Beyond Expectations

Lee Cheng Kang Darren from Nanyang Technological University

My experience in KAIST CAMPUS Asia has been a very fulfilling one. I have made a lot of new friends in this program and had a lot of new experiences as well. I was surprised by the number of activities, outreach, and networking events in this program, which has helped to bridge barriers between students of different nationalities in the program and made this an enjoyable and fulfilling experience.

However, I did not choose this program because of the activities offered. I chose to join KAIST CAMPUS Asia as it connects students and professors together for a research experience. Having the program supporting this process of connecting students and professors together reduces the time and stress when finding a research opportunity. Furthermore, I had visited KAIST previously in a short (1 week) learning trip and enjoyed the serenity and beauty of KAIST. While these were the reasons that I joined KAIST CAMPUS Asia, the program has exceeded my expectations.

The best part of the program are the friends that I made along the way. Most importantly, the program hosts the first interaction between new and old inbound students through, allowing students of different nationality to break the ice. It was because of the lunch planned by CAMPUS Asia that many subsequent fun interactions and trips occurred as well. Furthermore, the Korean Buddy assigned to us by the program provided us with a lot of help in terms of administrative matters and we also had a lot of fun meals and times with the buddy.

Beside that, I had also enjoyed the trips that were held by CAMPUS Asia Program and the Korean classes as well. These allowed me to immerse in the Korean culture while being in a research program. These activities prevent the entire experience to be purely about research and made the entire experience more well-rounded.

While KAIST CAMPUS Asia is typically a 1-2month program, they had kindly extended the duration for me to allow me to perform my undergraduate thesis with the program. This has allowed me to experience so much more than what a typical student can experience. Thereby, I am extremely grateful for the entire experience.

Due to this experience and program, I am considering graduate studies. I am even considering doing graduate studies in KAIST and in my current laboratory. Thereby, this has been a very fulfilling experience and possibly life changing as well.