My Crushed Dream of Being a Mechanical Engineer
In senior year of high school, I was obsessed with Robotics and I was an active member of FIRST Robotics. I learned Computer-Aided Design (CAD), specifically Solidworks, and I decided that I wanted to become a Mechanical Engineer. It was my dream to work on designing parts and I loved the process of creating with software. I worked with other students who would actually machine out the parts I designed for the robot and I learned how to make detailed and correct diagrams, like the one here:
Sadly, after applying to every school with a declared major of Mechanical Engineering, I was rejected from all of them for Mechanical Engineering. Luckily, I was accepted by 2 universities for my “backup major” (some schools let you choose two majors, your primary and secondary if you don’t get accepted into your primary). I was accepted into UCSD and UCSB as a Mathematics Major which changed my trajectory significantly. I would say that if I was accepted as a Mechanical Engineer somewhere, it is very likely that I would be a Mechanical Engineer today.
After weighing the pros and cons of both UCSB and UCSD, I found that UCSD’s stats were higher than UCSB, but that the social reputation of UCSD (UC Socially Dead) was significantly worse than UCSB. As most wannabe engineers do, I made my choice based on the data without taking into account the party culture into the equation.
Life at Warren College
Toward a Life in Balance -Chief Justice Earl Warren
When I first joined UCSD I was sorted into Warren College after some arbitrary ranking on the college application. I am a proud Warren College graduate but the more I think back on it the more I wish I had embraced our motto a bit earlier. Despite literally walking past a bronze seal implanted in the concrete every day on my way to class, I largely dismissed the message as a cliché phrase some (very controversial judge) would say. But looking back I am now realizing that I could have striven for a bit more balance in my life and there’s so much more to life than studying to get a good job. And now, there’s so much more than even doing the job that I had dreamed of in College. Being in warren college was like being surrounded by tunnel visioned (primarily asian) engineers who only care about their GPA and landing internships. In that environment, it was hard not to feel the same pressure to perform at the same level.
I lived in Warren College for 2 years and after that I became an RA in Revelle for one year (because they got free housing of course).
Life at Revelle College
// TODO - Revelle was pretty great. The first time I felt a true sense of independence.
Overall Experience
// TODO - Overall Positive. Very challenging but in a good way