Harvey Mudd College
Sept 2014 - May 2018
My goal in undergrad was simple: develop an engineer's mindset. Rather than focus on memorizing facts and cookie cutter methodology, I wanted to cultivate my problem solving ability to tackle any arbitrary challenge, no matter my familiarity with the subject. Harvey Mudd was just the place such a goal.
A unique aspect of Harvey Mudd College is that they only award general engineering degrees. Rather than focusing on only a single branch of engineering, all engineering majors must take a courses spanning many engineering branches, including electrical, mechanical, software, chemical, manufacturing, etc. This way students are not pigeonholed to a single methodology or ideology. Ultimately students can specialize in a particular field given the electives they chose.
The best example of the engineering experience is Experimental Engineering, a sophomore level class, that, as my professor said, 'Teaches students what to do with their hands'. The course did just that. I went into the course not knowing what a breadboard was, or what MATLAB was, or how to collect and process data, but by the end, my team and I successfully launched our rocket investigated gyroscopic rocket stabilization induced by canted fins... The journey to that point included many late nights and extremely stressful times as we raced to finish all of our work in the restricted 6 hour period. But through that process, I learned how to be an engineer. I learned how to teach myself. How to work in a team. How to recover from mistakes. And most importantly, I learned how to take steps forward, when you are sleep deprived and the circuit that was working a minute ago is dead now and experimental results don't match theoretical results and time is running out, how to keep taking steps forward.
As a recent graduate of Harvey Mudd's engineering department, I am confident that I can tackle any challenge thrown my way. With a strong technical foundation, I can teach myself applicable topics, and I know how to reach out to others when necessary.
