A second family away from home

A sense of belonging and a close-knit learning community at Ridge View Residential College (RVRC) helped Faculty of Science’s TAN Bing Chieh to come out of her shell and to cope with the loneliness away from home.   

Bing Chieh, who graduates with Double Majors in Quantitative Finance and Economics and a Minor in Computer Science, believes that learning extends beyond academics to acquiring life skills for dealing with different people and situations.

Living and learning amongst a small enclave of students at RVRC, with strong intellectual and social support systems, provided valuable opportunities to meet new friends across different faculties. 

The practice of sustainable living at RVRC “is a worthwhile cause that I could get behind,” she says.  

Her team worked on a project to raise awareness of the negative impacts of microplastics on our ecosystem and encourage consumers to change their behaviours. Equally important, multidisciplinary learning enabled her to grasp complex concepts which were not covered under her double majors.

For instance, for her microplastics project, she says, “My team comprised students from different majors. Each of us brought something different to the table and we managed the work according to our diverse talents and strengths, without anyone losing sight of the big picture.” 

Bing Chieh took many courses from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Business and School of Computing, discovering in the process "ideas and perspectives that did not occur to me naturally.”  Best of all, she had her RVRC friends from other faculties to lean on when she faced academically unfamiliar topics.  

Bing Chieh also participated in the Intercollegiate Games in contract bridge and table tennis. Her university life would not have been complete without her extracurricular activities, she says, which helped her to discover her other interests and talents.

As she embarks on a new chapter in life, she has this advice for freshmen: “Believe in yourself. Do not let self-doubt hold you back. “

She adds, “Make good use of the Grade-Free Scheme in Year 1 to explore your options and interests. The end goal is important but it would be a waste to miss out on the view along the way.”

Bing Chieh will be working as a data analyst in the financial industry.