AS per topic, i urge any budding LYNers aiming to go to CAL or A Levels for that matter,PLEASE refrain yourself from attending Taylors' College. I will provide you with few solid reasons why, since I'm the disappointed alumni from there.

1) Firstly, it is not as glamorous and "syiok" looking as what they've marketed. FYI, taylor's, IMO , is one of the most overrated and over-marketed colleges in malaysia. You could judge this by just looking at the number of students they take every intake, where in the world would you find colleges recruiting students like mass recruitment of illegal immigrants, sometimes even exceeding 900 just for A Levels. Bsides that, the place is so crowded and hence NEVER conducive. Apart from that, they've many students whom are enrolling in the colleges just for the sake of the brand name, ie. Glamour. Not all of them are taking their studies seriously. Things might be different if you're from pre-medicine classes though. Thus, if you yearn for personal attention and a more pastoral kind of care given to you, please go to better colleges like KYUEM or KTJ, even INTI and KDU does better at this than Taylor's. In this, the environment makes you feel it's high school all over again.

2) Secondly, recently, i've just noticed that TCSJ had even taken away their so called state-of-the-art cafeteria, and replaced it with another world-class study zone. THis indirectly means more expensive meals for you guys, the students. FOod around the area is not cheap, for that matter, even a bowl of noodle soup at Asia Cafe will costs you bout' RM 6-7 the least, unless you are willing to sweat it out and take a long walk to the market in SS15 OR have McD for lunch everyday. Furthermore, taylor's charges you for every single facility you use. From what i heard, at lakeside, even students have no privilege in parking ie student parking for free for instance, they were charged 3 bucks per DAY! Imagine the huge profit they raked in just from there.

3) Thirdly, their lecturers are of uneven quality, and they changes every semester, this is true in the case of GCE Cambridge A Level. You will constantly hear your peers or even you yourself complaining about the quality of the lecturers. I'm not being a sour grape here by complaining this and that, I know that this happens in every college, but to pay such an exorbitant fees for such a service, its a total rip-off. For my case, my Physics lecturer was totally off the mark in the way he couldn't even present his points properly and sometimes getting the concept across, i still remembered clearly one moment whereby he was so dumbstruck with the answer of a PYQ that he was stunned there for almost 1/2 an hour thinking of the answer.In addtion to this, during his class, due to his leniency, the students, especially the naughty and playful arseholes, tend to make hell lot of noise as if we were in a Medan Selera and not a classroom, as such making it extremely difficult to stay focus and our lecturer pays no attention to it. Hence, i really felt like i've had paid a downpayment for a BMW only to be given a sub-par second hand BMW with Proton engine.

That's all i have to say, i welcome any feedbacks, and if anyone of you here are from boarding school like Concord College, KTJ, KYUEM or even other colleges like HELP, welcome to privde me with your feedback. HeLp also has a mass student body, but im very doubtful if they do experienced what i've gone through, anyone here, pls feel free to provide fruitful feedbacks

IMO, it's unfair of you to say that Taylors cheated you just because the students there sucked (their attitude, emphasis on glamor etc.)

I've friends from TCSJ doing their CAL there and they seem to be enjoying themselves there WHILE getting top notch grades.

If you don't like your lecturer, why not file a complaint? You know that you're now a sort of "consumer" right? If your lecturer isn't doing his job right or isn't fit for the job, by all means, make a complaint to the office.

I think every other college here will have the same problems you mention here TS. None of which I think deserve to be called cheats.


BTW, TCSJ students have one of the best choices of food out there compared to most other colleges. Get used to it, since the rent for food stalls around these areas are really high as well.

then is it fair to me for paying such an exorbitant fees to deserve such a service?

taylors? expensive fees (for those rich arses)..but lecturers wise, they are good ones and bad ones..i think tht isnt a problem as im pretty sure whereevre u go, tehre are bound to have good and bad ones.. the stduents? of cuz there are good ones, but from my observation, there are ALOT pathethic rich kids who dont give a damn on their study becuz they are $$$$$, lousy uni wil take them in as long as they hv $$$$$.

By leaving out Sunway College, you do have the same adverse feelings for them as well?

