Office of International Students & Scholars
Southeast Asia

"I come from a country that is politically corrupt and we have virtually a non-existent healthcare system. It's one of the worst healthcare systems in the world. People just dying from preventable stuff like [lack of] clean water, sanitation... very basic human needs. So I have this perspective of how precious life is and how people sometimes take healthcare for granted. That's why I have a really strong passion for health -because I come from somewhere where it's very unavailable.

What I like about Tulane and this community as a whole is how individualistic people are. They know what they want and they form their own path. They actually have their own aspirations and their own goals. Back home in Burma, it's a different thing. It's more collective. People don't really carve their own path. They kind of let parents or guardians or peers make their paths for them.

I want to be a doctor and am studying political science at the same time because I want to go back home one day to successfully change the healthcare system. My healthcare system is deeply rooted in politics, so you need the knowledge of political science and then you need the skills and knowledge of being a doctor to go back and change it. That's my dream. Hopefully I can achieve part of it one day."