are then ranked according to their scores; especially the scores of the lessons tested in the National Examination (Ujian Nasional or UN). For those who chose Maths and Science (MIA) branch, the lessons are Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Bahasa Indonesia and English. Social (IIS) students should be more concerned about his/her Mathematics, History, Geography, Sociology, Bahasa Indonesia and English. There is one more branch, the Languange Branch (IBB), but I don't know what subjects are tested for this branch. The website for this enrollment is snmptn.ac.id.

2) SBMPTN is the enrollment which included testing as its way of selecting new college students for public universities. The test subjects are mostly the same like the ones tested in the UN; there are two question sheets need to be answered, Tes Kemampuan dan Potensi Akademik (TKPA) which includes Basic Maths, Bahasa Indonesia, English and some types of psychotest (numeric, verbal and figural tests) and Tes Kemampuan Dasar (Sains dan Teknologi or Sosial dan Humaniora) which consists of subjects tested in UN MIA and IIS, according to the branch the participants choose. Even so, some of the materials are not taught in high school. Most of them are, though, so there's no need for the students to worry if they have studied hard in their school times. The questions are much harder than the questions asked in UN, so keep practicing is really the key to success in this way of enrollment. The website for this enrollment is sbmptn.ac.id.

3) SIMAK UI has the same type with SBMPTN; it is a test. The quality of the questions are even harder than the SBMPTN, though. The quota for each faculty in this test is also very limited.

The university, as well as another public university, offers a kind of scholarship named as Bidikmisi. The Bidikmisi is applied together with the SNMPTN Undangan, as far as I know.

More information about the ways of enrollment to UI can be checked in penerimaan.ui.ac.id.

Have the Mobile Phone Made World Better?

As technology is getting advanced every year, people get to argue about the advantages and disadvantages of the technology products more often. Does technology make the world better? Or instead, worse, despite the fact that it is claimed to be the thing that brings Earth’s civilization way further.

One of the most used product in this world is perhaps the mobile phone. The invention of telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in the late 19^th century has opened new ways of communication ever since. The telephone makes communication a lot easier by removing the limiting borders between people, so that the invention has been one of the  main product to be innovated until now. The mobile phone is one of them.

In my opinion, the mobile phone has made people’s life far better than before. Mobile phone has helped people communicate easily anywhere they are. Smartphones, the most recent innovation of mobile phone, has even included many features of other technology product, for example, camera, music, and internet facilities. People are able to get many facilities from such a small, easy-to-bring thing.

There are a lot of reasons of why mobile phone was invented. In my opinion, the mobility of people is one of the major causes. People needs to communicate, but at the same time they need to travel, cities to cities, countries to countries, etc. Having a mobile phone solves the problem. With the product, people are able to communicate wherever and whenever they are at the time. They also do not need to spare much time to know the condition of their family and loved ones, if they are busy. They will only need to get their phones out of their pocket and do a call or text a message.

The extra features available on the mobile phone has helped people to do things too. With the camera feature on the phone, people will be able to capture precious moments even though they do not bring any digital/professional camera. The internet also makes getting information easier, other than getting it from people they communicate with. There are also features included for our pleasure like its game applications and music player.

The disadvantages of mobile phone, in my opinion, is the result of the unwise usage of the product. People sometimes get very addicted to the mobile phone that they become unproductive, but the condition could be anticipated by being wiser in sparing our time to use the product.

To sum up, the mobile phone is one of the most changing product human has ever invented. It has many features that makes people’s life becomes easier, especially in communication.

My Dream Job: Am I Choosing the Right Path for My Future?

There are some questions that always bother or are asked to 12th grade students; what would they like to be? What kind of thing would they love to do for the rest of their life? I am now a 12th grader, so the questions also bother me everyday.

Those are simple questions; well, many people say questions are always simple, what's hard are the answers. Many people of my age wonder in every single day of their study in the grade; what subject do they like the most? In what field are they good at? Schools also perform psychotests for their students to help them choose the right path for their future. To make sure that whatever the choice, the students choose it by knowing the consequences, by already thinking of everything that could possibly happen in the future. I believe that by knowing our interest and talent, we could consider things better.

