Responder berikut juga tidak ingin disebutkan namanya. NN, kita sebut saja demikian, berkuliah di North Carolina State University, US mengambil jurusan Computer Science.

Terima kasih atas waktu yang telah NN luangkan berbagi pengalaman, semoga Tuhan memberikan berkat berlimpah di dalam hidup dan karier Anda.

Silakan disimak:

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Nama: NN

Universitas: North Carolina State University

Jurusan: Computer Science

Negara: United States

Pertanyaan Seputar Universitas

1. Mengapa Anda memilih universitas dan jurusan di atas?

1) Ada saudara yg tinggal disini.  Sudah ada tempat tinggal, lebih enak deket keluarga.  Kalau ada apa2, ada yang bantuin.

2) NC State University has a very good Engineering programs, those include: Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, computer Engineer, Electrical Engineering, Biotechnology, Computer Science, and some other engineering courses.

3) Location is near Research Triangle Park (RTP).  Which can be considered as the Silicon Valley of East Coast

2. Mengapa Anda memilih negara ini sebagai tujuan belajar?

1) Again, ada saudara yang udah disini for years, and they recommend United States.

2) Better education (ga tau ini sugesti apa bukan).

3) The most important for me is I personally think United States has better opportunity.  (although, saya ga tau di negara lain gimana.. so this one is more of personal)

3. Bagaimana menurut Anda proses pendaftaran ke universitas yang Anda pilih?

I would recommend to go to the local college first.. (for those who are pursuing Bachelor Degree – S1) with few reasons:

1) Get a associate degree from local college (in my case Wake Technical Community College).

2) To graduate from University, I needed 120 credit hours.  And I   transferred 62 credit from college to university.  Jd pas di Universitas, mostly taking the 300-400 level courses.  All 100-200 level courses were taken in College.

3) Community college is cheaper in cost and in general easier too.  In term of courses taken in College, it’s not much different than the courses taken in University, so might as well save some money by going to College 🙂

For those pursuing Master (S2) or Ph.D (S3), saya ga tau seberapa susah masuk-nya, soalnya belum ada pengalaman.

4. Apakah factor paling penting yang menurut Anda menyebabkan Anda diterima di universitas ini?

Graduating from local college definitely helps, especially those who are partnering with the university.  Kalau nilai raport sih, dulu ngga gitu pengaruh (untuk S1, nilai raport ngga seberapa pengaruh).  Walaupun ada minimum requirement, but still easy to get in.

One score that definitely affects to get in is TOEFL score.  If you’re good, you can skip ESL or EFL class.  It will save time and money.

However, it shouldn’t affect much for undergraduate level (S1).

Kalau S2 atau S3, sepertinya requirement lebih berat dan lebih susah.  Tapi saya ga punya pengalaman untuk S2 atau S3.

5. Bagaimana Anda membiayai kuliah di universitas ini?

For the first two semesters, dibantu sama kakak yg sudah disini.

Then I had to pay myself till I graduated by working 3 part time jobs, and doing internship with company for few semesters.

Pertanyaan Mengenai Pengalaman






6. Bagaimana pengalaman Anda menghadapi kehidupan jauh dari orang tua?

Tempat tinggal + makan, bareng sm kakak.

Transport: bisa naik bus.  Kalau di US, they tend to have a good transportation system, whether it’s a bus or train.

Lingkungan: tergantung daerah tinggal.  Raleigh Durham area in NC are quite good place.  It’s very laid back, quitie, and lots of trees.  Kalau dibanding sm Jakarta, kota saya ini jadi seperti pedesaan (ngga separah itu sih).  In general, it’s more of family-oriented town.  The good thing is, there are not many distraction, so student can focus more.  Of course, it means that less fun things to do, but still have few attractions and activities to do.

Pertemanan, kalau orang Indo yg tinggal di Raleigh/Durham area, cenderung everybody knows everybody.  Because there are not many Indonesian to begin with.  I  myself have more foreigner friends, compared to Indonesian.

Living away from parents isn’t as bad, because I have my big brother.

7. Pengalaman apa yang paling menarik dan paling menyebalkan selama bersekolah di universitas ini?

Kalau mau register kelas, mesti buru2, otherwise bisa kehabisan tempat duduk.  Trus kalau mau ambil kelas, harus liatin location of the class.  Karena biasanya universitas disini besar sekali, jadi jarak antara gedung bisa jauh banget.  So when scheduling, really needs the time to pay attention to the timing and distance from one class to the next.

