An interview with Amy Jiang, a student pursuing engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
March 30, 2019 Mishti Dhawan 12:20 PM EST Engineering/Study Resources
Engineering is increasingly shaping our world today. With applications in medicine, agriculture, business, architecture, and a myriad of other fields, engineering is evolving and playing a much bigger role in our lives than ever before.
Interest in engineering programs across the United States and abroad is increasing, which is why we interviewed Amy Jiang, a student at UC Berkeley to learn more about engineering life at UC Berkeley, a popular and highly competitive school for engineering.
Amy intends on pursuing a major in Mechanical Engineering and potentially double in Materials Science. She is specifically interested in clean energy research. Throughout high school, Amy participated in Science Olympiad, Speech and Debate, DECA, and was a member of the drill team. In college, she joined a dance team, the Society for Women Engineers (SWE) and the League of Legends Club.
MD: What motivated you to pursue Mechanical Engineering?
AJ: In high school, I was in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program and after taking Higher Level (HL) Physics, I realized that I was really into the physical sciences. But when I took the intro Physics course in my first semester of college, I realized that it wasn’t for me. I was a lot more interested in doing something practical and hands on, which is why I began to explore mechanical engineering.
Throughout my journey of exploring mechanical engineering, I realized the importance of pursuing what interests me. You should pursue a major in a discipline that you enjoy, more than pursuing something for a stable career path… At minimum, pick something that you like and won’t mind dedicating 4 years of your life to. If you decide later that it’s not for you, there’s plenty of success stories of those who pivoted later in life to pursue their passion!
MD: Why did you pick UC Berkeley? What factors should someone consider when picking their college?
AJ: Factors like opportunities, culture, and weather, helped me decide that UC Berkeley was the right fit for me. I also wanted to go to a larger school because of the connections and resources that the school would offer. It is definitely important to consider the factors that you think will impact or influence your experience at college- whether that’s the quality of education, the number of opportunities and resources available, or the culture and climate of the place.
MD: How would you describe attending university in one sentence?
AJ: I attend a public school so this might not be true for everyone, but there are just infinitely more opportunities and more freedom for you to do what you want – it’s just up to you to seek out and pursue those opportunities.
MD: What is one thing that you recommend that students do in high school? What is one thing that you do not recommend that students do in high school?
AJ: For starters, don’t commit time to something that you don’t enjoy, and don’t be afraid to let things go. There are definitely a few clubs that I should’ve dropped way earlier in high school so that I could focus on things that I actually like. On the flip side, feel free to explore new things—you never know if you’ll find a new interest, or learn something that will be relevant in your life in the far future! Even though I’m a STEM major, I enjoyed competing in DECA and I definitely learned some important things about business and industry.
MD: How has being a girl in STEM shaped your experiences at UC Berkeley?
AJ: I think joining Society of Women Engineers (SWE) really helped embolden my confidence in my career path. I was able to get advice from people with similar backgrounds as me and to hear from female graduate students and career professionals who had also pursued engineering degrees. I definitely noticed a gender disparity in my honors physics class, although I tend to just not pay attention to gender ratios when I’m taking classes.
MD: How do you overcome stereotypes about women in STEM?
AJ: I just focus on what I want to do, and what other people think about what I’m doing is completely irrelevant. As long as I’m studying something that makes me happy, then I’m content to be where I am. Also, the SWE community reminds me that I’m not alone :)
MD: What is the biggest difference between high school and college?
AJ: I think I would reiterate what I said about abundance of opportunity here. Especially at UC Berkeley, whose location in the East Bay inherently lends itself to lots of employers (especially in tech) seeking to recruit college students, there’s always some career fair, professional coffee chat, or networking event happening on campus. Even outside of career development, there’s a wide variety of extracurriculars that you can get involved in, from consulting clubs, to building rockets to send into space, to lion dancing. At Berkeley, we also have a system where students can teach classes called “decals”—you may have heard about the BTS class, and similarly there’s also a cooking/baking class, a class on the mechanics of League of Legends, a class on Drake, etc…People can go to the same school and have completely different college experiences!
MD: What can high school students do to prepare for college?
AJ: I feel like you really won’t know how to “do” college until you’re in college, but I think that while you should definitely make a plan for your 4 years and look into programs you’re interested in, be ready to deviate from them.
Stick to your principles and goals but be open to change how you get there! College is a much bigger playing field than high school, and some things that worked before might not be so fault-proof anymore.
MD: If you could tell your high school self one thing- what would it be and why?
AJ: This is probably really niche advice, but I would tell myself that engineering is a lot broader than the robotics team. I initially didn’t consider engineering as a possible career avenue because my only exposure to engineering was the build subteam in the robotics club in high school, which I didn’t like. But in college, there’s so many different engineering majors; I didn’t even know there was a difference between many of them. Even within MechE, there’s a huge variety in what you could specialize in (mechatronics, aerodynamics, ergonomics, engineering design, to name a few).
MD: What advice would you give to young girls who are considering STEM as a career choice?
AJ: Just do it. Find support and mentorship systems like SWE and just run with your passions (applies for all majors, really).
Dab on the haters because you are doing what you want and that’s all that matters. :)
Thank you Amy for doing an interview with us!
As for YOU, our readers:
Like what you’re seeing on STEMTeen? Then, join our team! Apply now at https://www.stemteen.org/stem-journalists.
Comentarios