A bioengineering lab in Sabancı University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Source: http://bio.sabanciuniv.edu/en/research/labs/signal-transduction-and-biotechnology

How about me? Well, sometimes I hope I could be those students who don't know what major they will choose so that I could accept the consideration of the others regarding my future. I already know what subject I like the most, Biology. I believe that by loving a subject as much as I love Biology, I will be able to improve myself at it everyday. Oh, I even know what branch I love the most in the subject; it's bioengineering. Biosynthetic. I love to work with DNAs and stuffs, it's just so challenging to me. I love the fact that by learning about it, I could change the world so drastically. Do you know that now there's a technology that could engineer a man's DNA that curing inherited diseases is not impossible anymore? These kind of news, of things... they seem so amazing to me. I'd like to be one of those people who invented those kind of things in the future. Yes, I'd like to be a scientist. I'd like to be an engineer in biosynthetic. That is really my dream job.

I'm so grateful that I am given the opportunity to explore my knowledge in Biology since I was in elementary. I read books; quite many books about Biology, but I didn't realize that I love the subject so much until I got to represent my school (and later, my province), in National Science Olympiad (Olimpiade Sains Nasional or often abbreviated as OSN). I had competed in Biology Olympiad for four years; 2015 was my last year, and now I often feel that I miss it so much. Not just the atmosphere of the Olympiad, but also the times I got to study Biology. I'm starting to feel like, yeah, Adriana, that's your path.

The CRISPR Genome Editing method uses this plasmid.
Plasmid is a small circular DNA in bacteria that is often
used as a media in bioengineering. These kind of things
interest me a lot. So small, but changing the world so big.

Source: http://www.scbt.com/datasheet-418922-control-crispr-cas9-plasmid.html

From the experience, I know that I'm not really good in Animals' Anatomy and Physiology, the subject that from what I know is all being the doctor about. Maybe not "not good", but I'm just not really into it. When I study about it, I don't feel the excitement as much as I do when I study Molecular Biology, a branch that is related to bioengineering and biosynthetic. People think differently, though, they think by loving Biology, I would make a good doctor. The truth is, maybe I would be a good one, but I'm still asking myself until now, would I do the job happily? One had said, "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." What would I feel if I chose to be a doctor? Maybe I would succeed, but would I think at the same time, what would happen if I chose biosynthetic instead of studying in medical school?

When I ask for people's advice, most of them suggest me to be an engineer in biomedicine. That's a lot different from my dream job; what students learn in that branch are mostly Physics and Mathematics. I searched the curriculum myself, and really, it is different.

Someone once said to me when he's advicing me about my future, "For me, being a doctor is what I am destined for. The reason why I was born." He's also a 12th grader, and I'm always envious of people like him for the fact that what they would like to be is supported by people. I could be anything, but if I would like to be a bioengineer, I have to admit that it will be easier for me if I moved to other country. I have never thought about not living here, in my home country, Indonesia. I love this country as much as I love Biology, and I always think that there is no country as convenient as Indonesia no matter how its condition is. I also would like to make Indonesia better in the future, so leaving it is perhaps my last choice.

I don't give up that easy, though. What I'm choosing as my job in the future is perhaps the win-win solution; I'd like to be a scientist doctor. Being a specialist in internal medicine seems quite interesting for me, but at the moment I'm interested in being a neurologist and to learn about Brain and Cognitive Science. People say that I'm wasting my time studying in medical school if I choose the path, but at least I will be able to do two things I really would like to do: to do what I love, and at the same time, do what my home country needs.

Bismillaahirrahmaanirrahiim. I hope I will be able to feel sure about my choice as soon as possible. What's more important, I also hope it is really the right path for my future. Aamiin.

Peace, Is It the Answer?

