Acceptance Case

The fluorescent lights of the lecture hall were flipped back on, and the blinding lights flickered to life as the power point presentation ended with its last slides on Professor Lim's lecture on aeronautical telemetry. The third year electronic & electrical engineering students of the National University of Singapore heaved a sigh of relief albeit with a confounding expression clearly on the sea of youthful faces. A mere slip of a girl, sidled through a row of boys to head impatiently towards the exit of the lecture hall only to be stopped in her tracks by Professor Lim who called out: "Excuse me miss, could you stay back for a minute please, I'd like to have a word with you".

Turning around to face the professor, she pointed a tentative finger to herself and nodded quizzically for confirmation as the other students ambled out of the huge hall. "You must be Olivia" the Professor declared, "Would you by any chance be Dr. Fergus Wong's daughter?". Olivia nodded bashfully in agreement, as the room was finally emptied, Professor Lim turned purposefully to face Olivia but yet resting his eyes on a pile of lecture notes languishing on his lectern. Clearing his throat, Professor Lim observed, "I understand that you're performing brilliantly in class, But," the professor paused, "do I somehow detect a lack of fervency expected of a presidential scholar in this field?" Olivia looked him in the eyes, fluttering her long eye lashes coyly, as Professor Lim cut to the chase, "I would even dare to say that you might be on the verge of quitting, giving up on this course entirely" this time staring fixedly into her brown dewy eyes.

A smile lurked at the corners of Olivia's 'bee-stung' lips and she looked straight into the professors eyes seemingly daring her to reveal her inner emotions. "Actually... nothing can be further than the truth, professor, in fact, if I've had my way, this would have been the last choice of profession but it was not as if I had a choice to begin with. Sometimes I wonder if it's a curse to belong to a family with an illustrious line of award winning scientists; A great grandfather who worked as a scientist in the imperial palace during the reign of the last emperor, a grandfather who was a dean of the engineering faculty in the Beijing university, and a father who's a Noble Laureate. Being the only child in the family, I've been expected to carry on the family legacy of engineering excellence." Professor Lim cocked his ear, encouraging her to speak her mind. "Almost all my life, I've had my future mapped out without anybody even bothering to ask me where my true passion lies. Every single detail for the last 20 years has been danced to my parents tune. The subjects I took in school from elementary to high-school, the extra-curricular activities I participated in,