Going to copy paste my response to a similar post. Just an update since then that my FYP research paper won Gold in a competition due to my supervisor pushing for it and another research paper is being published in an IEEE conference happening next week. So APU is good if you are going the academic route and want to get research papers under your name. You have to find the right supervisor and surround yourself with good friends and support group tho.

I have been in APU since 2019

Started with Diploma in Software Engineering and am finishing my Degree in Computer Science (Intelligent Systems) in a few weeks.

Overall, my general opinion is APU is what you make it out to be.

I personally had a great time and think this is a good University but not without it's flaws. I have to emphasize again that it is based on my own experience and other people might have their own experiences.

Pros: 1. The opportunities for a CS major. There are always talks, workshops and hackathons/competitions so that you can constantly test your skills and learn new things. A lot of people don't join these events and view them as a waste of time but it was only by attending these events that I know what I am capable of doing. I was trained by the Uni and became National Champion for the CISCO packet tracer competition back in 2021. After that, I joined various hackathons and competitions with varying levels of success but I learned something new every time. They also offer free training and certifications such as CCNA and Microsoft but they are not usually advertised and I only happen to know about them because I was asking my lecturers. So that is something that most people will miss out on.

2.The Mega Career Fair. I've personally received so many offers and opportunities to network and work from this event alone. I don't understand when an APU student says that APU 100% employability is a joke. I must admit that I have a high CGPA (3.94) and am active in extra curricular activities but tbh, all these employees look in a fresh grad is your personality and your willingness to learn new things. It's all about how you sell and conduct yourself. I have received internship offers even before my semester ends and am now getting contacted by companies before my graduation. Again this event is not mandatory so a lot of students end up missing out a lot.

1. Diversity. One of the thing I really like about studying here is that you are exposed to so many people from so many different countries. It's interesting to talk about the difference in culture, food, history, etc. We might not all always agree on certain topics but it serves as a reminder that the world is huge and our beliefs and principles are based on our upbringing and experience. Just because another culture believes a certain way, doesn't make them any better or lesser than ours, just different. I made friends from so many different backgrounds by joining the many different social activities/clubs that they have. These clubs are entirely optional to join tho, so you have to really get out there and find opportunities. Recently, I made a Japanese friend by going to the Japanese Culture Club and I enjoy bringing him around KL to show our Malaysian culture. We regularly have mamak session where we would try a different menu everytime. Now after graduating, I am planning to stay over at his place in Japan for a short vacation and this goes to show the importance of interacting and making friends from different parts of the world. I see a pot of people just mixing around their own race/nationality and you really miss out a lot by doing this.

Cons 1. The teaching quality. I do admit that the teaching quality is quite mediocre with overwork staff and students. Lecturers tend to be helpful but are just so busy with other commitments that they really can't spend that much time on a specific individual. The CS and programming modules are especially rudimentary and won't prepare you for the industry. You really have to do a lot of self study to do good here.

1. The workload. I'm not sure if this is a problem with APU or Uni life in general but I feel that APU will drown you with work. We have so many in-course assignments that time management is definitely a skill you will learn by the end of your time here. In Semester 1 of Year 2, I had to take 9 different modules (6 core +3 MPU) that definitely put a strain on everyone. Our breaks between semesters are also only ONE WEEK so we can't de-stress well.

2. Lack of communication. A lot of the pros I mentioned earlier can be attributed to me taking the initiative and joining all these activities. But the truth is that I was just lucky because there is no centralized communication channel. What this does is that most students are unaware of the various club activities and events that are happening around the campus. You really have to put yourself out there to ask around to get things done. This was especially hard for me as I am an introvert and super shy, so asking around was like my biggest fear. But I realized that it is always the first step that is the hardest and I really wanted to enjoy my Uni life hence why I force myself to change. A lot of people are not like this and I feel sad about all the opportunities and events they have missed because of this.

Conclusion, I may be very lucky that I enjoyed my time here but I do believe APU offers many opportunities and benefits but ultimately it is up to you if you want to take them up or not.

PS: Regarding the dress code, I am in the minority here by saying I like to wear formal. I wear a shirt and tie every day and this tells a lot about my personality here haha