Source: www.cfri.org

What is peace? Maybe people are questioning about this now, as the current worldwide-booming issues are about war, terrorism or stuffs like that. Peace, in my opinion, is when people are supporting each other with no hatred and suspicion between them. Peace is the thing that will bring us happiness and joy. Peace is the answer, the solution of all the issues I mentioned before.

But the question is, perhaps, how to make peace? Sceptical people would probably deny the probability of this world being peaceful enough, so that there would not be any problem anymore. The reason could be because of the war and problems has been occurring for a really long time; so long until to stop them feels impossible.

Me? I can state for sure that I’m not one of those people. I believe that there’s a way to start peace; the first step is by opening our mind to understand each other. I like this quote from Albert Einstein, “Peace cannot be kept by force – it can only be achieved by understanding.” It’s true, isn’t it? But the first step in everything is always the trickiest part. I don’t say hard, it’s not easy to change our way of thinking but I believe it is not hard too; it’s tricky. In doing this step, we need to know when to change our mind, but we also can’t forget when not to. To keep these things in balance is perhaps the key; not only the key to peace, but also the key to a better condition that can support peace in the future. By holding our principle tight, I believe there will be a diversity of thought that could always maintain our head to be open-minded.

The next step is a lot easier. With our mind being more open to what others think, it will be easy for us to solve our problems. Like I’ve pointed before, peace is the answer for all of them. Last but not least, we need to maintain peace we have after we solve all the things. This, in my opinion, is the hardest part. To achieve something is hard, but to keep what we achieve is harder. Right?

Even so, what we need to focus right now is to start peace. There is a really nice quote from Mother Theresa that could perhaps sum up all my writing:

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

And I believe now is the right time to realize our bond with each other; now is the right time for peace.

A Good Leader

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. - John Maxwell

In order to have an organisation works, there must be a person who leads it. The right person, of course. In high school, the organisation that gain much attention from the students is the Organisasi Siswa Intra Sekolah (OSIS) or if translated, the student council. It supervises the extracurricular held in school and holds events for the whole school. To do the tasks, I believe it needs to have the right person to have the leader position. He/she needs to be good at communication skill, charismatic, wise and creative, while of course goal-minded.

Firstly, communication is important as it is what the leader has to do every day. He/she needs to communicate with his/her team, the teachers, etc. In order to do this nicely, the leader has to have the charisma. He/she needs to be able to persuade people that his/her way of thinking is right, but at the same time, also be open-minded enough to what people thinks. This is what I mean by wise, beside deciding not for one's benefit.

Secondly, creativity. The main task of the council is to hold events, as I have written here before. To make an event succeed, of course it has to have a good theme and concept. Beside, the leader will also need creativity when he/she deals with people, as each people has different characters and thought.

Lastly, the goals are important to make the works of the council purposeful. Without goals, there won't be any parameter of success, which I believe is determined with the goals made before. In order to work, we need to know what we are going to do, right?

As for many criteria listed, being a leader seems to be hard. It is, but once someone is able to fulfill all the criteria, he/she will be remembered forever as a leader with great communication skill and charisma, wise in choosing, creative and succeed at fulfilling his/her goals (vision) he/she made before. In other words, a good leader.

City Tour: Don Woori, Be Happy

The place I last visited in Bandung was Don Woori, a Korean restaurant which is located in Jln. Lombok no. 53, behind KFC Riau. Bellin held her 15th birthday party there, with our class and her junior high friends as the guests.

The interior's really good; I instantly fell in love with the combination of pastel colours, with blue as the dominant colour. With "Don Woori, Be Happy" as its slogan, it is a shabu and suki restaurant. To eat, we can order or easily take some food from the food rack and boil it in the pan put on each table. There are two types of soup in the pan; miso and tom yam.

In my opinion, the restaurant's food is really delicious. I ate some sushis which I took from the rack I mentioned before. I didn't ask for their names, I just took it directly as they looked really delicious hehe :)

I ordered white grape juice as drink, but what I suggest you to try is kiwi juice. It was my friend's drink, and really, it tasted great. It was somehow sweet, but not really sweet... just right.

