My LPDP Story - Pengalaman Wawancara 1 LPDP 2019 di Makassar
Setelah melalui wawancara 2 serta verifikasi dokumen, jadwal saya selanjutnya adalah wawancara 1 pukul 16.20 tanggal 14 Agustus 2019. Jedanya cukup jauh dari wawancara 2 yang sudah selesai jam 8.30 pagi dan Verdok pukul 9.30. Saya hanya menunggu giliran saya di dalam Gedung GKN II Makassar sambil berkenalan dan bercerita dengan sesama peserta. Saya sebenarnya merasa lapar, tapi entah kenapa merasa enggan untuk beranjak mencari makan waktu itu. Singkat cerita, saat waktunya tiba kami 6 orang dipanggil untuk bersiap mengikuti sesi wawancara 1 di lantai 6. Kami diarahkan menuju lantai 6 melalui lift. Mungkin itu adalah moment paling menegangkan berada di dalam lift selama hidup saya. Tetapi kami berenam hanya mencoba bercanda satu sama lain.
Sesampainya di depan ruang wawancara di lantai 6, kami masih harus duduk di ruang tunggu menunggu dipanggil. Saya mungkin menunggu sekitar setengah jam di ruang tunggu di depan ruang wawancara sebelum dipanggil. Ruangan untuk wawancara 1 lebih luas dibandingkan tempat saya wawancara 2 sebelumnya. Jadi walaupun terdapat 6 meja wawancara di satu ruangan, ruangannya cukup luas sehingga saya bisa fokus terhadap wawncara saya tanpa terganggu proses wawancara yang sedang berlangsung di meja lainnya. Di tiap meja wawancara sudah duduk masing-masing 3 orang panelis. Dua orang adalah profesional atau akademisi sedangkan satunya lagi adalah psikolog. Itulah sebabnya kita sebaiknya menjawab sejujurnya dan apa adanya karena akan ada psikolog yang mengamati jawaban dan gerak-gerik kita sepanjang jalannya wawancara. Sejauh yang saya ketahui, LPDP adalah satu-satunya beasiswa yang dalam wawancara melibatkan psikolog untuk menilai psikologi serta karakter para interviewee.
Ketika saya dipanggil masuk, saya melihat dari kejauhan 3 panelis yang akan mewawancara saya. Kelihatannya mereka bertiga ramah dan tidak mengintimidasi. Saat saya sampai di depan meja wawancara, saya mengucapkan salam dan menyalami ketiga panelis lalu menunggu dipersilahkan duduk. Pewawancara saya saat itu terdiri dari satu orang laki-laki berkacamata yang duduk di tengah, sedangkan di sebelah kiri dan kanannya adalah ibu-ibu berjilbab. Saya tidak tahu awalnya mana yang psikolog dan mana yang akademisi/profesional, tapi seiring berjalannya wawancara saya bisa mengetahui yang mana berdasarkan pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang dilontarkan ke saya. Untuk memudahkan, saya memberi kode A (bapak akademisi), B (ibu psikolog), dan C (ibu akademis/profesional perwakilan LPDP). Karena saya adalah pelamar beasiswa tujuan luar negeri, maka seluruh jalannya interview saya menggunakan bahasa Inggris 100%.
Si Bapak (A) yang duduk di tengah berbicara lebih dahulu dan memperkenalkan namanya dan kedua rekannya. Sayangnya tidak butuh waktu lama untuk saya melupakan nama ketiga pewawancara saya tersebut. Mungkin karena konten wawancara yang cukup berat. Sejauh yang saya bisa ingat dan recall kembali, wawancara saya kurang lebih berlangsung sebagai berikut:
A : Before the interview starts, I would like to record our conversation. Is that okay?
S : Okay Sir
A : So please introduce yourself, education background, occupation, and also your study plan!
S : Thank you sir. First of all, I`d like to say thank you very much for letting me going trough to this interview phase. Well, my full name is Fistra Janrio Tandirerung. My nick name is Rio. I am a Medical Doctor currently working in Puskesmas Ge`tengan in Tana Toraja Regency. I was graduated from Tadulako University School of Medicine and I would like to continue my study to University College London taking Master of Cardiovascular Science or science regarding heart and blood vessel.