Like it or not, Taylors and Sunway are the most popular pre-university colleges. And they also produce the most number of students entering into the top universities globally, granted they have the most number of pre-university students.

In my opinion, Taylor have $$$ to promote their uni in newspaper almost everyday.

The cost of advertising in newspaper is not cheap.

The point is - how much profit they earn from education to do this?

Why not consider other college A-level like Sunway or TARC before choosing Taylor?

Sometimes expensive tuition fee not equal to good quality

are u sure they produce most # of students entering top notch uni ? i think KYUEM is better..just my personal pov tho

Kyuem has drop quite a fair bit over the past few years. Maybe, the fees charged which is quite similar to a levels colleges in uk makes students opting to study in the uk like Bellerbys, Cardiff college etc. UK colleges has an advantage in preparing the students.

Here's a tale of woe from someone who attended Kyuem

There is Pro's n Con's in every College.

Taylor's for example they have tons of student entering to start their education. Mostly are from wealthy family, so instead of paying tax their might as well pay fees for their children education. Some family are too rich, dont know what to do with money, so they spend it in Taylor's College and enjoy their life. The people who complain is the person that not capable to bare every single cost. The place where have standard always have the price for it. Since food around Sunway is expensive because the rent is expensive too. Vice Versa~

TARC for example nw, there are the cheapest college I ever known. The food and educations fees are away more cheaper. Since the fees is cheap no one will complain about facilities or lecturer. All in their mind is as long I finish my diploma lets chow.

I've even heard some companies are looking at which college your from, the more recognize and famous, the higher the chance of getting job. Some people may even thing that cheaper college does not have quality and they assume the expensive ones have quality.

1. we are talking about a pre-u programme here, so basically, anybody who wants to can have a go....the size of the student body is not an issue, and does not reflect the quality of the establishment.....

2. you pay for parking, anywhere in the klang valley....and surely one cannot judge an establishment based on the cafeteria?....

3. staff turnover is high, that is true and that impacts on teaching....but it's the same in any education establishment in an environment of tight qualified/trained teachers....

so how does all this tantamount to 'cheating'?.....

Sounds like these are personal issues u faced..maybe it was ur luck to get a bad lecturer. But since u have already studied in TCSJ, why not just enjoy it? I think a lot of people would like to go to TCSJ, just that the course fees are really expensive and it's increasing every year. Some more this is just pre-u, got to save for university degree also. Not sure about the post above saying that employers now look at which COLLEGE you go to..so what? That means employers prefer people who went to TCSJ and Sunway only? That shouldn't be, there are so many other good colleges like INTI, TARC, MCKL...

And refer to post #10..there is an example of someone who have went to KYUEM

This post has been edited by bigbangformula: Mar 7 2013, 12:57 AM

Taylor's is overrated and overpriced. So what else is new?

Oh, and I'm sure it's not just them who suffer from this problem regarding uneven quality of lecturers.

KYUEM has a lot of Indian lecturers, I believe. Generally, experienced Indian lecturers are quite good and dedicated to their profession.

Well, lecturers do move around quite often nowadays, due to the competitive environment and if the salary structure is not competitive enough, the quality of the programme will no doubt be affected.

Now most private colleges and universities the parking is not free. Usually students have to get a season pass to get it cheap but never free.

Why do you say that? Just because they published their student's achievements in the newspaper?

Maybe because they have lots of students going there, so the number of students getting into good universities are higher too. So it is better to compare percentage rather than the number of students.

the bolded part is absolutely incorrect. In fact, this only applies to overseas top colleges and universities lyk the Ivy leagues and Oxbridge. Here in Malaysia, do you see big employers for that matter give a shit bout which colleges you graduated from? No! In Malaysia, as long as you have the paper qualification, people does not give a shit bout where you are from, since all they need is just cheap labour, especially chinamen companies. And Yes, the lecturers that i have are okay except Physics. The problem is WE pay exorbitant fees, hence you expect at LEAST a certain extent of quality, but if you are short changed with the quality of the lecturers you get, i ask you, won't you feel agitated and angry? It's not a matter of this happening in every college, but its a matter of putting your money where your mouth is. If Taylor's fees is only 20k or 15k for instance, them fine with that, i won't argue, i may even get a pleasant surprise by getting more than what it's worth. Put this in this way, you don't expect me to get a proton engine in a ferrari when i've actually paid for a BMW. And im sure you will agree that Taylor's college recruits student in such humungous amount that the place seems more like a supermarket than an educational institution. Go check out colleges like Concord College, Cardiff Sixth Form College and you'll understand what i'm actually trying to say. How do you get personal attention when your class is so huge like for instance, about 30-33 people. It's like high school all over again.