Don't forget to also try the sauce given in a small, round plate. I'm really sorry for not knowing many details, but it was dark red in colour. The taste is undescribable... it's not only me who think like this, but also my friends. Even they were the ones who offered me.

Okay, readers, are you interested enough? Remember, to be satisfied you need this thing; the last but the most important thing, you've got to enjoy your time there. Because don woori, be happy!

Prepare you stomach for delicious food and drinks!

What OSN Medalists Said about Dreams and Competitions: Interview

Recently, I and chosen students from all over Indonesia joined Olimpiade Sains Nasional (OSN, or if translated National Science Olympiad) SMA 2015 in Yogyakarta. There are nine subjects competed every year; Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Computer/Information Technology, Biology, Astronomy, Economy, Earth Science and Geography. The participants of each subject range from 72 to 80 students, which is the number of Biology branch participants, the subject I competed in.

The students must do some tests; in Biology, there are two types, practical and theory tests. The practical test is divided into four sub-subjects, this year they were Plant Anatomy and Physiology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Animal Anatomy and Physiology and Microbiology and Molecular Biology. Each practical test took 90-100 minutes, in which the participants had to complete worksheets about the practice and solve some analytical problems. The theory test has two sessions every year, Theory A and Theory B, with the time given to finish each is 3 hours.

There are 30 medals given to the participants with highest points; 5 golds, 10 silvers and 15 bronzes. The medalists will then be called to join a selection for representing Indonesia in International Science Olympiad in the following year.

The OSN bronze medalists of some subjects; one of them is Biology.

I can say, winning the OSN is what many people dream of. For that, people do a lot of things; like study harder, pray more often, etc. They -we- also sacrifice things like their time in school, which in my opinion is a big sacrifice as in Olympiad we only learn one subject but in school, we need to be good at many. The time used to prepare and compete in the OSN may lead to inability in doing school tasks and tests, which may result to lower grades and ranks. Many Olympiad participants still tops their class, though, as they work hard just as soon as they got back from the competition. To me, OSN is the place to work hard, to be mature despite the consequences and the chance of losing, to be brave enough to dream, and the most important thing: to know Allah more. Because of that, I choose this topic for my English interview task.

In this post, I am going to write about my interview with two of the Biology participants. They are Kak Muhammad Iqbal Pratama, an SMAN 5 Surabaya 11-grader and Salsabiilaa Roihanah, a student of SMP Semesta Bilingual Boarding School Semarang. Yes, she's still a junior high school student. The rule of OSN SMA allows 9th grade students to join to competition, beside of course, 10th and 11th grader. I know them from trainings I joined. They both, alhamdulillaah, won bronze medals.

I interviewed them in different occasion, and here's what I asked them along with their answers.

How did you know about your passing to the OSN for the first time? How was your feeling?

Kak Iqbal:  I know my passing to the OSN from one of my senior, and then I checked it on the Internet. I felt surprised and thankful to Allah.

Salsa:  I was so thankful and grateful. It was rather unexpected. The announcement was on the same week with my school examination (I WAS a ninth grader, which had been facing various examination to graduate). But I was a little bit sad, knowing some of my seniors couldn't make it to the nationals.

What did you do to prepare for the Olympiad? For how long did you do that?

Kak Iqbal: I studied theories, practiced the questions of previous OSN with my seniors and Biology lecturers, and joined TOBI's pre-OSN training, which included theory and practice. I do the preparations for around 1 month.

Salsa:  I was surrounded by senior who had been an Olympiad student just like me. She helped me a lot. Well, she was Kak Hana (Fauzyyah Hanifin), last year IBO participant who is struggling to be part of Indonesian Team again this year. My province, Middle Java, also held a training center for a month. We were trained by some alumni and lecturer. I read books, I tried to solve problems, but the hardest part was the experiment section. Because I didn't really have much time to practice it.

What was your motivation of joining the competition?

Kak Iqbal: My motivation to join OSN is to get a medal to ease my way in SNMPTN (a way to apply to universities), and also to give something to my school. Joining OSN is also my dream since childhood.

