The 18-year-old is an extremely high academic achiever, having gained NCEA level 3 in 2021, when others his age were still studying level 1.
Since then, he has been studying a wide range of tertiary papers at the University of Otago while filling out his remaining years at Logan Park High School with extracurricular activities such as debating and playing for the school chess team.
"I stayed at Logan Park for the social side of things — so I could be around people my own age.
"It was a period of exploration for me. I took two physics papers, a philosophy paper and a music paper at Otago.
"I continued with the music paper in my second year, as well as another philosophy paper, and took psychology and economics.
"This year, I have continued with 300-level performance piano and economics, as well as politics and philosophy."
While most students his age are still finishing secondary school, he has distinguished himself as one of the most accomplished students at the University of Otago by winning the University of Otago Dux Scholarship and the University of Otago Academic Excellence Entrance Scholarship in 2023.
He took the widely varying papers to try to figure out what to do with his life, he said.
While he had not yet found the answer, he was "on a path" after he was recently accepted to study philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at Oxford University, in England.
"I’m very excited," he said.
"Now I’m going to be a ‘normal’ student at Oxford.
"I’m looking forward to studying around people my own age.
"I hope also that I am around similar people who are passionate, curious and able to share my mind and inspire and encourage me."
The degree would take three years to complete, and he was still not sure where his chosen path would lead him, he said.
"I had so much trouble and spent so much time trying to choose a subject, but I’ve done that now and I’m really happy with it.
"I think I will wait and see what happens. I don’t imagine myself as a politician, which is where most PPE students seem to want to go.
"My goal is to learn as much as I possibly can and enjoy it as much as I possibly can.
"I hope I’ll figure it out as I go."
Mr Sun leaves for England on Sunday.
