Singapore man earns Harvard PhD after being rejected by local universities twice

Joel Tan, a Singaporean, was discouraged from studying biology in secondary school due to poor grades and rejected by local universities on two separate application attempts. He was accepted by the University of Toronto, where mentors and research labs allowed him to discover his passion for biology, leading him to complete a PhD in biological and biomedical sciences at Harvard. Delivering a student address at Harvard Medical School's May 28 hooding ceremony, Tan credited those who 'opened a door that had been closed' and argued that science is stronger when people of diverse paths are given a chance.