NAMES: Kekeletso Daphney Liphoto
FORMER HIGH SCHOOL: Morija Girls’ High School
TERTIARY: National University of Lesotho.
PROGRAMME: BSc General in Computer Science and Statistics
Year of Study: 3rd Year
REQUIREMENTS: To enroll into BSc General in Computer Science and Statistics one needs to pass First year BSc General, BSc Computer Science or BSc Statistics.
ORGANIZATION: Science and Technology Society Deputy Secretary General and Bokamoso Group (Growing Business) Treasurer
How did you end up studying Computer Science and Statistics?
Passion beats performance when it comes to choosing a career. Have courage to follow your heart and intuition. I am one of those people whose fate threw them out of their dream sea shore. I was aspiring to bridge with BSc General to go and pursue being an advanced paramedic but unfortunately competition took that away from me. I was left with weighing between my capability to do well in BSc Computer Science or Water and Environmental Engineering.
Faced with this decision, growth in technology, the enticing feeling of having essential computer skills and the sudden desire to learn more about the computer and data manipulation methods, led me to Computer Science as I tried to discern what fate had tangled.
Knowing my strengths, everyone was shocked about my choice. However people’s noise did not end up drowning my inner voice. I had followed my heart for that would set my mind on achieving my goals.
What influences one’s performance?
Conquering usually comes from ones foundation. There is so much to learn about one’s upbringing from the manner they conduct themselves. I am not so brilliant but I am a dedicated hard worker and I believe in me. I strive towards my dreams and goals.
In the cruel world of strangers where depression and loneliness become your daily bread, there is so much to invest in order to make it. As known, the key to maximum living is to keep company only with people who uplift you. But how do you filter off to make the good friends? Friends almost led me into drowning.
University and high school are totally different places. There is no guidance and parents’ love, but yourself to mature up and remember what put you in that place. I learnt the hard way. I had never scored below 50 in my entire life. It was horrible!
If your determination to succeed is strong enough, failure will not overtake you, I went back to the drawing board to distinguish where I had gone wrong and with the help of the one who became a mother to me in a place furthest from home (a close friend), I came back even stronger.
What have you learnt so far?
Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to what they do. I am a student of listening and observation but with computer science, I have learnt that applying skills learnt in class alters one’s outlook in life. With the world facing the major technology changes and the cyberspace dominating almost everything, we find the need for experienced computer scientists.
Since to predict the future growth and to determine places of improvement, one needs to draw inferences, predict values and do probabilities, this is where the excitement comes in, the cohesion between computer science and statistics. The fun of using own designed or developed statistical applications to analyse and draw conclusions, talk about big data, Internet of Things, the joy of solving statistics on R, the list goes on.
What’s your advice to someone intending to follow the same career path?
Don’t go into BSc General or in any majors because you saw me or anyone else going into the fire furnace and coming back triumphant. They call this survival of the fittest not because only the most intelligent students make it but because it requires perseverance and the willingness to carry through even when you feel quitting is the only option.
It is fun being a BSc General student. You get to explore all these careers in all boundaries but all in all, passion beats performance and experience beats ranking. Develop the passion for what you do and the intense desire to do it well will get you to the top.
The Faculty of Science and Technology offers two types of B.Sc. degrees to students undertaking these programmes. These are the single major degrees (taken in a single subject) and the double major degrees with various combinations of Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics, and Statistics.
The Faculty also offers Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Technology and Bachelor of Science degrees in the following areas of specialization:
- Eng. in Computer Systems and Networks
- Eng. in Electronics
- Sc. in Chemical Technology
- Sc. in Information Systems
- Sc. in Computer Science
- Sc. in Statistics
- Sc. in Biotechnology
- Sc. in Environmental Science
For entry into the first year Bachelor of Science degree, students must have:
- Sat for a minimum of six (6) subjects in LGCSE examinations.
- Obtained a B grade or better in Mathematics.
- Obtained a C grade or better in Biology or Physical Science.
- Obtained a D grade or better in English Language with the exception of BSc. Information Systems which still requires a C grade.
- Obtained a C grade or better in one other subject.
- Obtained a D or better in any other two subjects.
NOTE: Info about programmes under Faculty of science Quoted from NUL booklet.
For double major programmes one needs to pass first year in order to qualify for:
- BSc. in Computer Science and Physics
- BSc. in Computer Science
- BSc. in Computer Science and Statistics
- BSc in Physics and Mathematics
- BSc in Physics and chemistry
- BSc in Physics and Geography
- BSc in Biology and Chemistry
- in Statistics and Mathematics
Academic Youth Progress helps Students and other Youths with career choices and instill entrepreneurship motive among Basotho to tackle Youth Unemployment in Lesotho.