CESEAS Students Interview: Why do You Join the Program?

Asian Institute: What drew you to the CESEAS program? Why did you apply?

Ingrid: So you wanted to know why I'm in CESEAS? Well when I was applying to grad school at U of T, I'd been working at a thinktank completing research in Asia and Canada-Asia relations for about a year. And I knew I wanted to keep pursuing opportunities in this field. So I guess that's why I'm here.

Xerdon Catamora: Just at first, I thought that this program is going to be just composed of students from our department, like just all political science peeps. But what's amazing about the program is that you are able to have classmates from different disciplines in social science, like people from history class, from anthropology, sociology. And the best thing is that you could discuss with them and you can engage with them with a certain issue and listen to all their perspectives.

Wu Yang: One is that while I did take some Asian Studies courses in my undergraduate years, they were not my main focus. And so when I applied to the Global Affairs program, I figured that it would be useful for me to have an Asian focus. So there's a pragmatic aspect to this. The other is that since I'm from Singapore, I still have some feelings towards that region. And I hope that this program will allow me to maintain those connections.