[Unpad.ac.id, 27/08/2013] Since entering college, Resa Nurfatimah Sobandi had targeted to graduate as quickly as possible. With considerable effort, the newly-graduate of English Department of Unpad Faculty of Arts successfully completed her bachelor’s degree within 2 years and 10 months. It makes her as the fastest graduate of her class in the fourth wave of Universitas Padjadjaran Graduation Ceremony of 2012/2013 academic year, which will be inaugurated on Tuesday (27/08) this morning.
“I never really thought I would graduate so quickly. But the chance was there and it’s not impossible to do. So, why not?” said the girl who’s called Echa by her friends when she was met in Unpad Public Relation Office some time ago. Resa is one of the three undergraduate students who managed to graduate in less than 3 years. The other two graduates completed their studies in 2 years and 11 months. They are Anisa Endah Pertiwi and Dini Nurlelasari. Both are from History department.
Echa further explained that since the beginning, she often had many discussions with her academic counselor about the strategies to graduate fast. Last year, knowing that one of the alumni of the department successfully graduated in less than three years, she was encouraged to do so.
“My academic counselor advised me to keep up my grade point each semester so that I would get a high GPA in the end. However, the further we go, the more difficult the classes get. The real thrill is to get more A’s and keep maintaining it, ” said Echa, who graduated with a GPA of 3. 80.
Besides that, Echa took many opportunities to have discussions with the lecturers, senior students, and even alumni of the department. This helped her understand better what she was studying. She did this both in formal and informal situations.
“As a literature student, I read and analyze a load of literary works, and I have to write criticism on the works, too, of course. So, it’s quite difficult to do all that alone. But getting engaged in a lot of discussions really helps me learn and understand,” said Echa, who is an active member of Gelanggang Mahasiswa Sastra Inggris (Gemasi) and a librarian at the Resource Centre for Linguistics Research and Literary Studies.
The girl who was born in Sumedang on February, 15 1992, admits that she has long been interested in studying English. At first, she thought English was only all about learning the language, but once she learned it in college, she found out that it’s more than only that, which got her more interested in it. She learned much about English literary and cultural discourses as well as gained more insight on critical thinking skills. She said that at the English Department of Unpad’s Faculty of Arts, she not only learned English language, but how literature shapes life and how life shapes literature, which gives her many valuable life lessons.
“When I entered the English Department, I never felt that I took the wrong major. This is where I belong. There are many life lessons that I learned both in the class and outside of it,” said Echa, who wants to be a lecturer and a writer someday.
Finally, this is some friendly advice from Echa for her friends and her younger classmates in the English Department who are still pursuing their studies. “The most important thing is to map out a strategy in your study. We have to set the priority, whether we aims at graduating quickly or we have something else to pursue. You have to find out what you want, set your goal, and know what you need to do to achieve it, and step ahead.”
