SINGAPORE: The graduate who gave the student address at the Harvard Medical School-Affiliated PhD Programs Hooding Ceremony this year is a young man who grew up in Singapore but was rejected from local universities and therefore needed to find opportunities elsewhere.
Joel Tan shared his story in his speech, expressing thankfulness for people who opened doors for him.
Growing up in Singapore
As a student in Singapore, Dr Tan recounted how he had been “really wanted” to study biology, but had been told on numerous occasions that it was “not a realistic path” for him, as his grades were supposedly not good enough for the rigours of biology classes.
“I was forced to take the ‘easier’ sciences—Physics and Chemistry,” he said, which made the audience laugh.
Dr Tan received poor grades in these classes, and he added that he had never been given a chance to study something that he was genuinely interested in.
“The message I received, directly and indirectly, is that higher education is probably not for me,” he said, adding that when he tried for two years to get into any university in Singapore, he failed both times.
He then left home, and fortunately, the University of Toronto accepted him, which changed his life. There, he not only attended his first biology class but was also given access to mentors and laboratories.
“It gave me a community that allowed me to discover not only what science was, but who I could become through science,” he said, adding that he has often reflected that someone had decided that his future potential was not based on his past performance. And because this person decided to take a chance on him, he ended up in Harvard, arguably the most prestigious university in the world.
“Talent is everywhere,” said Dr Tan, “opportunity is not.”
He added that future scientists are sitting in classrooms who’ve been told that they’re not good enough to take a class. They may have never met a scientist, or been in a lab, or heard that research is a viable career.
“There are people with curiosity, creativity, and potential who may never get the chance to show what they can really do unless an institution, a mentor, or a community opens the door for them. I am here because people open the doors for me,” acknowledged Dr Tan, who also expressed the hope that he and his cohort would also, in turn, open doors for others. /TISG
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