Tag: graduate school

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amanda quotes

Amanda’s Quotes #22

[315-320] We are working with a company to develop a prototype for the ankle brace. They’re very helpful, a very good company. We even had a phone conference with them so we told them what we had to get done and they can customize their product to us so it would help. Then it has been taking too long of a time producing the part compare to what they say and then to ship the part and they didn’t tell us about it. When I expect the product and it’s not there, I contact them, and they say it still hasn’t been shipped or stuff like that. So, it’s taking a very long time but every time I talk with them, they’re very helpful.

[307-311] Overall, our interactions with the company has been good. Sometimes it can feel like sometimes when we’re trying to order something, or we feel like they may not take us as serious because we are students compared to if a professional industry would order something. They are late with the parts and not really giving us an update what’s going on or why it’s late. I had to reach out to them all the time because I don’t feel as respected as it should be. And that may could be because we’re students.

[326-328] We can still develop our prototype without having their parts. It’s always like something you can do even though you don’t have what you need. But it has for sure slowed down our process because they have not met the deadlines.

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amanda quotes

Amanda’s Quotes #26

[380-387] In my first semester it just started off with a ton of homeworks and assignments and test it was a big, big workload so I was kind of forced into it. With my personality I’m always trying to do my best even though it would be enough to just get a passing grade on an assignment. I would not complete an assignment with something I didn’t think I was going to get 100% on. That’s how it started off. That was very annoying. I didn’t like it at all because I came here for soccer and the engineering took over when I didn’t want it to. My last year, my senior year, has been more focused on the engineering but that’s because I wanted it.

[350-353] I would either pursue a master’s in mechanical engineering since I’m doing my bachelor’s in it, or I was thinking about sports engineering but the industry for that is much smaller and maybe not be a good idea to do a master’s in it if it’s difficult to get jobs. One other alternative is industrial engineering and management which is basically a combination about engineering and economics.

[358-363] Before I got here [United States], I applied for different programs back home in my home country and then I applied for industrial engineering and management just because it’s always something I’ve been interested in like in engineering economics as we talked about before. Then, I got here [United States] and after like a couple of semesters I realized I sports engineering was a thing and that is something I’m even more interested in because I love sports. I do enjoy using my brains to solve problems. To put those two together would be something I would enjoy doing.

[375-376] I came here [United States] for my soccer experience and then the engineering has just become a lot bigger than I expected. I spend much more time on it than I expected. I have liked it.

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josh quotes

Josh’s Quotes #27

[536-547] Overall, I think the internship was crucial and it’s definitely a big stepping stone in my professional development, but I’m definitely not ready to step out into the engineering world yet. It’s helped me to narrow down what I desire from an employer and from a workplace culture. It’s also shown me what things I don’t want to deal with. If I do deal with them, how I want to deal with them. But it’s also shown me that there are a lot of things I have to learn. In any field that I go into, there’s going to be nuances and little things that’ll take years to learn. I mean, there are people at this place that are still learning new components and they’ve been there for 30, 40 years. It’s taught me to really value my education and to not be afraid to ask questions. Because learning more really only helps me. Because even if it’s not something that applies directly, maybe it’s a skill I learned that I can use elsewhere. I think it’s just been a significant stepping stone. Not the final stepping stone, but just a significant stepping stone towards that degree in my hand and a future on the road. Which my current plan, which is new as of a few months ago, I’m intending to look at PhD programs out of college.

[583-607] Something that I’ve always felt in school is, I enjoy helping others or teaching others. I’m not sure what the best word to choose would be. I don’t always understand things quickly, but I can generally get a base idea of things in class. Once I understand something, I usually find it pretty easy to explain because I feel like if I can understand it, I should be able to explain it. Because of that, it’s brought the thought in my head. I’ve never really thought of being in education. I just said, I was like, “I don’t really like teaching people all the time.” I enjoy helping them occasionally, but I don’t think I have the patience to do it all the time. But that doesn’t change the fact that I enjoy what I’m doing at school. I thought, “Well, maybe it’s just education that I like. Maybe I just like learning.” Yeah, helping people is great in general sense. I’m sure anyone gets joy from that. But it made it difficult because I really didn’t want to go into teaching. I was like, “I don’t want to be a teacher. I just don’t see that being a future I enjoy.” Other than the social aspects, I just think it’d be too stressful. Then I started questioning, “Well, what do I really want to do after school?” I’ve always felt that if I stop going to school, I’m not going back. Because I feel like it’s a rolling stone, I’m going and if I stop, it’s going to stop. I guess if I take a break, I’m not going to want to go back. I’m going to get lazy and I’m just going to want to stay inside all day. I’d rather just bite the bullet and get education done so I can coast the rest of my life. I had always consider doing a masters. That had always been my next step.

Honestly, the change really happened when I talked to my friend. I had mentioned I went to the last road crew pit stop in January. That’s where I had the conversation with this peer of mine. It really was, right there, he said it. He said that’s what he was doing, why he was doing it. It kind of just set off a light bulb in my brain. Kind of it just felt right. I was like, “That sounds exactly like what I need.” I didn’t know it before, but it feels right. I thought about it more and more, and I came to the conclusion that I think that’s what I want to do. I don’t necessarily want to go into education, but if I get the doctorate, I think it allows me the opportunity on top of opening a lot of other doors that might be interesting.

