[Northern California] Reach Out and Explore New Paths

Mentor Ms Nicole Lau (right) and Mentee Nathan Cheng at the HKUAANC Spring Luncheon.

Nathan Cheng (BPsych), exchange student in Northern California, “Before coming to the US, I rarely engaged in networking — it felt intimidating and transactional. Nicole changed that. She gave me my first taste of how warm and open the US professional culture can be, and her constant push to “make the most of it” turned networking from a chore into a habit of curiosity.

One concrete example: after Nicole reposted my LinkedIn write-up of our meal, an HKU senior in Silicon Valley reached out, and I got a firsthand window into the US tech industry — what people in AI roles actually do, how teams here often take meetings in the wee hours to sync with collaborators across the world, and how to position my cognitive science background. Through that chain, I was also introduced to another HKU senior in academia, who walked me through the realities of a PhD path, including how few graduates actually land professorships.

Beyond the introductions themselves, Nicole modeled a mindset I’m still internalizing: reach out early, stay genuinely curious, and treat every conversation as a chance to test assumptions about your own future. That shift has made me think much more critically — and much more concretely — about which career paths actually fit me, rather than chasing whichever one sounds most prestigious.”

𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗛𝗞𝗨 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 (𝗢𝗳𝗳𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲) 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟱, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 (𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆)! If you’ll be on exchange during the first semester of 2026-27, don’t miss this opportunity to enrich your offshore experience. Apply now and make the most of your international journey!
https://www.mentorship.hku.hk/apply

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