Figuring out what to study and what career path to follow can feel like an impossible task. Do you go with what you love or choose something more practical?
Then there’s the cost of tuition, the years of study, and the stress that comes with it all. What’s worse, you may not even get a job after graduation.
STEM degrees are often a safe bet. They’re stable, lucrative, and full of career opportunities.
However, not everyone gets to a STEM degree the same way. Some know from the start. Some struggle a lot more before seeing it’s worth — even taking years.
Her STEM degree gave her more than just knowledge; it gave her friendships for life. On her last day in Manchester, friends from the ABACUS club gathered at the airport to see her off. Source: Caresse Tan
Grounded, but not stopped
Caresse Tan from Malaysia was set to follow in her parents’ footsteps and pursue a career in aviation.
She applied for the cadet pilot programme with Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia and made it to the final stage where they were going to place her in a flying school.
The problem was that while waiting for her placement, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The programme was cancelled, and she was left in limbo.
So Tan started to reconsider her options and computer science felt like a safe choice at the time.
She enrolled in the Bachelor’s of Computer Science (Honours) programme at Taylor’s University Malaysia.
“It was a complete 180° shift from what I was used to,” she recalls. With no computing background, the early days were tough.
Thankfully, her friends would tutor her and as her confidence grew, so did her ambition. In her second year, she applied for the Erasmus scholarship to satisfy her wanderlust.
She was accepted for a six-month exchange programme to study sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK.
What helped her stand out in the competitive selection process?
“My high school principal once advised us to always bring a portfolio to interviews,” she explains.
Even though her interview was online, she put together a Google Doc with all her certificates and shared it with the interviewers during the call.
Together with exchange students from the Netherlands and Germany, Tan visited Llyn Idwal lake in Eryri National Park, Wales. The trip was planned by the Manchester Metropolitan Student Union. Source: Caresse Tan
The hard truths about studying abroad
Tan was thrilled at the thought of studying abroad during her STEM degree, but the experience quickly proved more challenging than she had imagined.
“Moving abroad for the first time and taking a 13-hour flight alone to the UK, I was a lot more emotional than I expected to be,” she says.
Her first night was the toughest; she had arrived in the dead of winter, and her heater wasn’t working.
She felt completely miserable, but this difficult beginning was only the first of many challenges she would face.
One of her everyday hurdles was cooking. With eating out in the UK far too costly, Tan decided to set aside four days a week for meal prep.
“For someone who had hardly cooked before, that was a huge challenge,” she admits. “I’ve made a few dishes that didn’t turn out so well, so thank god I was the only one who had to eat them.”
Then came the culture shock. At 21, Tan hadn’t had much experience with the clubbing scene (thanks to the pandemic) so arriving in the UK was eye-opening.
“I was shocked at how popular clubbing was with students,” she says. “And if they weren’t in the clubs, they were at house parties that went on all night, even on a weekday.”
Recognising it wasn’t for her, Tan often opted out, which at times left her feeling alone. Learning to deal with that loneliness, while figuring out how to live on her own, wasn’t easy.
Still, she realised there was more to the experience than just the challenges.
Tan hosted a farewell pot-luck dinner at her student accommodation in Manchester. Source: Caresse Tan
‘If not now, then when?’
Studying sociology came with one hidden perk: it wasn’t a very demanding module, which gave Tan a lot of time for life outside the classroom.
She became especially close to exchange students from the Netherlands, Finland, and Italy. Together, they spent evenings at pubs, weekends exploring, and even travelled together across Europe.
These experiences, sharing adventures and learning from different cultures, eventually gave Tan the courage to try something she had never done before: travelling alone.
“I knew I wanted to go on holiday one last time before I left,” she says. “I was scared as well. But I thought to myself, if I don’t do it now, when will I ever get the opportunity again?”
With that in mind, Tan planned a four-day trip to Vienna, one of the safest cities in Europe for solo female travellers.
Looking back, she describes it as a turning point: “It was very empowering for me because now I know I have the ability to do that. I’m more confident in myself, knowing I can navigate a new city on my own. It was a huge boost to my self-esteem.”
What are the benefits of taking a STEM degree overseas?
When Tan completed her STEM degree in 2023, she had no idea how quickly her career would take off. That same year, she competed in L’Oréal Brandstorm, winning the national title in Malaysia and securing a spot in the global top three.
L’Oréal Malaysia-Singapore has had a long-established Management Trainee programme, but it wasn’t until a few months later that they launched the “Data & Transformation” track for data or computer science graduates.
For her team’s achievements in Brandstorm, a young talent manager offered Tan a fast track interview with the Chief Data Analytics Officer for a place in the programme.
Tan didn’t hesitate. To her, working at one of the world’s largest cosmetics companies was exciting, especially since it’s not a field you’d usually link to data-driven or computer science-related careers.
However, computer science remains a male-dominated discipline, and at L’Oréal, despite being a company with a female-majority workplace, Tan was the only woman on her team.
Even so, she never felt out of place. “I use the company’s products regularly. Therefore, when I’m analysing data, I can understand the context better — maybe more than some of my male colleagues could,” she explains.
Her role also opened her eyes to the business side of things, which she didn’t get much of during her STEM degree.
“Computer science students are taught how to use the tools and crunch the numbers,” she says.
“No one really talks about who we’re doing it for. Data can be dull if it’s just numbers on a screen. But when you turn it into a story, translate it into something actionable, suddenly it makes sense.”
Looking back, Tan considers her decision to switch to a STEM degree and study abroad as defining moments in both her personal and professional growth.
“The advantage of going abroad to study is that you learn how to live on your own,” she reflects. “It’s a true journey of independence and self-discovery and they’re something you can’t fully experience if you never leave your home country.”
Her time abroad shaped her communication skills, her confidence, and her ability to handle challenges. Plus, she sees adaptability as her most valuable asset.
“In the workplace, things don’t always go as planned. Projects shift, priorities change, and you need to adjust,” she says. “That kind of resilience doesn’t come from textbooks.”
That thinking has propelled her career forward. Today, Tan has completed her management trainee programme at L’Oréal and is thriving as an Assistant Revenue Growth Manager.
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