D Day - Faculty level

16 November 2007.

I arrived at Shah Alam a few minutes before Friday prayer. After the prayer, I headed straight to the Faculty to attend the PhD proposal presentation session. It was located at level 12 of SAAS Tower.

The first candidate that I noticed was N who hails from Terengganu. She was accompanied by her husband. We chat for a while at the foyer when all of sudden Dr R (The Post Graduate Coordinator) approached us.

She guided us to a room where the session would take place. At its entrance door, I saw a namelist stating that there were six candidates scheduled for the 3 pm session (Auditing and Investigation field). Dr R however mentioned that, there was only 3 of us for the session. I could not dare to ask why, as I have started to have butterflies in my stomach!

Then YS who is from Sarawak arrived. Dr R then briefed the three of us on the procedures for the presentation and interview sessions. She mentioned that the presentation should strictly be made in 10 minutes. It will then followed by a Q and A session. Once all the candidates have gone through with their presentations, an interview session shall then be conducted on individual basis.

Soon afterwards, came in the panel of judges one by one. Dr R was obviously one of them. Then there was Dr I and Dr A (who had just completed her PhD study). I waited patiently for the person who would be chairing this group of panels.

As soon as I saw her, Prof N, entering the door, I released a deep sound of relief. Phew.... I really expect her to sit in the panel for my session. One of the reason is, she knows what have I been doing all this while. She was the one whom I consulted during the early stages of writing up the draft proposal. The most important thing is, she already knew about my background!

The session started with N as the first presenter. I could not concentrate to listen to her presentation though I tried to pretend to. She managed to deliver her session within the given timeframe and was able to answer questions posed on her. So did YS, the third presenter.

I was made the second presenter. It started well until half way of my presentation, the time keeper ( yes... there was a time keeper in the room!!) rang the bell. Goshh.. I haven't finished yet!! It was a brief silent moment until Prof N cleared up the air by instructing me to carry on with my presentation. Lucky me..

After I have completed prensenting, it was the time for my Q and A session. The questions were mainly centered around methodological issues such as samples, sampling procedures, questionnaires, theories to be applied etc. etc. I believe I had given sufficient and acceptable answers to the panelists (I hope I did).

The ambience in the room was terrific. There was no personal attacks directed towards the candidates. The questions posed from the panelists were very constructive and friendly in manner. They even gave us few suggestions and tips on how to further improve our studies.

Overall, I am very happy and delighted with the conduct of the session. The next big thing is to wait patiently for its outcome..

"Tak lama lagi..." that was what I heard from Dr R before we left the room.