Hi, I’m Arjun. I am a Malaysian national debater and youth advocate currently pursuing the International Baccalaureate at UWC Dilijan. I am passionate about progressive and accessible education, digital literacy, and diplomacy. Because of my active involvement in the debate network, UNICEF Malaysia, and meaningful community initiatives, I received a full scholarship offer to UWC Dilijan. I truly believe that service, to a person or a community, is the most meaningful pursuit a person can commit to.

Arjun is a shining example of “Malaysia Boleh” or in English, “Malaysia Can Do It", as he strives to represent his culture at UWC Dilijan and beyond.

My Debate Background

I was born in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, but moved to the East Coast when I was ten. Throughout my academic life, I have switched between three public schools; the first was the one where I learned about debate. I only joined the debate club because every smart kid did. I didn’t know back then how big a role debate would play in my life, but three years in, it has changed my life the most.

That first school didn’t have many opportunities beyond a debate club, so I made a crucial decision to move schools. When I arrived at my new school, I got the chance to compete in a national debate competition. The desire to win turned my passion into an obsession. I watched debate recordings during lunch, founded a debate club at school, and the craziest one is this: I would travel to and back from Kuala Lumpur solely for competitions every weekend for over a year. 6 a.m naps on public transport and a hectic competition later, I would return to my city at 3 a.m on a Monday, and go to school in a couple of hours—that was the extent of my obsession. That first year at my new school, my efforts led my team to win second place at the national level for my first-ever big debate competition. Confidence fueled, I tried out for WSDC Malaysia, our national debate team, and was accepted to the development team.

The following year, it was the most decisive exam period of my high school life, and I was in a dilemma. Should I focus on my final secondary school exams or debate? In the end, I chose to take on both and continued participating in debate comps every weekend despite people telling me to quit. Through one of the most perilous moments of my life, I managed to win the most prestigious public school debate competition in Malaysia, secure a placement on the main national team, and get straight A’s.[

How I First Discovered UWC

I actually only found out about UWC a month before I applied, from my senior and coach on the WSDC debate team. As a UWCSEA (Singapore) alumnus, he recommended and encouraged all of us to apply to UWC through the NC, giving us tips, tricks, and mock interviews. I was fortunate to receive the fruits of meaningful connections and networking for what would become one of the biggest changes in my life. To this day, I am very much grateful to my senior.

Why UWC?

Until my last year of high school, I never had the privilege of traveling outside of Malaysia. Even in the last year, I only went to Singapore and a year later, Thailand with my national debate team since my government paid for it. My experience in Thailand had the biggest influence on my decision to study high school abroad. There, I saw something different from what I was used to in Malaysia. Learning about new cultures and how people moved and lived differently made me realize I wanted to see more of the world and the lessons I could bring back to my own country. I was happy when my NC decided to nominate me to UWC Dilijan because it’s such a contrast from the urban city life of Malaysia. Dilijan is a small town in landlocked Armenia, a country I didn’t know existed before, miles away from home. But I had the calling to go somewhere really far away, and I knew this decision wouldn’t be wrong.

Application Stage

The UWC application was immensely stressful for me because the application period was during my final SPM exams. It was very hard to balance both as both required so much effort and time. But by this time, I really wanted to study at UWC and gave my all to it.

I believe my essays contributed most to the quality of my application and had a major influence on my NC’s decision to award me the full scholarship. I wrote about how my interactions with language and speech changed through time. When I was growing up, I only ever heard language used to inflict pain, like when people close to me said deeply harsh things to each other. I’d never thought language would be so important to me. I didn’t see the beauty in it. One day, my English teacher saw my potential in speech and signed me up for a poetry competition. Since then, I started exploring different ways language is used to express love, emotion, and grand ideas. After a lot more poetry competitions, I joined debate, a sport, ironically, at its core, was about fighting and arguing. But it was so much more. It taught me the art of discourse and how arguing constructively could lead to true learning and fulfillment. This story was important to my application because it connects all of my activities to my personal experiences.

My Stats & Extracurricular Activities

I did the SPM (Malaysian national curriculum). It was a challenging exam to score well on because the marking scheme was erratic and inconsistent, and depended on the examiners’ mood. However, I managed to get straight As, which is about 3.8/4.0 on the US gpa scale.

For extracurriculars, the most meaningful was the National ICT Security Discourse (NICTSeD) public policy competition, broadcast live on television. Participants had to create policies surrounding the digital space, focusing on vulnerable communities. I won a total cash prize of RM5000 as the champion, along with an additional RM1000 for achieving Best Presenter in the Grand Final round. However, the prize might have been the least valuable part. As a result of becoming the champion, I had the opportunity to visit special needs schools, where I learned about a whole different world of advocacy. This opened my eyes to the digital divide between marginalized groups such as senior citizens and refugees, and led me to start my own NGO, Digitalise MY, which focuses on teaching digital literacy to senior citizens. Running these regular in-person classes has been very valuable for me because I get to see them bond, learn, and grow into independent users of the digital world.

Another reward I received from NICTSeD was the connections that allowed me to work as a UNICEF Youth Advocate and to speak at high-profile events, including UNICEF World Children’s Day and Astro Awani’s It’s About Youth TV program.

In 2025, I interned at a political organization under the office of a State Assemblywoman of my town. It was one of the highlights of my year because not only did I gain a great mentor, but I also sat in on high-level policy meetings, captured and edited interviews for social media content, and initiated an independent community project delivering digital literacy workshops to vulnerable groups.

Financial Aid & Scholarship

If you apply to UWC through the NC pathway, your country’s National Committee will nominate you to a campus and decide your scholarship amount depending on what your family can afford. If you apply as a GSP (Global Selection Program) applicant, you won’t be awarded any scholarships, but you will be able to choose whichever campus of your choice. I was the only Malaysian in 2025 to be awarded a full scholarship worth $88,000. However, I’d like to advise you not to worry too much about the scholarship amount during the application process and focus on the merits of studying in a UWC environment.

Life at UWCD

One thing I learnt after four months of being here is the need for balance. Back in Malaysia, I was used to a linear day where I got up like clockwork, went to school for nine hours, and came back home to do whatever I wanted. I lived a fairly predictable life where everything I did was under my control. But at UWCD, there are constant social gatherings, regional evenings, mandatory UWC sessions, and CAS, spontaneous meet-ups to start a humanitarian project, and on top of that, the IB—which, if you’ve never done the IB before, congrats, you chose peace. It is a curriculum that requires consistency and good time management. As a UWC student, you really have to accept the fact that you can’t do everything and prioritize what’s important. You might have to make sacrifices that you won’t be happy about, but I’ve learnt that sometimes the gruelling task you had to choose becomes more meaningful to you in the future.

Dare to Dream

UWC is not well known in Malaysia, and before meeting my alumni, I’ve never met anyone else who was applying for the UWC scholarship or even knew about the movement. If you are from Malaysia and reading this on Borderless, I hope this article is a source of inspiration for you to apply. Despite the challenge of explaining to your parents why you want to move far away to a boarding school, the struggle of collecting documents and recommendations from teachers (especially if you come from a public school), try still if you want to challenge yourself. Encourage others around you who would thrive in a UWC environment to apply as well! My biggest advice is to start working on your extracurriculars and services that you are actually passionate about because not only is it an integral part of your application, but it is a very fulfilling and meaningful experience that will support your journey of personal growth and figuring out what you want to do in life.