Blog

I cannot believe that it’s already November. Your girl has stayed busy with classes, work, the internship search, and hanging out with friends. Here’s what’s happened in the life of a computer science senior over the last three months, all in a couple of words and a whole lot of pictures.

Late August
August got off to a busy but fun start with move-in. As a resident assistant (RA), I got to campus a little bit earlier than most people to help get dorms set up for the year. This is me with a couple of residents enjoying breakfast in Bursley’s dining hall during one of the first days of move-in!

Late August is a great time to be in Ann Arbor. Classes haven’t started yet, so there’s plenty of time to do fun things and enjoy everything that Ann Arbor has to offer. Here’s me and friends at the State Theater about to watch The Farewell.

Basically Every Spare Second in September
During the first few weeks of classes, I got hooked on reading mysteries and thrillers. This one was so good that I actually chose to stay up late to keep on reading, because I could not put it down.

If you like tragic plot twists and lots of mystery, I highly recommend. And I love that the Ugli and the Dude always have the latest books available for me to checkout whenever I want. I also found out that I can return the books at either of the libraries, regardless of which library I checked it out. Convenience is everything, people.

Friday, September 6
Every couple of Fridays is UMix, which basically means that the school puts on a party for you to have fun and eat great food. Here’s me with a bunch of RA friends at the Once Upon a UMix event. I got to witness an intense battle between two of my friends in an inflatable boxing ring and feast on goodies like cream puffs and garlic bread. I could use a couple of those cream puffs right now.

Monday, September 16
Then there was the Career Fair. This year’s Engineering Career Fair was Monday and Tuesday, September 16 and 17, which is just two weeks after classes started. It can seem overwhelming, but using the Career Fair Plus app and doing a little bit of homework ahead of time can make it easier to tackle. I think I was in line to speak with Akuna Capital here.

Tuesday, October 2
In October, I got to have dinner with my MDP (that’s the Multidisciplinary Design Program) team, along with our awesome faculty sponsor and our corporate sponsors. I had some fabulous fried chicken macaroni and cheese, but more importantly, I had some fabulous conversations with a lot of people that I’ve come to respect and learn from.

MDP has given me the opportunity to apply what I’ve learned as a computer science student to business problems, much like I will when I graduate and begin working. I think it’s also so valuable to learn how to work in a team professionally. Being able to run a meeting, convey technical knowledge to non-technical people, and work remotely with managers who you meet with virtually are just a few of the things that I have been able to learn through my MDP experience.

Tuesday, October 9
I spent a good chunk of this week working on my EECS 485 (Web Systems) project. My team and I got to recreate Instagram! Here (the photo above), an IA (instructor assistant) was helping us by giving a high-level summary of how some parts of the code should work.

Sunday, October 20
I got to visit NYC for a quick two-day trip for an interview. I was super nervous for the interview, but I’m happy to say it went pretty smoothly, especially because it was with a company in financial services, which is an area of technology that interests me. Even though I had to code at the airport and on the plane, I enjoyed the opportunity to sneak in a quick vacation to New York. Plus, I got to go to BCD Tofu House and eat great Korean food!

Thursday, November 7
Just a few weeks later, I was back on a plane, on my way to Virginia. I’d been invited to a networking event by a prospective employer where those who had received internships or full-time offers were welcomed to get to know the company a little better on site. Turns out, there were quite a few people from Michigan invited to the event, so we used a little bit of the extra time we had to explore together. A couple of us found a delicious ramen place for lunch. I also got to see a really pretty sunrise from my hotel room.

So that’s a quick look into what I’ve been up to for the last couple of months! Between getting to travel and challenging myself with some intense projects through my technical electives, I’ve had one of the most exciting semesters thus far in my time as a computer science student at the University of Michigan.