Indeed, to be honest, i felt abit agitated when the dean of Sunway said we are the best college in Malaysia, with a Tier 5-6 rating... And whatmore, they mentioned that Sunway College is NOT a business. i was like what the heck? Just because the entire Sunway Edu Group is being placed into a so called trust fund, does not mean it's no longer a profit-making entity.Hmm... in this case, i rather pay exorbitant fees to sned my future children to Cambridge Tutors College or Concord in future, rather than being downright cheated by these so called educators. And talking bout profit-making, i think HELP is doing much better at this with their edexcel programme. They live up to their name, and when you say people could have face the same problem as what i've mentioned in the thread ie. lecturer problem, at LEAST their fees are more affordable. Well, all i could say is that i've been blinded and fooled by mass marketing and powerful adverts. Yes, i do sound like a sour grape, but i'm only telling this out to give an idea of what it is for future prospective students. Period.

Hmm, I think KYUEM is more suitable for you.

Fees-wise, it is only 5k more than Taylor's, and this includes food and accommodation.

Lecturer-wise, some good some horrible. When I mean horrible, I mean lecturers with bachelor degrees in maths who makes more mistakes than an SPM graduate. Imagine someone who can't solve ax^2+bx+c=0 and that is my maths lecturer. But, you have seniors who will eat, sleep and study with you. With that being said, the answers to all your problems is just next door.

For class size, one class is roughly 12-13 people.

College life? Study.

Do take note that most people don't choose to go to KYUEM in the first place. In fact, most of them only know about it after they received their scholarship offers.

I can draw a conclusion that whether you succeed or not in your studies depends on you, not your college. The best student in KYUEM skips class just to study, FYI.

If that is the case, I think you have to reevaluate your buying power. Do you really think that you can have the same experience as you would in an English boarding school with just RM 40k in Malaysia? 40k sounds much more closer to a Proton than a BMW or a Ferrari.

That's barely enough to cover the first semester fees in the UK! The closest you can get are KYUEM and KTJ. You must understand not every private college out there are catered to the elites. Sunway, Taylor's, INTI....they are all catered towards the upper quartile of the middle class. That aside, I do agree with everything you said, but you have to adjust your expectations. Here's a few facts for you to ponder:

1) Quite a number of not so smart, lazy kids have parents that can afford private colleges and are willing to pay for them.

2) Colleges are not responsible for providing food. The best they can do is build a cafeteria with all the cheap food there. But that might struck someone as being too high school-ish.

3) If they don't charge you for certain facilities, it is unfair to those who don't have any use for them in the first place. I bet those who take buses to college everyday will be unhappy that the parking fee is included in the college fees.

4) You can find bad apples anywhere, even in boarding colleges.

5) College are businesses, they do lots of marketing and advertising. They take in students when they can.

If you can't learn to accept this 5 facts, nowhere is good enough for you. Taylors and Sunway are not DOWNRIGHT CHEATING, it is that you misidentified your dream college and paid the wrong person with the wrong sum.

Being a TCSH student for about 2 months now, I couldn't really imagine that I would eventually end up in this place. For a moment I had my sights set on the cheap and cheerful TARC, the KDU within walking distance or even HELP but none of that happened. Then I got the chance to reduce my fees by almost half so I settled with TCSH. That probably explains why I am contented with TCSH even though it my experience here has been far from perfect. We may share a common situation too: we are both Taylor's students and we both have sucky physics lecturer(my worst so far).

They are also very keen in helping you to get into your desired university. Let's face it, good grades in A levels are common in these days (>30% ) so the real challenge lies in getting a good university (notice how I didn't say top) rather than acing the exam itself. Taylor's students are rich in money but poor in ambition and a sense of direction. Taylors help fill that gap. 2 months into college and they are now in the process of assigning us lecturers to help us think what should we do to get into our dream university. This isn't too helpful for me and probably not for you too; but students who couldn't even keep track of the A level program structure, let alone apply to a university would be very grateful for it.


