Episode 18 – PIMARA SOONGSWANG, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE – IT FELT LIKE HOME TO ME
Having been at one school for most of her life, Pimmy Soonswang faced a radical change as she finished her 18 years in Bangkok. After graduating from Shrewsbury International School in 2018, her studies took her to the United Kingdom, where she is currently reading Land Economy at the University of Cambridge. Having chosen a uniquely interdisciplinary area of study, Pimmy shares her thought process and rationale, drawing from her experiences, interests, and classes taken as her A-levels. Michael and Pimmy delve into the pressures of choosing a discipline in high school, and talk about how she now feels as a university student.
Pimmy then shares one of the most prominent differences she felt between her experience in high school and college — the way the resources are structured around you. Going from a student-centric model, where lots of help is pushed towards you, into a new environment where it’s up to you to pull resources for your own good, Pimmy shares the struggles she faced in sifting through the mountains of resources at Cambridge. Ultimately, she feels as though this has benefited her in the long run, telling Michael of the various lessons learned from here first year experiences.
In the end, Pimmy has one simple message that she hoped her past self received — to believe in herself. With both Michael and Pimmy talking about the invisible walls they’ve built for themselves in the past, the one asset they have both had to get through these struggles has been to believe in their ability to excel and overcome.
Produced by UniGlo in collaboration with Next Step Connections.