Students get up close and personal with universities

Students get up close and personal with universities

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More than 400 high school seniors packed the auditorium of the
Labschool High School in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, on Tuesday for
the sixth annual career day, eager to get some tips on how to get
into a top university.

"There are three secrets to success," Arief Rachman, a noted
education expert, told the group of graduating seniors from 36
high schools in Jakarta. "Ambition, ability and hard work."

Arief is a former principal of the Labschool, where 98 percent
of graduates continue on to university.

Representatives from the University of Indonesia, Gadjah Mada
University in Yogyakarta, the Bandung Institute of Technology and
Padjadjaran University in Bandung -- four of the most prestigious
institutes of higher learning -- were on hand to provide
information on their schools.

All four institutions are public universities, where the
majority of students must gain admission through a rigorous
national exam. In 2004, when 1.9 million students graduated from
high schools nationwide, 336,707 students competed for 82,190
spots at public universities.

During the event on Tuesday, Syafnir, a representative of the
national exam board, explained the procedures for the annual
exam, which will be held in June this year.

"The most important thing to do is to write down your name,"
said Syafnir. "A number of students get nervous and leave out
this small, but very important detail."

The students attending the event at Labschool will take a
practice exam on Wednesday.

Admission representatives from 58 institutions of higher
education, including a number of overseas universities, have set
up information booths at the event.

According to Erina Yovanka, who has taught at Labschool for 12
years, 30 percent of the school's graduates continue their
studies abroad. She added that the most popular majors in recent
years were medicine, information technology, economics and
communications.

The organizer of the event, Puri Handayani, who is also a
counselor at Labschool, said, "Through this event, we want all
students, not just ours, to get accurate information on
universities."

Ari, 17, a senior at state high school SMA 30 in Rawasari,
East Jakarta, said he thought the event was very useful.

"It's a great event. It's very informative and helpful," said
Ari, who wants to study at Padjadjaran University. "My school
doesn't have anything like this." (002)