“Age has never been an issue for me, the issue is how people receive it,” she says.

Fong says that the age difference was not such a big deal because people just assumed that she was the same age as everyone else.

The first time she says she really felt the age issue was when all of her friends began turning 21 this year and going out to bars—she’s still two years away from the legal drinking age.

“It was really annoying then,” Fong says.

While here at Harvard, Fong has maintained a busy schedule outside her packed classroom schedule.

She is the co-captain of the women’s ultimate frisbee team as well as co-captain and former president of the table tennis team In the off-season from frisbee, Fong likes to pay homage to her Canadian years by playing JV women’s hockey.

She is well aware of the importance of a nicely-rounded out list of activities—Fong is the outgoing president of the Harvard Yearbook.

Despite all of that, she is also surprisingly well-rested.

“I get really grumpy if I don’t sleep enough,” Fong says. “My first year at Harvard I slept like a baby, around ten hours [a night].”

As a senior, though, she says she has “only” been able to get seven to eight hours of sleep a night.

She credits the support of her family with allowing her to remain well-adjusted and friendly.

Being far from her family while an undergraduate had an influence on her post-graduate plans. Fong turned down offers to work for major finance companies to pursue an economics Ph.D from Stanford Business School in the fall.

“Grad school is a good choice for me,” Fong says. “I feel like I have so much left to learn.”

—Staff writer Maria S. Pedroza can be reached at mpedroza@fas.harvard.edu.