Surprise! Surprise! 3 out of 5 of my current lecturers are Indian. One of which is the best lecturer among the 6 while another is the worst among the 6. The other one is somewhere in between but good enough. TCSH seemed to have a disproportionately high number of Indians......and Koreans.

Currently a student in Taylor's Subang studying CAL.
All my lecturers are the same since Semester 1, no change in lecturers.
Foods are expensive, considering you're in Subang Jaya, not your old secondary school.
Most of the students I know take their studies very seriously, and they're rich too, me myself not though.
I welcomed the new study zone, as Taylor's is crowded and not much studying place is available, library is 24/7 crowded.

I'm an international student and i intend to study Intensive English and Diploma in Hotel Management . Is it good if I study this major in Taylor university?

Well, KYUEM has a lot of Malay lecturers. Out of my 4 teachers, 3 are malays and 1 indian.

If you look at it as a whole, I would say 50% Malay, 20% Indian and 30% Expatriates. 4/5 of the Physics lecturers are Indians, with the other one being an expat with a PhD.

I agreed. That is why i've mentioned i must have made the wrong choice then. Furthermore, i was so constantly ragged throughout my course during A Levels, that makes it so hard for me to even focus or bond well with my good friends, since some evil wishful rich fags will just out of no where took my bag and placed it into a toilet, or my pencil box into a girl's bag....It's like adults behaving like kindergarten kids. Apart from the lousy lecturer, poor personal attention given for each student due to it being over-crowded and its over emphasized on marketing, Taylor's is nevertheless a good place.

i am from Taylor's Lakeside , agree with some of the facts . However in education wise , my lecturer give out all their best in teaching. What i mean is that they use their heart to provide us the knowledge and most importantly values of life. Not to mention the competition in the class , i do agree they are students who are lazy but slowly u will realize there are more crazy brilliant student.

Not sure which class were you in. But when I was in Taylors (many many years ago) it was really good. Cant remember much about the teachers but most of us in class did very well anyway, I think almost everyone got 3As and above despite skipping classes playing dota etc and eventually flew off to overseas.

Till now I still find there is NO PLACE LIKE TAYLORS that can offer you such wide variety of GOOD food. Even till now when I am back home I would still head to SS15 for food!

Come on Taylors aren't that bad!

i don't know why but a lot of freelance models like venice min seems to come from Taylors.

Eyecandy galore.

Hmm..gotta agree with you on the last point. When was your grad class in CAL? haha...what my lecturer told me previously was that CIE now elevated their standrd of difficulty already compared to years ago..But, yes, i guess it really depends on class. Maybe i was utterly strucked with bad luck, bcos when i talked to the administtrators, they told me that I was being unlucky, and i should have voiced it out earlier, Im now an ex student already btw.

Must be CAL meh? Why not other programs like SAM or CPU? They are the ones who also went through this kind of situation in a daily basis.

Forget about comparison of programs.

Back to the topic whereby IMO, Taylor's College (I didn't mention Lakeside) is a great place to study despite 'your inconvenience'.

I feel that it's very convenient due to the fact that you can actually study in the college itself and it's very quiet at night if you were planning to study. (Tried staying in college for an overnight study with 2-3 friends and it somehow works!)

Food? Why stay in college? Take your friends with you and walk out around SS15 for some grub! Don't be lazy and exercise a little!

Lecturers? I was in SAM last year. And I think lecturers in SAM are rather friendly, kind and helpful with your work. Just ask them if you need help. I'm not really sure about CAL lecturers so please don't judge me.

So overall saying, it was the best RM20k+ per year my parents have invested me on. Learnt a lot in there. Just make sure you use their learning facilities to the maximum and make time for your studies instead of totally fooling around in college. There's no such thing as 100% entertainment in Taylor's College.

Bro, every collage is the same shit. True.

What you say is very true. Taylors advantage is that they assist the students in getting into good universities and their way of doing it seems effective going by the number of students getting placement in good universities. Not to say that other colleges dont do it but less effective.