Salsa:  I wrote about my experience on my blog. Surprisingly, I've got some positive feedbacks from people. They say my writings have inspired them. I wanted to inspire more and more. And getting achievement was a way to do that. Besides, I wanted to make my parents and my school proud. After all, I enjoyed biology, with or without OSN ;)

What did you want to achieve in the competition?

Kak Iqbal: I just wanted to achieve the best, and get a medal, any medal will do :)

Salsa:  I didn't push myself to get medal. I wanted to get experience as much as possible. But the atmosphere of competition finally reached me, affected me, and at the end, I dreamed to get a medal.

You won the bronze medal. When the event's MC called your name, what did you feel? Was bronze your target?

Kak Iqbal: I felt very surprised, since I screwed up in the Plants (Anatomy and Physiology) practical test :) My target is to get any medal, so it is a fulfillment to my target.

Salsa:  It was amazing. After all those tests, I was very very hopeless. I did many stupid mistakes during the experiment. I was on my lowest point. And hearing my name felt so great, I am so thankful to Allah.

What things did you get in the competition, beside medal?

Kak Iqbal: First, I get so many precious experience, such as to read instructions carefully. Secondly, I met many wonderful friends from all over Indonesia.

Salsa:  I knew where were my mistakes, and I promised to myself to fix them in the future. I met new friends, I reunited with old friends, those experiences are more important than medal.

What do you think about the OSN before and after joining the competition itself?

Kak Iqbal: Before, I thought the OSN is wonderful. After I joined OSN, it's more than that.

Salsa:  I think OSN nowadays is getting more and more popular. It has become a business field for some people, for example making a paid olympiad training. But I think the real purpose of OSN has been accomplished A HALF. Indonesian students become more aware about science. The other half, we must wait until we are all grown up. Can we make a difference in this country we live in? That one is our challenge.

What is you dream now that you've won the OSN? Is it joining the International Biology Olympiad (IBO)?

Kak Iqbal: Well, I dreamed to use the medal for SNMPTN, I'm aiming for FK UI (Medical Faculty of Universitas Indonesia). And yes, I also dreamed to join IBO.

Salsa: My next target? Well, I'd like to keep my dreams to myself and people that are close to me only. But after all, I will do my best in every chance I get ;)

Could you please give an advice to people who would like to join the competition you've just joined and also for all people who are having dreams they would like to achieve?

Kak Iqbal: My advice, focus on your dream, and pursue it. While in the pursuit for that dream, put other matters second in the priority list. Never be afraid to make sacrifices, you have to make that sacrifice, and believe that in the end that it will worth it. Never forget to pray to Allah all the time.

Salsa: Competition isn't just about winning a medal or trophy. The real winner, is one who has courage to dream high, and really put an effort to make it come true. One who can bring goodness to his surroundings, one who can inspire and bring smiles to people, one who can make this world a better place; that's the true winner. Just remember, when you lose all your hope, when you think you are failing and never gonna reach the top, go back to the Owner of all Power; Allah. Because everything can come true in His blessing. Just remember, when you lose all your hope, when you think you are failing and never gonna reach the top, the Owner of all Power; Allah, will never leave you alone. So be close to Him, in your ups and downs :)

I asked an additional question to Salsa, as the fact that she's still an SMP student interests me. The question was, "You are still a junior high school student, but the competition you joined was for SMA, How was your feeling?". She answered, "It was a lot depressing. We had to face national examination in the middle of training center! The lesson in high school olympiad was a lot harder compared to middle school. But I was also proud of myself, because I could compete with my seniors equally."

As the closing, I would like to quote Eleanor Roosevelt, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Kak Iqbal and Salsa had a dream to win the OSN, and after working hard, they were able to achieve it. I believe that what we dream, what I and you, fellow readers, dream, is not meant just to live inside our thought. When we believe our dream would come true, that's the time when it really is going to be. Because, by believing, we will do and sacrifice things to achieve that. We won't give up even though we fail and fail again, instead, we will see the failure as another step forward. Positive thinking is the key of success, isn't it?