As for the courses, when it comes to the 400 level courses, usually there are more specialization courses, it really depends on what are our interest in our major.  but that won’t happen till you reach your Senior year.  As for the freshmen, usually everybody can go to the General major for 1 – 1.5 years, then decide which major later when it starts the 200-300 level courses.

Pengalaman yg paling menarik atau menyebalkan?  It really depends on some people.  BUT, I really do enjoy road trip with friends.

Kalau restaurant atau makanan, biasanya di sekitar kampus banyak macam2 restaurant.  So you shouldn’t have any problem finding a dining place.

8. Bagaimana Anda merasakan persaingan di universitas ini?

Kalau untuk saya, persaingan biasanya baru berasa setelah masuk ke 300-level courses and above.  Because I really do need to stand out from the rest of the student to be able to survive the course with decent grades.

As for the first and second years, it’s not as bad.  I would recommend to use this time to gather your social networking and friends (this is something that I couldn’t do because I was working and studying all the time).  When I reached my Junior year (tahun ke-3), it was hard for me to survive, because most courses has group project, and so I have to find a good teammate.  So it’s easier if you have known somebody earlier (and you do this during your first two years).

So, I would say maybe 50% socializing and 50% school for the first year.  Besides usually 100-level course is not hard at all, so you shouldn’t have any issue with  managing the time.

Then setelah masuk semeter ke 3-5.  Maybe shift the school up to 60-70%, and less socializing.

By the time we reach semester 6-8, it was more of 80%+ schoolwork, depending on the course that you take.

One thing to note is that, the hardest part is to balance between fun and work.  Biasanya kalo kita anak muda, kita cenderung lebih mau ber-senang2.  Kalau ini tidak dibatasi, bisa2 sekolahan jadi keteteran.  Jd harus ada both bimbingan and willingness from the student him/herself.

As for competition, I would have to say having a connection is better and easier to survive in the competitive markets (Compared to relying on your power alone).  Of course, this needs to be balance by you honing and improving your own skillset so you can be a great asset for your team and company.

9. Apakah Anda merasa bersekolah di universitas ini sesuai dengan harapan Anda atau orang tua?

Definitely!

Once we graduated from university, finding a job here is easier (if you have good grades + connection).  And once you get the job, United States has minimum wage that they have to pay.  So, you can definitely save some money from working here.

If you are going to work in a company under somebody, then definitely United States is better.  But if you want to have your own business, I would say in Indonesia is better.

10. Perubahan paling besar apa yang Anda rasakan dari dalam diri Anda setelah berkuliah di luar negeri?

Be open minded, independent, and mature.

Point of view might change depending on who you are interacting with, and what you have gone through in your life.

11. Bagaimana menurut Anda tentang pergaulan dengan anak-anak di luar negeri?

In Raleigh/Durham, the people here are very very friendly.  I notice, that is not the case when I visited New York or other big city.

Pertanyaan Optional






12. Adakah pesan yang ingin Anda sampaikan bagi saudara, teman, atau adik Anda yang tertarik bersekolah ke universitas tempat Anda belajar sekarang?

Before you come here, write down on a piece of paper what is your goal and your resolution.  Then stick to it.

There are lots of times where you will be tempted to do otherwise, and it would be a strong temptation as well.  But remember stick to your goal.  Remember what do you want to achieve by going to school here.  That will help you go through your study abroad.

13. Adakah hal-hal yang seandainya Anda persiapkan lebih matang sebelum ke luar negeri dapat membuat pengalaman bersekolah ke luar negeri lebih enak?

Not really.  When you step your foot here, it will be a new life.  You just have to adapt to it.

14. Adakah hal-hal yang sangat ingin Anda lakukan di luar negeri yang sampai sekarang belum sempat Anda lakukan?

There are still lots of places I haven’t visited yet.  And I still want to pursue better career.  Not much to explain here.

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Bagi pembaca yang mungkin pernah mengalami bersekolah di tempat sama, atau di negara yang sama, mudah2an bersedia membagikan pegalamannya dengan mengisi survey yang saya post Calling All Graduates Abroad atau paling tidak memberikan komentarnya.

Salam,

Guntur Gozali,

Jakarta, 12 Oktober 2013, 21:15

http://www.gunturgozali.com