It was 4am Malaysian time on my birthday, when the news arrived – and I ran around the house, brandishing my phone, shrieking and waking everyone up.
Becoming a baby Jumbo is definitely the most incredible birthday gift I’ve ever received. Amidst the excitement, I recently re-read Dean Coffin’s post on the Tufts “vibe”, and it really hit home.
Tufts genuinely has a whole lot of heart. I was swimming in a sea of brochures and websites, but what sealed the deal for me, after attending Dan Grayson’s talk in Singapore, was the realization that Tufts is real. Tufts is a family full of people who legit care about each other and their pursuits. Jumbos seem passionate, warm, unafraid to be themselves, eager to ask bold questions and always willing to help others. Every single email I sent to current students was replied to – often in full, with a sense of openness and honesty, and comprehensive details and nuance in their expression of ideas … even though they weren’t obliged to do so at all.
Also, did you know, Tufts’ admissions officers are apparently real people?! Who talk about everything, from puppies to awkward interviews. Who exude this sense of fairness and honesty in being “responsible stewards” of our applications, but also have a wicked sense of humor and an appreciation of weird stuff from nearly 20,000 teenagers. Who have enough heart to sincerely love applicants as people, consoling the disappointed and connecting the admitted on Facebook post-admission.
I could go on, but I think you’re getting tired of an overly-enthusiastic idiot’s rambling, so let me (finally) get to my real point:
I am ecstatic to have been admitted, but for me, there’s a much more personal dimension to this. I come from this tiny island called Penang, Malaysia (where “sipping local Nanyang coffee by the dusty pavement is a brilliant way to live”). Recently, I met up with my elementary school friends – most have managed to go on to Malaysian universities, but I also heard of a few who had to drop out of high school due to financial circumstances. Coming from a single-parented, (in Malaysian terms) middle-class family myself, I never considered studying abroad for the longest time.
Over the past two years, I lived in neighboring, prosperous Singapore on a scholarship. Surrounded by brilliant foreign scholars and Singaporean friends, it was easy to take my position and everything I’ve been blessed with for granted, to forget the magnitude of it all.
Yet, the very humbling reality nudged me again, once I returned to Malaysia – this is an incredible privilege that few, or maybe none, in my community where I come from are granted. I’ve been extremely fortunate, to have had an awesome Mom who let me read and watch too much TV as a kid – thus picking up English on my own, thanks to Harry Potter, Disney and CNN. With no Singapore-standard English qualifications, I was allowed to pursue Literature in Singapore. In an education system where rote-learning is the norm, I had teachers and friends who put up with my endless questions, and let my Curiosity stay alive.
There are so many experiences that I look back at and realize, according to probability, they weren’t supposed to happen at all … but somehow did. I am a collective function of everything people have invested in me, and for all this, I am thankful.
To quote spoken word goddess Sarah Kay:
I have found that privilege is not something many people want to talk about; it's at the top of the list of what we believe is shameful. It is easy to look at someone and see only their privileges. To think that their path has been nothing but roses, to never know what their personal battles have been. It is easy to look at someone and see only their lack of certain privileges. To underestimate what other privileges they've had, that are invisible to us ... When you listen to a person, you get to know more sides, you get to learn all the more about that person, about what the world looks like through their eyes.
Going to Tufts is an opportunity that I promise, I will not take for granted. Even if “Peace Studies” sounds really strange where I come from (versus medicine, engineering and law), even if almost no one in Malaysia has heard of Tufts … I am really, really honored to be a Jumbo, and do hope to inspire and be inspired through this adventure that lies ahead. And to my fellow baby Jumbos, I cannot wait to meet you on the Hill this fall and listen to all the stories you’ll be bringing with you. Let us embark on this adventure together, with a whole lot of heart. :)