I throughly did NOT enjoy my time in boarding school. My advice is go to schools that ONLY have form 4 and 5 students. If you go where there's from 1-5 student, you'll probably have a miserable time there. Especially if the MRSM/SBP you're going to is not one of the best.

I had to go to a mediocre MRSM (I was sick as the time.. my mother put in an appeal to ask for the closest MRSM to KL). All the 'old' 4th formers gave all us new ones a hard time. They wouldn't allow us to do jack shit! Can't run for Student Council, sabotaged the new kids when we were given leadership roles, talked trash about us at the teachers... even blamed one bout of mass hysteria on us! All preposterous and ridiculous shit.

In hindsight I think I would have done much better if I stayed at my beloved previous school. I had friends from all races, was a prefect and teachers who were just as good as the ones in SBP/MRSMs. Instead I ended up wasting 2 years of my life being surrounded by narrow minded, petty and selfish people.

My advice.. think real hard and long about going. Sometimes 'tidak semuanya ada pada nama'.

someone's being defensive! He was just comparing between SBP and MRSM.

Back to the question: I thought MARA and SBP were like MARA and JPA. They are mutually exclusive. You would never get offered by both. Once SBP has chosen their students, MARA would not take those kids anymore( SBP gets first dibs). That was what happened to all my friends who applied to both SBP and MARA and got straight As. Hence, it is probably isn't a decision between MRSM and SBP; it's more of SBP and day school.

Both schools have their own pros and cons. Firstly you have to look at what kind of school you are in now. If you are in a good school with good facilities, teachers, and academic history, then ask yourself what would you gain from going to boarding school?? I was in MRSM Beseri (perlis) for two whole years, and the reason I stayed was cause of the facilities, teachers and the pace at which they set our work. I was also glad that I went to boarding school cause I found myself less distracted as there wasn't really much you could do for entertainment. Handphones were banned (back then...); disc players were not allowed, cause apparently the boys set it up to the tv to watch porn-though I don't know how true that is; and there wasn't a television in our hostel. So studying and sports was all there was to do.

However, I do have friends who didn't go to boarding school and are now in unis all over the world. I mean, there are some people who just can't cope living with the rules set in the hostel. These rules include sleeping at certain times; studying in class rooms as opposed to in their rooms at 3 am; and following the rules set by the 'seniors'.

So, everyone's different. Just think of what you can gain from going to SBP, and whether you could achieve those things in day school. If you can, then why go away from home? Nevertheless, boarding school gave me some great friends and experience I never would have gained otherwise(like living in such disgusting conditions that even intec seems like heaven )

I do agree about school with form 1-5 student and only form 4-5 student as mentioned by enkadirmainbola.

I am x-mrsm pengkalan chepa (why MRSM PC haven't been mentioned here?) which is form 4-5 based MRSM. I was quite a leader in my previous school before joined MRSM, and have good relationship with teachers and school admin. But, during my early MRSM life, i've got "sabotaged" by my own batch which came from another MRSM during their form 1-3. I think it got to do with seniority status. I canceled my candidacy for Student Council and joined rebellion (a group of "freshman" students which came from normal daily school). Since then, i enjoyed been there and got 9As for my SPM. Now doing master in medical sciences at UKM. Took my SPM in 2001

My advice if you make your choice to join SBP/MRSM, try be as low as you could (i mean be humble & low profile among your batch) and try do more in your studies. Be close with the teachers, coz they are from heaven! Stay away from boarding school politics at least until you get your "senior" status.

As for scholarship/sponsor after SPM, I bet all MRSM / SBP student got lots of scholarship/ sponsorship if you do well in your studies - MARA/JPA usually take the trial SPM results for these group so I can say the priorities is given to them first compared to normal daily school student. But too many choices at the end is bad for our health.

This post has been edited by azmihamzah: Jan 30 2008, 07:56 AM

i agree with enkadirmain bola..if ur gonna enter premier SBP school after PMR.. i would say dont if u want to have a hard time but yes if u wanna be the among the best.. based on my experience the freshies were the one who excel during exams and even come out as top scorers in spm but they will have very2 rare chances to be in a hicom or even be a player in sports team..that was based on my experience in a premier sbp and from my friends from other premier sbp..
but from what i heard from my MRSM friends..their culture is somewhat difference..they study like hell and its really scary to see how they study..(i dont mean all mrsm are the same..some from mrsm terendak are just "sempoi") the same goes to SBPI..
In premier SBP like mckk star sas ..u will go through a really wonderfull trtadition and i bet u will be proud of it even after u finished u schooling days..those tradtion cant be find in MRSM and SBPI because this premier school are quite old..
the best part to enter sbp or mrsm is the help from ur super seniors that u might not even know..let say u want to deal with something..just call ur old boys (most of them are in top organization in the government or MNCs)..belive me they gonna help u as if u were their best friend..this thing u seldom find in any daily school..
just my 2 cents..

