Let's rewind to a time when Femgineer, Ph.D. was a hopeful but unsure young engineering student. Unsure about what to do with an engineering degree, unsure about whether she could "make it" in this tough major, unsure of whether it was fair that she was always working on HUGE problem sets, while her friends in the social sciences and humanities seemed to have a lot more play time in the evenings and weekends.
Top 5 things Femgineer, Ph.D.-to-be found useful at this earliest stage of her engineering career:
5. Sit in the front of the lecture room to maximize your cerebral intake. Take detailed notes of what the prof says as well as writes. Go to office hours for both the teaching assistants and professors. Talk to people. Your letters of recommendation will sound a lot more convincing if the people writing them spoke to you about your interests.
4. Spend your summers productively, for example, taking internships as early as possible. Even an unpaid lab stint can give you significant experience that you can leverage to get the next opportunity.
3. Try to incorporate research units into your school year experience. This will help you decide if you want to pursue a research path, and help you figure out what interests you.
2. Talk to as many people as possible about your potential career interests. Listen to all the advice, don't stress too much about the factors involved in making the decision, then move forward.
1. You absolutely can make it. Engineering only seems hard before you understand it. In actuality, it is a rigorously logical, beautiful, versatile training.
Maybe next time we can discuss what's useful to think about in the junior and senior years of an undergraduate education, eg, how to decide grad school versus industry, how to pick graduate programs, fellowships, etc....
Hope this was helpful Possible Scientist! If you have any specific questions that arise as you start your undergraduate education, feel free to ask them.
1 month ago
Sounds hard... but thanks for the useful info!
ReplyDeleteYour points are very true indeed, especially number 4 which I neglected until my last summer, in favor of going back home. The lack of more internship experience did make things a little bit more difficult for me when it came to job interviews and such when I graduated. Plus varied internships I think helps in the decision making process of what you want to do in terms of research vs industry.
ReplyDeleteWhile you go down the rewinding path would love to hear about your grad school experiences and advice too :)
I've posted a reply over at http://possiblyascientist.blogspot.com/2009/08/and-here-we-go.html
ReplyDeleteFound your points helpful!
Muddled grad, thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely touch on that.
ReplyDelete