A : Why do you choose UCL?
S : Thank you, Sir. Actually there are a lot of things that I put under my consideration when I choose UCL as the next institution for my master study. The first one, the most general one, is the ranking or instituion reputation. According to the QS World University ranking 2020, UCL is on the 8th position of the world best universities. Moreover, according to the Times Higher Education, UCL also ranked 8th position regarding preclinical, clinical, and health science. However, my main consideration was actually given to the modules that UCL provides. UCL provides very holistic and comprehensive modules regarding cardiovascular. UCL provides not only basic science regarding molecular and celular but also clinically related modules. Thus, it will give me good grounding regarding how cardiovascular sytem normally works and how any particular diseases may develop. The next reason is their mode of learning. One of the modules which is congenital heart disease will be deliverd trough anatomical approaches which is the best method in learning congenital heart diseases because congenital diseases is a structural anomaly. This suits me very well because during my undergraduate study, I have more than 3 years exprience as teaching assistant in the department of Anatomy in Tadulako University and my bachelor thesis was about anatomy. And the last, they provide a module called Clinical Cardiology which will emphasize on how we can applicate the cutting edge approaches and knowledge in cardiovascular science into clinical life. I think this is a very fundamental module, because the core of knowledge is how we can transfer our knowledge and applicate it to solve the problems in the clinical field.
A : Do you have any experience regarding cardiovascular?
S : Yes sir. During my time working as doctor in Puskesmas, I found a lot of people mostly elderly suffering for cardiovascular diseases. Most of them having hypertension. I once had a patient. I remember her name. She is Mrs. Maria, she is suffering for Chronic heart failure. Thus she had never been to church anymore because if she wanted to go to church she had to walk uphill. It will make her out of breath. Morever, cardiovascular disease remain world deadliest killer worldwide including in Indonesia. So cardiovascular is not only a health problem but also gives us social problem.
A : So dont you think it is better that we work more from public health perspective emphasizing on prevention?
S : Thank you sir. Actually I agree with you that prevention is good approach because trough good prevention means, we can prevent cardiovascular disease from happening. Unfortunately, no matter how good we try to prevent there will always people suffering for cardiovascular diseases. So as a doctor, I will be required to manage the disease from preventing any disease from happening, treating people who already have cardiovascular diseases, and perform rehabilitation for those who already have complication. And If i given a chance to study, i will learn about cardiovascular science and disease. I will learn about how cardiovascular system normally works, and how it can develop to become a disease. Therefore, I will have knowledge about how we can prevent a disease , how to treat people and also how to maka rehabilitation for people with cardiovascular diseases.
A : So, do you want to be a academician or practioner?
S : Actually, I want to be both sir. Upon the completion of my study, I`d like to work in a hospital in Palu city as a Medical Staff particularly in Internal Medicine Department. Therefore, I can applicate the knowledge I got from the courses that I learn from my master study. I will also have more opportunity to learn more about clinical knowledge from the specialist. But, I also want to be a lecturer because I love learning and teaching. I want to be a lecturer in the institution where I graduated from, Tadulako University.
A : Have you contacted any staff in Tadulako University regarding your intention to become a lecturer?
S : To be honest, I have not Sir. It is because there still a chance that I wont be accepted by LPDP. I am just afraid that if I tell my lecturers that I want to be a lecuterer but at the end of the day I failed in this selection. Therefore, I plan to tell them about my intention when I have given a chance to win this scholarship so I can make more effective communication with them. But I think I have a good access to become a lecturer in Tadulako University because I have good relationship with my lecturers in the faculty. My dean and my vice dean themselves wrote me recommendation for university admission and for scholarship application and they give me full support. My supervisor during my duty as teaching assistant in the Anatomy Department is also the Vice Dean of Academic Affair. Moreover, in Tadulako Univeristy, there is only one lecturer by now whom field of expertise is in cardiovascular science.
A : You already have an unconditional offer from UCL. So have you contacted any professor or staffs in UCL?