This post has been edited by gobliners: Jan 30 2008, 11:33 AM

yeah i agree with gobliners..ex- mrsm and ex-sbp students sometimes are quite fanatic with thier school, or even sometimes with other school that have mrsm and sbp title. Once they see ur CV stated from same school they are on your side.
but bot people are like dat thou.

however are u sure u will get both, sbp and mrsm offer?
as far as i know, those who already picked by sbp, wont be call for registration in mrsm...well thats the "rule" in my time, not sure now.

anyway here an advice for you. most of the mrsm and sbp teachers have friends who know the SPM and PMR question. so....will they want to focus teaching you on the thing that will not come in exams..? U know the answer..

yah yah !!! luckily i'm not that fanatic...perhaps i dont really have that super good moments during my studies in sbp....

during our preparation for spm, the teachers really spoonfed us with all the standard answers (so called 'jawapan skema') where u can score confidently if u memorise the answers...
yeah, 1 thing i noticed during my stay at sbp is students are competing their memory skill ... lol

r u sure they are competing their memorizing skill?? i dont see that at my school.. what i can see is lots of genius (im not included) guyz which really make me jealous..they fly all the time..sleep during classes..play like hell..and yet their result is still among the top..and that is the scenario.. and teachers dont even mind becoz they know they will perform during exams..

that's cause spm isn't very hard!!! serious... once u get to uni, all u want to do is go back to ur high school years cause there is waaay less pressure and they don't expect u to know everything just from one lecture!!

yeah, tradition....premier sbp got their own unique tradition. One thing you could rely is you get wider connection when u going out to work soon.. hahaha! old boys will always help their juniors... how i missed my school now..

haha...competing their memory skills...nice one~

but seriously, the environment in sbp n mrsm is not the same with others..
yes the teacher looks like spoonfeding u, but in the same time, u need to understand those what have been though to u, or else, u can memorise it correctly..

TS,where are u thou?

LOL azmihamzah. Panjang! I was his dorm-mate back in PC! What a small world.

Another thing to consider is not everyone is suited to the life in boarding schools. I find it a bit difficult at first, you gonna cope with new surroundings and new circles of friends. Also you'll be in a group where top students all around the country being grouped together, so you have to beat the best or at least on par with them. I'm a last-minute kinda guy so normally I didn't do well in the normal school exams. But fortunately I got enlightened near SPM and scored straight A's. From experience if you're behaving like me you'd better off studying in a normal school, you can go to tuition classes and have your parents to scold you if you're not doing well or being lazy. Not to put you off, but if you can't hack it in the SBP/MRSM, you'll just wasting your time and money.

And yeah regarding the sports team, I had a horrid experience too. I was a talented footballer back in my secondary school form 1-3, played in various competitions but when I got into MRSM I was so disappointed with the attitude there. Note that most students there are from Kelantan/Terengganu (no offense intended) and they've known each other together since form 1, it's hard to break the chain, if you know what I mean. Imagine going to the school field and you run for the whole evening just to get a ball, and they only give the ball to their friends, isn't it frustrating? In the end I end up playing basketball with azmihamzah. And imagine watching the school football team, with some players are below your standard playing for cup final with the whole school watching, it's more frustrating. So yeah, expect a few 'untouchable' clicks.

(Will post more suggestions if needed)

P/S: Youngkies, you in Bristol? You play football? Wanna meet?

By the way guys..tomorrow supposed to be the day MRSM results will get out..and i can't even surf into mara website

lots of my friends got their offers from mrsm today...some even got accepted to one of the best mrsm in malaysia like jasin,taiping,pc and langkawi...n like i said, those who already got their offers from sbp WONT get any offer from mrsm,i checked mine, n found out that i didnt make it,hehe...
but i'm going to kisas anyway...

good luck bro ..

all schools are good..
the success of study is depend of us..
if we are hardworking, we can pass with flying colour..
if we are lazy, tak boleh nk ejas la..

Azarimy
MRSM have two tiers, the tier 1 is better then tier 2, and only 8A is admitted into tier 1, I can't remember all but tier among tier 1 are MRSM PC/Taiping/Langkawi . There use to be only 1, but its expanded now. This is to ensure that the students will compete among the same levels. All other things are the same allocation/facilities etc.

MRSM generally, have better qualified teachers, e.g. all with Master degrees. Currently a program to get teachers with PhD is underway in MRSM. All in all you will certainly get good teacher who are passionate about their subjects.

The tier 1 schools will also have the option to take O'levels on top of SPM, so you have better chances to get admitted to top A lvevel school later on.

If you enter MRSM via cables, all your peers will know as your grades will be lowest, and to be in that position is not so nice.

Compared to SBP academically MRSM students are more capable, however lacking creatively. This is a surprise as MRSM student are exposed to myriad thinking skill Lateral Thinking/Mind Maps etc. as a required subject.

Unlike SBP, where one need to enter premier schools, all MRSM are housed under ANSARA. Just state your membership in ANSARA, and if you're lucky you got an interviewer from another MRSM.

Myself ex-BP, and grab chances that come in my way to graduate with a PhD at 28. Now I work with MRSM/SBP for syllabus enhancements as part of paying back ...

wow.. kisas.. ngeh... kisas was top school in 2004 spm. mrsm beseri was second!! woot.. that's my school, and my spm year (hehe.. note that both schools beat the supposedly good mrsm langkawi and pc and taiping )

depends really.. my jpa interviewer was all like," o, mrsm ke??" like mrsm students ada disease ke apa.. ngeh.... and non-surprisingly i didn't get jpa first round.. i had to appeal.. but o well, everything happens for a reason.. otherwise i'd prob have to go somewhere else for my degree

5 of my friends got MRSM..sadly..i don't! haha~ but then..i still got my SBPI Sabak Bernam as a backup school..so i'm going there next week..this 12/2..wish me luck guys! all the best to u all! I'm going to miss my PC and GAMING very² much!

goodluck =) have a lot of time learn there..

mangkuk ayun punya interviewer..