MCKL: The best college for A Levels

disclaimer:
1. MCKL is NOT paying me money.
2. This is just my humble personal opinion

With the new year coming up, I'm pretty sure lots of students fresh off SPM are searching for "the next step".

The laziest of them would just fall into the advertising gimmick of Taylors and HELP. Look at the newspapers, your school magazines, fashion magazines, posters and such... Taylors and HELP are everywhere! It almost seems like they're the only ones offering A Levels.

The slightly lazier but smarter people would just google "best college for A Levels", "best college in KL for A Levels", "most happening college for A Levels", "cheapest college for A Levels".. the list goes on.

Well, my personal opinion is, Methodist College Kuala Lumpur or MCKL, is the best college for A Levels. At least, it was the best while I was there in 2006-2007.

Yes, it is small.
But small is what makes it good. We may be small, but we have quality. Small also means smaller classes and a better teacher-student ratio. Hence, better results.

Yes, it looks unimpressive.
Hence, the low fees. So what? Bad packaging, but it's the insides that count. It is proven that hi-tech buildings do not make you smarter. What do you need when studying for A levels? Do you need a gym? A dance studio, a tennis court, a foosball table and such? No! Also, they just end up being a distraction.

Yes, our library is small.
Do you actually need a huge library with 10,000 books in it? I'm in uni and I never borrowed a single book from its big and impressive library. What more A Levels. Besides, the MCKL lecturers are good enough =)

Yes, we do have fun.
So what if we don't have stuff. We still have fun! Despite a majority of our students having major exams every 6 months, we still have 3-4 fantastic events every semester that ALL students and lecturers attend. And every time is FUN!

No, we do not have Asia Cafe next door.
But we have a monorail that's built on former MCKL land, which leads straight to Bukit Bintang and Times Square. And we are walking distance away from KL Central which is ONE ktm stop away from MidValley, ONE lrt stop away from Petaling Street (yummy food =) and few stops away from KLCC. Even so, Brickfields itself has great food!

No, Brickfields is NOT a dangerous place.
What horror stories have you heard? =.=' BLIND people can walk around brickfields at ALL times of the day and they're safe. What makes you think we people with perfectly good eyesight are in danger? We're the ones bringing the danger instead! A klutz and a person who is oblivious to her surroundings like me can survive taking public transport to college everyday, why not you?

Yes, we do have international students.
Despite our tiny size, we do have quite a lot of international students especially in the July intake. They are kick ass young geniuses!

No, Methodist COLLEGE is NOT a school!
Methodist College is a COLLEGE. We do NOT wear school uniforms. It only offers A Levels, AUSMAT and Early Childhood Education (for future kindergaten teachers, it's not a kindergarten).

Yes, there's hardly any adverts.
It means the tuition fees you're paying isnt to pay for advertising.

Yes, there's plenty of gangster looking indians there (back in 2006-07)
So what?! These people are the REALLY SMART and very well mannered indians who are all future doctors and lawyers. They're VERY impressive people who end up inspiring the rest to "buck up" so we don't look too stupid compared to them.

The lecturers:

If I had to describe my lecturers in one word, I'd say "FANTASTIC!" and mean it in every fantastic way possible.

I took 3 subjects, Accounting, Economics and Law.

Accounting:
Mr Ferns. I'm now in Uni and I still say Mr Ferns is the BEST accounting lecturer! I was once one of the biggest accounting haters, and despite my mental wall against accounting, he changed my opinion in just a 10 minute introduction on my first day. He made everything in accounting, so simple! Besides accounting, he is a really knowledgeable man who taught us many other things in his spare time.

Economics:
Mrs Chiu. She's strict yet lenient very often. She has very strong moral stands and harps them into us every chance possible. Her lectures are GOOD! Write down EVERYthing she says! They're IMPORTANT! I still keep my notes from her classes to this day. Also, she marked every single past year paper I did on my own and guided me through personally on how to improve my answers.

Law:
Mrs Dharma. Ooh.. she's a cute little lady, but she's fierce! And she loves scaring her students! But she's a really nice lady with a good sense of humour! Her lessons are very full and well prepared. She doesnt take the short cut and just teach you to pass exams.

Sciences:
OK, I'm an Arts student and didnt take any Science subjects. But I have good feedback from my science stream friends. They say Miss Lim, the Math teacher is THE BEST!!!

In MCKL (when I was there):

• Everyone knew everyone.
• Birthdays were celebrated by everyone.
• Teachers are our friends. They eat and play sports with us.
• We have a clean toilet. Phew!
• Parking is free =)
• We have our own building, a basketball court and a field.
• Classes are air conditioned.

MCKL to me:

MCKL didnt just teach me how to pass exams. It gave me an EDUCATION, in academics and morals. Encountering MCKL teachers was when I first understood what it is to "respect teachers". They deserve it.

It is a fantastic bridge from school to university. In that period of my life, I went through many changes academicly and at home. I was a fish out of water. Good friends and good lecturers made sure that I stayed on track and made my days brighter.

I learned to encourage others around me and build them up the way my peers did to me. I did many things I never thought I'd do. I became what I never thought I could be.