S : Yes, Sir. I have actually contacted two people in UCL. One is the programme administrator, Mrs. Joanna Pajerska and A research supervisor, Dr. Ann Walker. I discussed about how can I contact my potential supervisor to discuss my research but they said that the master students do not have to make their own research proposal since UCL offers a pool of research programmes for the students and they will be asked to pick three projects in order of preference. Then, the project coordinator will match the project with the students` interest. Dr. Ann also gave me the example of research project for 2018-2019 academic year because the projects for the following academic years have not been released yet. If you don`t mind, I can give you the proof of my email.
Saya menawarkan untuk memperlihatkan bukti korespondesi saya dengan pihak UCL, tapi para panelis tidak memintanya dan melanjutkan wawancara
A : So there will be double grant or not?
S : Based on the information I got from the programme administrator, there won`t be double grant because the research project and the Clinical Cardiology course, which will be taken off-campus in Barts Heart Center, are already included in the tuition fee, Sir. So there will not be double grant.
A : Okay I undestand. (sambil menganggukkan kepala) If after finishing your master study then you are offered any chance and grant to take PhD. Will you take it?
Menurut saya, Ini adalah pertanyaan untuk menguji saya apakah setelah saya selesai studi akan langsung kembali ke Indonesia atau tidak
S : To be honest, it would be wonderful . However, I think I would be coming back to Indonesia first to secure my position in Tadulako University
A : I see here on your CV that you entered Tadulako University in 2012 and finished you bachelor in 2016. So can you say how you can finish your study on time?
S : Actually, I just want to be a good doctor, Sir. But, my experience as teaching assistant in Anatomy Department helps me to obtain better scientific grounding in medicine because anatomy is a fundemental knowledge in medicine.
A : Okay, the last question from me. Can you tell me about your social activity?
S : Thank you, Sir! During my time as a student, I have several opportunities to join social services tipically in the remote areas. The social services conducted both by the university organisations or the hospital where I undertake my clinical study. From all of those, the most memorable one was when we make social service in the remote area in Palolo subdistrict about 2-3 hours from Palu city. We stayed there for 3 days to make free medical examination and service. I was also given a chance to be a field coordinator by the time. Another one was back in December 2018 when I came back to Palu right after I have passed my medical doctor competency examination. We make free medical service for the earthquake and liquifaction survivors in Sigi regency which was the region that heavily affected by that disaster.
A : Okay, I think it is enough from me. (Beliau lalu memberi isyarat ke ibu yang ada di sebelah kirinya untuk melanjutkan wawancara)
Berdasarkan pertanyaannya, saya yakin bahwa pewawncara kedua ini adalah psikolog
B : Can you tell me based on your experience when you have a conflict with your patient?
S : Sure mam, usually there are patiets who come to Puskesmas and insisist to be referred to the hospital eventhough their problem can be fully solved in Puskesmas without having to go to the hospital. Therefore, I have to be more persuasive to convince them in this thing eventhough sometimes there are patient who keep insisting for us to refer them. (Di sini saya menjelaskan lebih jauh bagaimana saya mengelolah konflik dengan pasien)
B : What are the difficulties that you find when you are working as a doctor?
S : One thing that I found to be very challenging is because I have to meet people with different personalities. Therefore, I can not make the same approaches to every patient because some patients may open to disscussion or suggestion and some may not. So the challenge is managing the people with different personalities
B : What is the most important value that you learn when you serve as a doctor?
S : (saya mengawali jawaban saya dengan menceritakan seorang pasien saya yang tangannya tidak sengaja tertusuk pisau saat mengambil rumput untuk ternak yang dipeliharanya. Beliau datang dari kalangan ekonomi lemah dan tidak punya BPJS yang kebetulan adalah tetangga salah satu bidan di Puskesmas tempat saya waktu itu bekerja. Oleh karena itu, setelah menangani dan memberinya obat, kami memulangkan pasien tersebut tanpa mengambil bayaran. Kemudian saya menutup cerita saya ini dengan...) So the thing or value that I learn from being a doctor is humanity.
Pewawancara tersebut terlihat mengikuti cerita saya dengan antusias lalu kemudian beliau tersenyum sambil menganggukkan kepala
B : Have you ever lived abroad?