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lauren quotes

Lauren’s Quotes #16

[413-420] The paper that I’m on, I didn’t actually do any of the writing for it. I just did some simulation work for it. But my name got put on the paper. The project I did over the summer was the skyrmions and modeling them. I’m going to be helping one of my coworkers write that paper. He’s a grad student in the lab I’m in. But because I did all of the modeling work and then I’ll be helping write that because I’m that one that knows what I did. While he doesn’t know as much what I did. So, my name’s going to be on that paper, too.

[423-435] We have three graduate students in my lab. One of them started just recently, this semester. I haven’t really interacted with him much because it’s his first semester as a grad student, he’s mostly doing classes and stuff, I think. But the other two I have been working with since I got to the lab. One of them isn’t working on the same projects that I am, but if I have a question about some simple magnetism things, he can typically tell me an answer. Then the other one is the one I’m going to be working on the paper with. We’re working on the same project. I interact with him the most, even though our class schedules don’t line up all that well. We typically leave notes for each other. I’ll be like, “Hey, I re-ran the simulation and here are the changes. Here’s the data so that you can look at it.” And then he’ll leave me a note and be like, “Hey, can you change the exchange energy, make it higher so that we can see if that helps make it better?”

[597-603] Overall, it was fun doing something new for research. My skyrmions and my gadolinium iron sample. That was mine. It was new. No one else had looked at it yet. I’m sure people had looked at gadolinium iron before, but not the same that I had. Once I get the paper out, more people are going to build off of that. It’s different than, “Hey, I made a cool new bike pedal.” And then someone else being like, “I added ridges to the bike pedal. Isn’t it cooler?” It seems more awesome when it’s something completely new.

[701-709] However, before the summer, before I really started in the lab that I’m in, I was totally just believing I would finish my undergrad and then get a job and then work until I retired. But over the summer and doing research and being involved in that has definitely made me lean more towards going into research, which would mean going into more school. Because it was definitely something I enjoyed and found interesting and would be happy doing in life. My classes so much this year, they’re just sort of classes I need to continue on to next semester where I’ll have some more fun ones. They’re just a steppingstone to continuing.

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lauren quotes

Lauren’s Quotes #23

[444-447] Once classes end, I plan to continue doing research. Hopefully I can go to the lab this summer, you know, depending it’s not canceled. If it is canceled, I’ve already worked it out with my boss. I can still work in the lab over the summer. So, I can continue doing research, just, it won’t be at a really cool lab.

[452-458] The more I do research, the more I want to do it for a living, because it is really fun figuring something out, and like, in the works I’m trusting. And typically, there’s more than one project going on, so if I get annoyed and not making any progress with the thing I’m working on, I can go and help someone else with their thing. Or sit there and be the rubber duck as they explain how it works to me. So, if they can figure something out themselves. You know, there’s just always something going on, so it’s less likely to be bored. And I enjoy it, and I think I would want to do it for the future.

[462-464] It’s not set in stone yet, but I do think I would like to go to grad school so that I could do research for a living. Maybe not in magnetism forever. Maybe I’ll find something else that I really like to do, but I am enjoying the research, and I think I want to continue doing that during my career.

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quotes tchuck

Tchuck’s Quotes #18

 [909-922] This summer I’m not doing anything, as of right now.  Ideally, I’d like to get an internship. I got on a phone interview with someone but, I don’t know. From what he told me, he said that, I seem too technical because, I think the specific position was for, basically, I don’t know. To put it really, really simply, like ordering types of drugs. But, it also had to do a little bit with getting with the manufacturer and looking at prices and stuff. A little bit more to the business side of things of which he said that, my background was a little bit too technical, he thought probably. So, then I didn’t end up getting that one. And then, I applied to a bunch, I think Kenmore’s I got a call back from them. But then, again, nothing happened there either. So, yeah. It’s been a little bit of a frustrating process, but I’m still working on it right now. Don’t know if anything’s going to end up happening. Don’t really want to go back to the warehouse this summer though, so maybe I can find something else, but we’ll see.

[519-541] Once I graduate, I’m considering graduate school. I’m literally talking to my professor tomorrow, because I have to pick my classes on Monday for next semester and, I have to figure out what I’m doing. Because basically there’s a 5-in-1 and one program offered at my institution. And so, there’s two different versions of it as well. There’s one with research which I would continue take or I have to take clinic my senior year no matter what. But then I would continue doing whatever we should have been doing in clinic, my year after that. And then have a thesis at the end of that. And then I’d get a masters in biomedical engineering or there’s a track that’s not research. I would still have to do the senior year of research, but then, the year after that I wouldn’t do any more research and I would just take graduate classes. And then it would count as a master’s in engineering with a specification in biomedical engineering. That’s just what the degree is called. The one that doesn’t require research, I don’t have to apply to and I probably could just do if I wanted to. And then the other one I do have to apply to, but I was already talking to my professor and she seems all for […] Recommended me for it. And I would probably be able to do it. It just a matter of whether or not I want to do it, that’s the only issue.  Because I’m not sure how big of a fan I am of research because it definitely is frustrating. And it tests your patience a little bit. But I would also, like I told her, because in theory, I’m still going to take […] The way it would work is I would take graduate level courses next fall, next spring and then I think, that summer, fall and spring. And then that summer I would have to take classes so I could do it in the extra year. I’d have to take classes that summer and then, finish up like in fall and spring, with whatever on the class that I needed.

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