Its just like Sunway-TES which is so popular for accountancy students with a high percentage of passes.

Sorry to hear that u were ragged. It's not even primary/secondary school already and yet there are still people like that? What the hell are those guys up to? Maybe it's this pranks that also made u feel not satisfied with Taylor's? And anyway u would find lousy lecturers in other colleges too, not one college have all brilliant lecturers. Poor personal attention might be because of too many students like what u mentioned, but Taylor's have a good placement center. And which college wouldn't market themselves? You would also see other colleges marketing themselves everywhere,in newspapers, in education fairs etc. So where are u studying now?

come taylor lakeside campus la

I was an ex student of Taylor's, and I must say that TCSJ has a wide variety of food compared to other places. In my current uni, I have not much choices to choose from compared to when I was in Taylors. It's probably your luck in getting bad lecturers + bad classmates. My friends in CAL are quite satisfied with their current condition ( Aside from stressing for A2 ). I'm personally a SAM student last year, so I can't really comment on the CAL staff. But it was a really enjoyable year for me. Aside from the new study space that I have less to no chance in using. And did I mention lakeside campus has a nice library to study in?

yeah...i was dead wrong in entering july intake..Most july intake were actually catered to Intl skol students, and yes, they were the bullies, tho mayb thinking that Taylor's is still a place for f**ked up fun and bullying people seems more fun to them than to study. Yeas, i was taken aback at the number of immature students at Taylor's. Probably its due to the intake that i've entered. I might taken for a different ride if i entered Jan Intake. I realised Taylor's reserved their best lecturers for their Jan Intake.

educational institutions are not meant to be businesses... period.

it was not the original intent.

unethical to be "advertising" the student's "future" for "money".

imho, all private institutions shouldn't even exist.... education is only supported for those that deserve it.

not those that can BUY education...

it's not being 'private' that is the problem....but whether it's purpose is for education, or for profit....

note that a lot of the best universities of the world are private, including harvard, caltec, etc....

it is important to differentiate non-profit ( ie not expecting to make a profit) and not-for-profit (expecting to make a profit, which is reinvested into the establishment).....the american private unis are education centered not-for-profit organisations, ....

the majority of ipts in msia are for profit....some are even listed on the stock exchange.....

You are right here. Schools like Harvard even have a seperate administrator to take charge of their endownments to get the best out of the huge cash pile they have. In Malaysia, alot of institution like to play around with statistics, trying to lure us students into believing statistics than experience. I think it was a choice gone wrong for me, if I entered the right intake, i might not be facing this problem, so i think it's subjective. How i really wish we could go back to those times whereby every government school here functions like JC in Singapore, offering A Levels ( then HSC) and UM was the top in our region back then. During those times, to enter UM is as hard as entering HKU or Cambridge. True story.

So u are 19 this year I think,and u started ur pre-u last year? So u think it's because u entered July intake? I didn't know that July intake would have a lot of playful students And they reserve the best lecturers for Jan intake That's so unfair. Are u sure about this? Maybe u were just unlucky or it's just a coincidence...And anyway January intake would have lots of students..I heard this year Jan 2013 intake have tons of students

Uh-oh. I'll be entering the July intake. Bad, bad news.

Anyways, it's true, the Jan intake 2013 is full of students, and I have heard that most of the July intake are rather laid-back, although of course there is the group of July intake students who tried STPM and decided not to continue.

I am about to be able to enter college. I think like this.

I wonder if I should attend any college?

Its my bad luck i suppose, if you enter Pre-med class, the students are obviously much more studious than Pre-engineer. and it is exactly what one of the forummer said, July intake has lots of International school rich kids, and a few guys who quit stpm to go college and also a few scholars.

Which college and course are u planning to enrol in?

Oh man...I never thought that July intake would have laid-back students. I didn't go for January intake not because I was laid-back..but because I was thinking there might be other options that I can go for too like STPM or Matrics..but most likely I would choose A-Levels.

How come pre-enginer are more laid back? It's still engineering, it ain't easy . And why these international school rich kids don't go for January intake? By the way, when u said those who tried STPM and decided not to continue, would they miss anything? Or they won't because STPM starts earlier than A-Levels?