S : To be honest, I have not Maam.
B : Have you ever lived in another regency?
S : Sure, during my time as a medical student I lived for almost seven years in Palu City. But during that time, I did not merely stay in Palu city, I have also lived in Parigi regency for 1 month and in Luwuk Banggai regency also for 1 month during my clinical education.I have also lived in Yogyakarta for 3 days when I joined a medical olympiad in Gadjah Mada University.
B : Do you think there is a difference living in another regency?
S : Of course, Maam. Living in one regency is not same as living in the other one.
B : So do you think will it be different living in another country?
S : Sure, Maam. Living in a diiferent regency in a same country may be quite different. Therefore, I believe living abroad will also very different than living in Indonesia.
B : What do you think will be the challenges of living abroad and how you will handle it?
S : I think the best thing to face the challenge is gathering as much as information and knowledge so we can arrange the strategy to overcome it. Actually I have read in the internet and asked my friends and colleagues who have experience living in the UK and especially London about the potential challenges to face. The first challenge is language because most of Indonesian people are more get used to American accent than Britih accent. So I have to learn more to get my self more familiar with British accent. But I think if I given a chance to study there, I still have about 1 year to learn about it. The next challenge will be accomodation and transportation. London is a metropolitan city and is divided into 9 zones in which the zone 1 become the most expensive in accomodation and transportation and zone nine become the least expensive yet located far from the middle of the city. The UCL campus is located in zone 1. So if I live nearby the campus, my living allowance wont be enough, Thus the best approach is live in zone 3 or 4 because it is already affordable but not too far from the campus.
Si ibu pewawancara mengangguk-anggukkan kepala sambil sedikit tersenyum saat melihat ke laptop yang ada di depannya
B : Ya, I think it is enough from me.
Wawancara berpindah ke ibu pewawancara yang terakhir yang duduk di sebelah kiri saya.
C : So it is my turn and I am a representative from LPDP who will be interviewing regarding urgency and innovation. So do you think it`s urgent to learn about this?
S : I think this is urgen maam. Cardiovascular diseses remain the world deadliest killer and the same thing also happens in Indonesia. Based on my experience, during my clinical study, Cardiovascular policlinic was the most visited hospital clinic every day. Every day up to 70 patients or more come to policlinic for medical attention. That number excluding the emergency cases that may be found in Emergency Department. And as I said earlier Maam, in Tadulako University also there is only one lecturer whose field of expertise is in Cardiovascular science. So I think this is very urgent.
C : What will be the innovation you offer if you are given this scholarship?
S : I think the innovation will be the research. We have known the classical risk factors of cardiovascular diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and collesterol. But recent studies have discovered that there are other unussual risk factors such as emotional stress and even people under bullying have more risk to die because of cardiovascular diseases. So I think by performing research to discover as many as risk factors of the diseases we can prevent more people to die due to cardiovascular diseases.
C : Okay, I think it`s enough from me.
Seingat saya, pewawncara ketiga ini yang paling sedikit bertanya. Mungkin karena sudah mengamati jawaban-jawaban saya sejak wawancara dimulai. Tetapi setelah saya menjawab pertanyaan terakhir, pewawancara pertama kembali bertanya.
A : Have you ever made a research regarding cardiovascular science? (saya yakin pertanyaan ini muncul karena jawaban saya atas pertanyaan ibu pewawancara ketiga untuk menggali apakah saya punya track record yang cukup)
S : To be honest, I have not Sir. But actually my bachelor thesis was about anatomy education in which I compare the level of comprehension of learning anatomy with cadaver and artificial anatomy models. One of the subjects that we learn in anatomical science is cardiovascular, Sir. It has also been published in a journal eventhough it is not directly related to cardiovascular science.
A : Okay, is there any question? (sambil melihat kedua rekannya) I think this is the end of our interview. Do you have something to ask?
S : No sir. I think it`s enough. Mohon maaf kalau ada salah-salah kata Pak, Bu!
Setelah itu saya langsung berdiri dan menyalami ketiga pewawancara saya kemudian memohon ijin untuk meninggalkan ruangan wawancara.
