Celebrating Success Series: Brian Wong

This is the third article in our 2018 news series celebrating the high performance of Pembroke undergraduate students and recent alumni in their examinations.

Brian Wong (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, 2015) recently graduated with a First Class degree. We caught up with him to congratulate him on his recent success and to find out more about his extra-curricular achievements and his plans for life after Pembroke.

I think the key to succeeding in the course is to constantly be on the look-out for intellectual challenges and puzzles that push you above and beyond your comfort zone. My advice is to push yourself, aspire and try harder, and through a combination of a lot of effort and a bit of luck, you could achieve anything!

During my time at Oxford I was elected to the Governing Body at the Oxford Union, where I also coached debating and participated in international tournaments as a competitive debater. Additionally, I was elected to Vice Presidency of the Oxford Economists without Borders, Presidency of Oxford Students Gender Equality Society and Presidency of the Oxford Forum. I served as the IT Manager for TEDxOxford and the Industry Magazine, and freelanced as a writer for Cherwell, HuffPo, and ThriveGlobal. In my spare time I also regularly published writings in both Hong Kong newspapers and in academic journals, mostly student ones. I was a Founding Member of a Myanmar-based political think tank, and a co-founding Secretary of a Hong Kong-based charity organisation/think tank!

All of these activities empowered me to gain a deeper appreciation of our world and its complexities surrounding us - from understanding different cultures to engaging with interpersonal communication on a deeper level. I am truly grateful for the opportunities afforded to me by Pembroke and the University of Oxford.

The highlight of my course was the challenging and often enlightening tutorials. My tutors made my three years of undergraduate studies what they were - exciting, intriguing, and intellectually stimulating. It was largely their guidance and support that has made my First possible. My favourite moment - out of all of these tutorials - was when a tutor of mine told me that my essay had contained original insights that they could consider incorporating into their research! That really made me feel that my work had an impact and served as a key hallmark in my academic career.

Next year I will be returning to Oxford –  I'll be merely fifteen minutes north of Pembroke as I embark on my postgraduate studies at Wolfson, pursuing an MPhil in Political Theory.