Alumni Check-in: Clare Su (Class of 2025)

Q. Where do you live now? Why? What are you doing?

A: I’m a freshman studying Biochemistry in Boston College now! Boston has always been my dream city to live in and now I’m here!

Q. What are the biggest differences between there and Kaohsiung? What’s the biggest similarities?

A: The weather:( It’s now freezing and snowing so bad in the east coast. I always have trouble talking about weather with my friends because they all read fahrenheit instead of celsius. But I have adapted to identify that anything above 60F is considered an appreciable temperature (sounds crazy to me if I’m still in Taiwan because I would be wearing puffers but I'm just wearing a cardigan for a 15C weather here) and I strongly despise any temperature for going below 32F, especially when the weather forecast shows “special winter condition” or anything worse than that.

Q. What does a typical day look like for you?

A: For the weekdays, I usually wake up around 8am and get ready for school. I get breakfast in the dining hall if I’m not in a rush to classes. My busy days are on Monday Wednesday and Friday, I have three to six classes on those days and they normally end before 2pm.

Since I’m currently working in an organic chemistry research lab on campus, I usually direct to my lab after my classes are ended for the day and stay there until 6pm. After leaving the lab, I would head to another dining hall for dinner before my orchestra rehearsals on Monday and Wednesday.

Typically, me and my friends would go to “The Rat,” the only dining hall that opens until 12am, for late night food. After ratting, we sometimes head to the library to lock in together before the night ends. 

Q. What's one thing you miss most about Taiwan?

A: The FOOD and friends and family!! I feel like I have adapted pretty well to the environment here but the only thing that I can’t stand for is the food. Americans are always so creative in serving the most inauthentic dishes.

Q. What advice would you give to the HS students?

A: Enjoy the time spent with your friends and family because you will miss them a lot from miles away in college, even if you think you're independent enough:(. For academics, check the AP and IB requirements for the college that you’re interested in or planning to go to.

In my case,  BC takes a lot of credit from AP classes (but only HL 6/7 classes for IB) and one of my friends can even graduate one year earlier just because she took enough AP classes to make her do so.

In my opinion, having these credit waivers makes your college schedule more flexible because my school for example requires us to take core classes but you can just waive them if you got the AP credit and take other classes of your desire.

Q. Did your KAS experience prepare you for life after HS?

A: I think the rigorous coursework and academic writings gained from IB definitely prepared me for college. But me personally from my experience, I would recommend taking APs if you are going to the US. This is because most of the Americans take APs so the professors normally assume students foundation from AP instead of IB.

For instance, I had to deal with a huge gap in my Calc 2 class because we didn’t learn series in depth for IB but AP Calc BC did and our professor just skipped those parts by getting straight to the topic without bridging the gap for individual needs.

In terms of extracurriculars, I’d say being involved in several clubs and sport teams definitely prepared me for the personality and capability to keep up the journey in college.

Q. What are you looking forward to most in the next five years?

A: I’m still undecided about going to a graduate school or not because I have realized that most of the higher positions for my degree need a PhD degree. Aside from academics, I am also looking forward to my growth in orchestra and music. I have been involved in different music groups on campus such as chamber music and I love hanging out with a group of people who have genuine interest in classical music but not music majors. 

Q. Anything else? 

A: One thing I learned from college and people around me is that always be ready and confident to take initiative because you never know what will happen after taking your first step. Also, since there’s always some crazier and smarter people than you in college, don't hesitate just because you think you’re not good enough to be.