A levels, not gonna consider STPM any more.

I chose not to enter the Jan intake because I wanted to work, and because I was taking STPM into consideration at that time.

How come u have ruled out STPM? You don't have any finance problems, do you? Because I just offered my opinion in another thread, I think even with STPM, it's not exactly to say u don't need a lot of money as well, unless one gets a scholarship(for degree). But even with A-Levels, u can also get a scholarship for degree studies. I think it's just that STPM is a safer option because u can still enter local gov uni which is cheaper than local private uni.

So which college u plan to go to? Didn't realize that July intake would have laid-back people. But I think Jan intake would have such ppl also

This post has been edited by OptimusMaximus: Mar 14 2013, 04:59 PM

Nope, I wouldn't have problems financing my A levels and I have no intention of entering any local university, even if I went for STPM. Hence I decided I might as well study the syllabus in English.

Then obviously A-Levels should be a better choice for you. Anyway I was kind of concerned already after TS mentioned that July intake would have more laid-back students. I never have thought that would be a scenario.

I see. From what I understand, the January intake has the most competitive students who intend to study right after SPM, March intake would consist of students who went to the first batch of NS, and July intake would be full of students from international schools, JPA scholars (if I'm not mistaken) and people who opted to work after SPM. There are hardworking/lazy students in every intake, but the laid-back attitude seems more prevalent in the July intake.

Yea Jan intake would probably have a lot of competitive students, they wouldn't want a break from studies..or shall I say, kiasu students. Or they just don't want to waste their time. I would have liked to go for March/April intake for A-Levels, but probably wouldn't be wise since it's 15 months and the schedule would be more packed. And I don't understand why July intake would be full of students from international schools? Are they the ones who are taking IGCSE/O-Levels and are one year younger than us? Yup JPA and those who work after SPM would go for July intake..I think what kind of students depends on which college we go to also.

The bold is stereotyping at best. The July intake is full or international students because they start their sixth form (A levels) in July! IGCSE and O-level examinations are completed in June and then they proceed to their A levels, IB or whatever.

Relax..did u felt something by what I said in bold? I know my friend is like that, he told me himself. But in a good way, meaning that he has a goal and ambitions. Anyway,so these international students are a year younger than us, 17 years old, and they complete their O-Levels in June and straight proceed to their pre-u in July? Wow that's fast.

Kiasu tends to bring with it negative connotations so understandably I didn't see it fit to brand those who are competitive kiasu! Well, this is what I think anyway. For the record, I myself was a student of the July intake.

They are 16 - 17 years old yes.

Alright man then I shall not use that word. Which college u went to? I assume you took CAL?

Use the word however you see fit but just not in that context.

I went to HELP for A levels (Edexcel).

Unless I'm mistaken, the O level students (who are one year younger than us) would enter the July intake. So yes, it's exactly like what you said.

I think every college has many different kinds of students, the question would be which kind of students are the majority. It's hard to compare the students in a particular college with the students in another college imo.

They wont miss cos STPM started much earlier. Yes, pre-engineer students are in someway more creative i would say, most are guys. You don't expect guys to sit down and nerd the whole day right? LOL... thus the noisy environment, and yea...not all are laid-back, definitely there are hardworking ones too..it depends on your luck of which classess and lecturers are you are getting. If good lecturers, you will enjoy your classes to bits, if not, you suffer.

Yea true. Like how I wouldn't like to go to TARC to be honest even though their A-Levels is good, because my main language is English and almost everyone there speaks Mandarin or Cantonese. But if I had to go there I wouldn't mind, just have to adapt.

Yea I forgot that STPM starts in June. Anyway, based on stereotype(excuse me ), I thought engineering students are the nerd ones? Lol. Maybe if business or arts students, then they are the creative and more relaxed ones.

From what I understand, it's not. Good results do not equate to good teaching as it is likely that students who achieve good results self-study without the guidance of their teachers. Tough, but nonetheless possible if one is independent and determined enough to do so.

And I personally know people who graduated from TARC A-levels, they say the quality of teaching there is poor.

dude...same thing happens in TCSJ fyi...alot of ppl are chinese educated background.

taylor's best in kl and klang, some say kajang too.