imkevinxu

Thanks to a friend at Stanford, I had the pleasure to meet a Singaporean studying at PKU, Bao Jia Tan. After an exchange of emails where she was busy on multiple days, I soon found out why. She is extremely driven and successful at everything.

An Economics major who debates and dabbled into high levels of Singaporean government, she was one of those rare people you meet and instantly realize, “This person could be the next President” and one who is extremely humble and down-to-earth at the same time.

The amazing part was the network of Singaporeans she shared with all the Singaporeans I knew from Stanford and elsewhere. I named about 3 friends and she knew all of them and at a level more than just acquaintances too. It seems that the small size of the country plus the high number of successful people that go do amazing things internationally means its a small circle. Plus there are several government programs and sponsorships that foster this network and encourage international study.

The downside is that there is a mandatory 4-year military or police service that every Singaporean male has to participate in, either before or after college. I’m not sure what the mandate for females is or if government work is allowed in place of military work but it does take up valuable time of a young person’s life.

Although all the people I have met that have served at least partially come out very well-mannered and respectful along with a very fit physique. And smart too, one of my friends translates the difficulty of a class when a Singaporean speaks “Not bad” to “Really hard” haha.