[VIDEO] Fly FM Chats To Jarell Cheong About Being Accepted Into Harvard College
"I really recall saying the word 'WHAT' multiple times, very loudly, loud enough to wake all the neighbours."
By Gowri Chitra — 26 Apr 2021, 10:36 AM
Recently, two Malaysian students were accepted into Harvard College, despite the institution's lowest admission rate ever, wowww!
The two students are Jarell Cheong Tze Wen and Muhammad Hamdi Ahmad Hakimi, who will both be joining the Ivy League school's undergraduate class of 2025.
The 20-year-olds were selected out of 57,435 applicants, making them part of the lowest 3.4% admission rate (1,968 students) Harvard College has had in its 385-year history.
Congrats, guys!
In an exclusive interview with Fly FM, Jarell opens up about how he reacted to his acceptance, what he'd like to bring to Harvard from home, and so much more!
Watch the full video below:
1. Jarell woke up at 6am to check whether he had been accepted, but the results weren't actually out yet, hahaha!
Jarell: "I thought it came out at like 6am, but apparently it didn't. So, at 6am, my parents and younger sister barged in, they told me to check the decisions right, so I checked it, and it hadn't come out.
"When it came in the second round at 7am, I was really reluctant to wake up, but I was like 'fine, fine, I'll check I guess'. I was fully expecting a rejection. The first word I saw was 'Congratulations', and I was like 'WHAT?!'.
"I really recall saying the word 'WHAT' multiple times, very loudly, loud enough to wake all the neighbours."
2. When asked about his favourite subjects back in school, Jarell revealed that he "absolutely hated most subjects". Omg, we can totally relate!
Jarell: "I really liked Mathematics and Additional Mathematics. Those were by far my favourites. I kind of liked Physics and Chemistry, which was why I did them at A-Levels. And then I flat out hated the rest."
3. If he could, the one thing from home Jarell would take with him to Harvard is... his chair!
Jarell: "I have this gaming chair I'm sitting on."
BK: "This must be a very special chair for you. I mean, you could have picked your family members, your bantal busuk... but you picked a chair!"
Jarell: "Yeah, yeah. I spend the whole day on this chair, so it's very precious that way."
Ili: "Awww, are you gonna hug your chair before you go?"
Jarell: "Maybe, maybe!"
4. And finally, Jarell's number one tip to other Malaysian students who want to get accepted into Harvard is "to really reflect on what you've done so far, and really decide on one thing you can really take much further"
Jarell: "I think this really depends on how much time you have left as a student before you're applying to Harvard. I'd say that, if you have three or more years, you could really start something new and take it very far. Three years is more than enough to take anything to the international level, if you work hard enough at it. That's what I feel.
"I think in US terminology this is called 'developing a spike'. Basically, you do not want to be well-rounded like a circle, but instead you want to make that circle smaller and channel a spike, something you're really, really good at."
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