Terus terang, saya merasa puas dengan jalannya wawancara 1 ini. Saya merasa beruntung mendapatkan interviewer yang tidak pernah memotong pembicaraan saya serta mendengarkan dengan seksama semua hal yang saya sampaikan. Oleh karena itu, saya merasa wawancara ini seperti berdiskusi. Tidak ada intimidasi sama sekali dari pewawancara baik melalui perkataan maupun gestur tubuh. Panelis bertanya kepada saya, dan saya menjelaskan mimpii saya, cita-cita dan tujuan saya. Tetapi memang, yang namanya interview pasti ada sedikit unsur subjektivitas walaupun saya yakin semua interviewer adalah orang-orang profesional. Mungkin di sinilah faktor keberuntungan juga bermain.
Selain itu, sebelum wawancara, saya sempat melakukan mock interview dengan mentor saya di Amerika via Skype. Mock interview itu sangat membantu terlebih karena mentor saya memiliki pengalaman yang sangat banyak dalam mengikuti seleksi beasiswa sehingga saya mendapat banyak bekal pengalaman dan pengetahuan baru sebelum menghadapi wawancara yang sebenarnya.
Dari ekspresi dan respon pewawancara jujur saya mendapatkan feeling yang positive. Tetapi saya tidak mau berbesar kepala dulu karena semua hal bisa terjadi. Ada banyak cerita orang yang merasa wawancaranya berlangsung sangat lancar tanpa ada satu hal pun yang menghawatirkan, bahkan ada yang sudah mendapatkan selamat dari pewawancara tetapi malah gagal saat pengumuman. Sebaliknya ada yang merasa tidak akan berhasil tetapi justru malah lulus seleksi substansi. Jadi menurut saya memang ada dimensi tertentu yang berada di luar jangkauan dan pikiran kita. Di sinilah kekuatan doa menjadi penting. Apalagi ada moment di wawancara 2 yang menjadi keraguan dalam hati saya apakah saya bisa lulus atau tidak.
Pengumuman akan dilaksanakan tanggal 16 September 2019. Lebih dari sebulan sejak wawancara saya selesai. Tidak ada seharipun di mana saya tidak memikirkan wawancara saya dan berpikir apakah saya akan lolos atau tidak. Saya hanya bisa mendoakan hasil terbaik untuk apa yang sudah saya usahakan. Biar Tuhan yang mengurus, walaupun tentu saja saya berharap diberi kesempatan untuk lulus. Saya hanya meyakini dalam hati bahwa what is meant to be yours, will always be yours!
Sekedar informasi, untuk bisa lulus dari tahap wawancara, para peserta harus memenuhi dua syarat. Pertama, harus melewati passing grade yang ditentukan dan yang kedua harus direkomendasikan oleh perwawancara. Jadi walaupun kita telah memenuhi passing grade tetapi tidak direkomendasikan, maka kita juga tidak akan diluluskan. Akhirnya saat pengumuman tiba, Puji Tuhan saya masih diberi kesempatan untuk lulus. Sungguh, ini adalah salah satu moment paling penting dalam hidup saya. Entah mengapa terasa lebih bahagia dibangingkan saat lulus pengumuman ujian kompetensi dokter. Ketika flashback kembali mengenai apa yang sudah saya lewati sejauh ini, saya teramat sangat bersyukur. Semuanya seperti terbayar lunas dan leganya minta ampun ketika melihat kata “Selamat” di akun pendaftaran. Berat dan panjangnya perjuangan seolah dapat langsung saya lupakan. Tetapi ini semua barulah awal dari sebuah tahap perjalanan baru dalam hidup saya.
Saya berdoa bahwa siapapun yang sedang dalam proses menuju ke sana akan memperoleh hasil terbaik atas segala hal yang telah diusahakan dan didoakan. Again, what is meant to be yours, will always be yours!
(NB: Tips wawancara LPDP akan saya tuliskan di tulisan khusus karena tulisan ini rasanya sudah terlalu panjang)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A passionate medical doctor aiming to become forefront in medical practice, research and education.This blog is inteded to be a platform to share the beautiful and unforgetable journey in pursuing higher education abroad.
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