Student Profile: The Versatilist, Tan Wei Liang

An aspiring Forensic Psychologist with a keen interest in Criminal and Investigative Psychology, Wei Liang knew that he was going to declare Psychology as his major from Day One. “I have always been interested in understanding human thinking and human behaviour, and I knew that Forensic Psychology was something I wanted to pursue. So I looked at the courses I could take to get me towards a Forensic Psychology path,” said Wei Liang. And that he did.

A final year student reading Psychology with a Forensic Science Minor, Wei Liang’s current academic portfolio helps him better understand crimes. Specifically, his Psychology major allows him to establish a perpetrator’s motivations and state of mind, while his Forensic Science minor enables him to critically analyse evidence present in a crime scene. While not an immediate shoo-in into the field of Forensic Psychology, he has found that this interdisciplinary combination has empowered him to form more holistic theories for each crime scene, than most of his peers.

At the new College of Humanities and Sciences, Wei Liang is what we call a Versatilist. Always eager to explore something new, you can count on Versatlists like Wei Liang to lend fresh perspectives to every challenge they encounter - be it in everyday life or in Wei Liang’s case, solving crimes. And an interdisciplinary approach, as Wei Liang puts it, is key: “When it comes to crimes, you need to look at various disciplines - from law, forensic science, sociology to philosophy - to paint a clearer picture and to see what the crime is like, in order to solve crimes. It’s about having multiple perspectives as opposed to tunnel vision, because now you are able to tackle problems that you may not be able to adequately resolve with what you’ve learnt from just one sole discipline.”

Find out if you're a Versatilist, Integrator or Deep Specialist. Join us at the CHS NUS Open House on 27 February 2021, and see what your future could be.