Deciding About What to Study After High School

After watching that Indonesian movie called "Kambing Jantan" (English : Male Goat) , I remember about how I and my family decided about what I'm gonna study after my high school . Let me tell you about what I wanted to be before I was admitted into NAFA .
When I was in pre-school , my teacher asked me about what I wanted to be in the future . I was confused , so then I asked my parents about what did the teacher mean . My mom said ,"Oh it's about your future job . I think it's better if you work as a doctor in the future . You can save people's life and earn much money !" So then the next day I told my teacher that I wanted to be a doctor . Till I was in primary school year 2 , I kept saying that I wanted to be a doctor . When I was in primary 2 , my Mom asked me to take a drawing course , knowing that my drawing score in school was so terrible . After I took the drawing course , I fell in love with drawing . Once I started drawing , I couldn't remember anything else , include time . So after one year , she asked me to stop the drawing course . I was sad . Started from primary 3 , I had new dream , I wanted to be an artist . When I told my mom about this , she was angry . Ya , she was disappointed of my new dream . She said that being an artist is a bad dream , bad future , no money lah , difficult to get a job lah , etc . So then I never talked about it in front of my mom anymore . I kept that dream inside my mind only . When I was in primary 5 , I started reading comic , since then I became a comic lover . Then when I asked my Dad to buy me the comic , he said ,"I'm sorry , Rong Li , but I don't have that much money to buy you this comic , better if I use the money to pay for your text books ..."
So , what I did was re-read that comic , tried to remember the pictures inside the comic , then when I reached home , I tried to draw the characters inside the comic . Since then , I started making comic by my self , and I had new dream , becoming a comicus , or mangaka , the popular term at that time . I didn't tell my Mom about this . Once , she found a comic I drew by my self inside my school bag . She was so mad and angry , so scary remembering that day . I was so sad . She asked me to tear all the pages of my comic , my 30 pages of comic . If you are an artist , you will know how it feels like to see your artwork to be torn and destroyed , especially it's your self whom is forced to destroy it . I hate it so damn badly !! Since then , I always be careful about my comics . I hid them , not inside my school bag , but inside my drawer in school . I kept drawing comics till I was in secondary school .
I had readers too for my comics . My best friends , they always read my comic . They supported me . I liked reading Detective Conan comics , Inuyasha , Nakayoshi , even guy's comics like Naruto , Yugi-oh , and One Piece , I also read . My bro got some comic collections as well . Sometimes , when I drew in class , and it wasn't my lucky day , the teacher caught me drawing and he/she would seize it from me :( .

When I was in secondary school year 1 , I got MP3 player as my 12th birthday gift . I started listening to music . I love music since then . That made me had a dream to be a DJ when I was in secondary school year 2 . Maybe it also because of me playing Audition Ayodance , an online game when I was in secondary school year 2 .
Okay , after year 2 of secondary school ended , and I was in year 3 of secondary school , I changed my dream again . Yeah , I wanted to be a doctor , again .

Till I was in 1st year of my high school / Junior college , I started to read novels more often . Till I was addicted to buy novels . Then my Dad told me not to waste money on buying novels . So , I had an idea , why didn't I make my own stories ? So I started learning how to write a story . Started from short stories . I had my best friends read them also , especially the girls . Then , I had a dream to be a writer . After that , on my second year of my high school , I learned how to draw in perspective way . Like about interior design and architecture , the basic one .
I joined a student exchange program to Perth when I was in second year of my junior college . I visited a university there , called University of Western Australia (UWA) , I was interested in architectural study after that . So , I told my Mom that I planned to study there and take architecture as my course . She was quite disappointed after that . She asked me why I changed my dream again . Then I tried to explain to her that it's because taking medical study has never won my heart . It's just not my major . I told her that I would fail immediately if I take medical study , then she scolded me ,"You haven't tried yet ! How come you say that you will fail ??"
Then my Dad already told her to let me choose my own way , not by her option , but by my own heart , but still , she insisted to register me to medical study . I was so damn stressed at that time . I felt like I had a 'gap' with my mom since then .
I became more stressed when I was in my final year of my high school (third year / year 12 for simple) . My school asked all final year students to take psychological test . So I took la . After I received my test result , I found out that my three highest study interests were Art (98/100) , Communication (90/100) , and Business (60/100) . In fact , my study interests in medical was 15 out of 100 only . When I showed it to my Mom , she said that the test wasn't accurate , she did still believe in her self .
The pressure became higher when it's left 5 months only before I was graduated from high school . She asked me whether I registered into any universities already or no . Then I told her that I haven't registered yet . She was shocked and panic . Left 5 months only and I haven't registered to any uni yet . Then she forced me to register to public universities in Indonesia . She asked me to try the medical study in Brawijaya University in Malang . You know ? It's so damn difficult to be admitted to public uni in Indonesia . If you're admitted into any public university in Indonesia , wah really , I must congratulate you ! So damn lucky ! Normally the people who join the intake test for public university are around one million people for one faculty , especially medical faculty , then the people who will be accepted are only 10% of them . So ya , you know now how difficult it is .
There's one more uni in Surabaya , near Malang , it's called A*******a University , public uni too and quite famous , but it's difficult for my school students to go study there , coz last time got one student registered to that uni , then after the uni accepted him , a few days after that , he got e-mail that he's admitted into NUS or NTU , I forget , so of course he chose to study in Singapore's famous uni la , then he cancelled to study in A*******a university . Since then , my school is blacklisted by that uni in Surabaya , I dunno now , maybe lately they opened the registration for my school again .
Okay , back to the topic . I didn't register to any public universities . I just didn't want to study in Indonesia . I told my Mom about this . Although got two private universities in Surabaya offer me scholarship , but I rejected them . She was angry knowing me rejecting the scholarship .

