Kristy Zhang- Detouring from Science, Delving into Communications

Kristy has been the anchor in the HKSN exec team for the past three years, as a VP External and VP Events. Despite her academic prowess in science courses, she realized that there’s something more than science that would make her happy.

What you’ve been studying at McGill?

My major is Anatomy and Cell Biology in the Faculty of Science at McGill. I came to McGill in 2012 and it’s my 4th year here.

What are the pros and cons about your program?

I really appreciate the fact that my major allows me to choose from a list of biology-oriented courses. This offers me a high degree of freedom in course selection so I could take classes that intrigue me rather than following a rigid curriculum. Since I’m more of a macro kind of person, I enjoy learning more about gross anatomy and how the different systems function in our body. I find that core ANAT courses incline more towards the micro cell biology end, which is why I ended up choosing many higher level PHGY and PHAR related courses in my third and last year.

This (program) offers me a high degree of freedom in course selection so I could take classes that intrigue me rather than following a rigid curriculum.

Many newcomers to the Faculty of Science will say that they love how the exam is all multiple choice and you can skip classes and still pull an A from the course by going to prep sessions or buying NTCs (notes that other people write that you can buy). I would 100% agree that I love the adrenaline rush when you see an A on your transcript and that having a decent GPA is more than just important, trust me, I went through this too.

However, I’ve come to a realization as my years at McGill come closer to an end that this is not real learning.

Getting an A on my transcript by reading other people’s notes and regurgitating what the prof taught doesn’t differentiate me from say, person B in the class that did the same thing. So many students, including myself, just give whatever the prof taught back to the prof within a day, or even 3 hours after the exam. I find that I retain the most knowledge from classes that have individual presentations and group discussions as parts of the evaluation in addition to multiple choice exams. One of my professors once said: “being able to circle the right choice on an exam paper does not prove your proficiency in being a future doctor.”

What were some valuable involvements at school that taught about yourself and oriented your goals?

Coming from a small high school and an international background, I was a big hermit in first year while I was still trying to adjust to the college life. However, in my second year, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and get more involved to make more out of my time at McGill.

I would say that joining HKSN has taught me so much that books and lectures were never able to.

For example, being VP External and communicating with sponsors to convince them to sponsor HKSN posed a great challenge for me. Drafting up business proposals, setting up meetings with managers, talking them into “buying” your proposal, and ultimately establishing strong connections are all assets that I took away from this experience. Your asset is like your weapon. In order to be differentiated from that person B, you need to empower yourself with weapons that you’ve gathered through things that you’ve done. So, the more you try out in life, the more weapons you will have in your pockets to make you stand out as an individual.

One of my friends compared things you do in life as dots on a blank piece of paper. He said that even though the dots may look scattered and completely unrelated, one day they might all connect together into a beautiful line.

If you were to go back in time and offer any advice to your U0 self, what would it be?

Each person is unique, and everyone has his/her own passion in life.

I wish I had discovered who Kristy Zhang was and my passions earlier on.

Though I am in the science stream, I began to question myself sometime in U2: do I like science because I can get a good grade in it? Or do I get a good grade because I like it? It’s very important to differentiate between the two. How to do that: ask yourself “what do I think about in my spare time? What do I do when I have time to myself?” Initially, it may all seem like a blur. Eventually, it will all come together. I gradually found a strong passion in Chinese culture, language and communication. Hence, in my last semester at McGill, my two last elective courses are both about Chinese culture, literature and religion. I saw a big difference in my attitude towards learning and class participation in these two classes when compared to classes I just wanted to get an A in. Many people will ask the question “can your passion become your future career?”, that’s a question that I have yet to find an answer in. But I know that if I never try, how would I know that it wouldn’t work out? Therefore, I wish I had truly known who I was in first year and devoted more time into what I love.

Aside from learning from textbooks, university is much more about learning about yourself.

University is the period of your life when you have the most freedom in doing what you enjoy, so why put it to waste?