d a h u o y h is w u o y o d t a Wh known about colleedg?e before you arriv A recent grad's advice for new and future SAS alumni.
by Ruth Jaensubhakij (class of 2018) In high school, I remember constantly hearing from alumni how well Singapore American School would prepare me for college. And in many ways, I think that’s rung true—the range and rigor of high-level courses, the leadership opportunities available through extracurriculars, and the multiculturalism of the student body at SAS—all equipped me for the transition to college in ways that I’m incredibly thankful for. However, that doesn’t mean my transition to college was smooth or seamless. The first few months on campus, I made mistakes—constantly. I learned and grew more in a single semester than I ever thought possible, and even now, despite being a junior, I continue to be surprised by how much I don’t know about how college works. I think there’s a lot to be said about learning from experience. However, there are some things that I wish people had told me before I arrived on campus—I want to share just a few of them here. These are far from comprehensive, but hopefully they resonate with you and get you thinking about what you hope to learn and experience in college. 1. There are so many opportunities available to you in college. But, they won’t be handed to you. Universities are full of people, classes, and activities that cover a wildly diverse and niche set of interests, but sometimes the craziest and coolest opportunities won’t be advertised. You’ll have to go looking for them! My favorite example of this is when, after studying Chinese at SAS for three years, I decided I was ready to try something different freshman year. I wanted to fulfil my language requirement by learning Thai, but I couldn’t find information about a Thai language department at Harvard anywhere. Thus began a wild goose chase, with the help of my academic advisor, to find out whether Thai classes existed. As it turns out, the university is committed to teaching any language that students are interested in, and three years later I’m still studying Thai. My class is only two people, but we get to design our own syllabus every semester; learning Thai has also led me to an on-campus job at the Thai Studies Center, as well as writing my senior thesis on NGOs in Thailand. These classes weren’t advertised anywhere, but have been an integral part of my college experience.
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