Four months before the graduation of my high school , my Mom finally stopped being a stubborn . She let me choose my own option to study after my high school . I asked her whether I could study in Perth . Then she asked an education agent in my hometown about some uni in Perth . First , when she asked about University of Western Australia (UWA) , she was shocked by the tuition fee . My Dad said that he really can't afford for that . It's AUD 27000 per year to study about architecture .
Okay , so cancelled . Then she asked me what I wanted to study besides architecture . Then I told her that I wanted to take graphic design (It's because last time , my third ex wanted to study about graphic design , so I followed la , hehe , now so lucky never take that course , graphic design isn't my major) . Okay , so she got info that in Perth got an art institution called TAFE , but when she knew about the tuition fee , she cancelled . It's AUD 10000 per year . Besides , the living cost in Perth is so damn expensive .
After that she asked me if it's ok  with me to study overseas but not in Perth . She offered me to study in Malaysia . So I said okay , but then the education agent said that studying in Singapore is better , coz in Malaysia can't get part time job . So ya , okay , I agreed to study in Singapore . They offered me three school , NAFA , LaSalle , and Raffles . They suggested me to study in NAFA coz it offered 50% TGD . So , okay , I agreed . When I read the courses in NAFA , at first I wanted to study about graphic design . Then my Dad asked me ,"Are you sure ? Graphic design ? As I know , you'll use a lots of graphic software , I thought your computer score in school is always bad ? Always fail ?" Then I told him ,"Dad , it's GNU C++ , okay ? Different from graphic design ..."
After few weeks , I re-thought again about my choice . After thinking for quite long time , I told my parents that I wanted to change my course . I changed into fashion design . Actually I wanted all of the courses you know ? Lol , I love art very much . Art is my world . I wanted to take dance , I wanted to take music , theater , graphic design , animation , 3D design , fine arts , etc . Then my Mom asked me to stop being crazy and confirm my choice again . So I told her that okay , I chose fashion design .
Then when my Mom told my aunts , uncles , cousins , and my grandparents about this , one of my Aunts said ,"You should think again , Rong Li , I think studying in Singapore is too stressful , didn't you read the newspaper ? Got one Indonesian student called David Hartanto suicide because of his final year project ! I think he studied in Nanyang also ..."
Then my Mom was quite surprised also . Then I told her that mine is Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) not Nanyang Technological University (NTU) , that suicide guy studied in NTU , not NAFA . I told her also that I won't suicide because of art , it's my world , my real desire .
Ya , ikr , so many natural science students in my school will compete in intake test for NTU or NUS . Those two universities are very famous in my school . Even some people will grade my school by counting how many students are admitted into one of those uni in a year . In my graduation year , none of the students were admitted into one of those universities . So , some people already said that my school's achievement had decreased , because of that only .  Because normally got at least one student per year , admitted to NTU or NUS , from my high school . NAFA is quite popular in my high school , but not as popular as the two uni . There were only three students from the same graduation year with me amd the same high school , admitted into NAFA , two girls (included me) , and one guy . I and that girl are currently in fashion design and the guy is in graphic design .
My Mom told me that if I couldn't get the 50% TGD , my parents wouldn't be able to send me study there . Coz it would be too expensive for them . It's SGD 16000 per year without TGD .
At first , I was on the waiting list , I was so damn sad at that time , till I didn't have any appetite to eat and just can cry cry cry inside my bed room . The few days after that , my education agent told me that I got TGD , I was so damn happy , and ya , see , now I'm a NAFA student . Finally I can prove to my parents and friends , that art is my major , not medical study .

Now , it's my brother who got problem with his future study after high school . My mom wants him to study about computer science . She said because he likes gaming , so better for him to study about computer and taking natural science study in high school . But my brother , he himself actually wants to study about cooking . Ya , he's a natural cook , for me . He said that he likes gaming , but doesn't mean he likes programming . Then I told my mom not to force him . It's because , I felt it already how it feels like to be forced to study about something that you actually dislike . I took natural science in high school , but actually I didn't like , you know ? It's because of my Mom forced me . Now , see , where got I study about natural science ? I study about fashion design now , no connection with natural science .
My brother also dislike natural science , he told me that actually he wants to take social science in high school , but my Mom insisted that he must take natural science .
Hmmm well ... I dunno what to say again ... Mom's rules , haha ...