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As a senior, I’ve become more curious about life after high school. It’s weird knowing that I’ll be an adult in several months, and that I’ll be out of high school. The past three years, I had the chance to get to know many then-juniors and seniors, who are now graduated and currently on their path to achieving their own individual goals and dreams. My active club involvement and various other extracurricular activities have opened up many opportunities to talk to new people. I especially like connecting with those who are a year or two older, since it’s interesting to hear from their experiences in school and life that I didn’t yet get to experience. High school made me realize the importance of being social and knowing more people; It really does provide you with greater insights to many different things, and of course it’s always nice to be able to call one more person your friend. I’m very grateful to have several great alumni friends, some of whom I talk to almost daily, and it’s been especially helpful lately with all the advice I got regarding college applications. This blog is a compilation of life updates from 12 high school alumni / college freshmen. If you are a current student at Northwood (or even if you are an alum), I’m certain you’ll enjoy this one.
Luke Li: I’m majoring in Engineering Physics at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. My interests include coding, tennis, tabletop games, and video games. The classes I’m currently taking are physics mechanics, macroeconomics, multivariable calculus, general chemistry, and introduction to computer science. There are several things which I find different about college in comparison to high school -- First, there’s a lot more walking involved, but also a lot of new people to meet. Learning is a bit harder, as you can’t talk to your professor as much. What I like the best about college is that everything is more flexible; you can really just schedule your classes whenever you want, and if you really want to you could even have it so that you have long breaks between classes. As for goals I want to get an internship somewhere and maybe try to double major in CS as well.
Sydney Duong: I go to Cal Poly Pomona. I'm majoring in Business Administration with an emphasis in Computer Information Systems (CIS). Within my major, I've chosen to follow the information security and forensics subplan. Right now, I'm focusing on learning more about incident response and threat hunting, so the "blue" side of cybersecurity. I also want to explore more about scripting for automated tasks (programming has never been my strong suit)... and of course penetration testing sounds really interesting. I could go on and on about all the things I want to learn, haha.
For me, the biggest difference between college and high school is having the freedom to choose what you want to study. I think the biggest obstacle students face transitioning from high school to college is choosing and committing to a major of study/field. But after you're able to figure that out, studying for classes becomes easier because you have clearer goals to work towards. This leads me to the things I like best about my college so far. I've asked my advisors literally everything about the courses I should take, how to look for internship/job opportunities, what goals/benchmarks I should set for myself, how to prepare for career fairs, etc., and they've been able to answer it all. Additionally, the clubs I've joined are a great community of people who are dedicated to helping other students reach their goals, including holding weekly workshops and CTFs, advising with resumes and LinkedIn profiles, hosting study sessions for certs, and providing a large network of alumni to connect with. As opposed to high school, in college you can surround yourself completely with people who share your same interests, and for me that's been such a cool and eye-opening experience.
My overall goal is to secure a job in infosec before I graduate. Of course, that entails the sub-goals of getting internships around my sophomore and junior year, obtaining certifications, doing well in competitions, and actually graduating. I also want to be a club president in the future! Eventually, I want to give back and help other students through their doubts and struggles.
Joy Kim: I am a sociology and psychology major, currently at Syracuse University. My interests are mainly in psychology, but I’m specifically focused on how trauma relates to larger social issues, or more so how it is affected by the latter. Outside of academics, I’m currently involved in sailing, studying for my EMT exam, and am part of a christian club! I’m hoping to expand my horizons and join a formula sae club, just for fun!!
Annabel Yang: I attend University of Maryland - College Park, and I’m majoring in Computer Science. Regarding college life, I would say it’s a nice change of pace to actually take classes that you want to take, outside of general education. I don't like being this far away from home (others may differ) but it's otherwise perhaps a better experience in being independent when you don't have the option to go back home every weekend. The next few years I'm hoping to get an internship (I need one related to cybersecurity to pass my honors college requirements) and possibly do some research. I'm planning on graduating in 3 years and going into the industry but if I get a change of heart I may pursue graduate school. This depends on whether I find research opportunities interesting enough for me that will also take me, and what opportunities I find outside of immediate academics.
Brandon Mark: I'm majoring in Computer Science at San Francisco State University. I'm currently taking 5 classes: Fundamentals of Oral communication, Pre-Calculus, Computer Programming, Introduction to Software Lab, and of course, English. In regards to the differences between college and high school, it basically comes down to increased workload, your ability to choose your own schedule, and that teachers aren’t there to constantly tell you to do your work -- they could care less about that. What I like about college is that my spending habits on buying unnecessary things has gone down and living on your own provides a whole different environment for both learning and other aspects of life. For the next few years, I'm looking forward to learning more about computers and the code. A few goals I have include finding a job, getting used to living in San Francisco, buying a car and maybe a house as well. But, these goals can change later down the line.
Sarah Bauer: I’m currently a freshman at UC Berkeley, and I’m double majoring in Applied Mathematics and Astrophysics. As of now, I’m quite interested in political theory, geography, theoretical physics, and philosophy. I am also a member of Berkeley’s marching band, where I play bass drum. I’d say that one of the biggest differences between high school and college is the extent of one’s independence in day-to-day life. Personally, my transition to college life was difficult because I was not used to being responsible for my own food, finances, transportation, etc.
My favorite thing about college is definitely the flexibility of academics—it’s nice to be able to choose any class from hundreds of options, as well as design a schedule to fit your personal needs. For instance, because I have marching band practice from 5-7 every day, I designed my schedule so that all of my classes take place in the morning. In the future, I’m hoping to take full advantage of internship opportunities in the Bay Area, study abroad in Berlin, and eventually attend graduate school for physics. Outside of my occupational and academic goals, it is a dream of mine to travel to (almost) every country in the world.
Brian Yu: I am attending University of California, Irvine. My major is currently undeclared in ICS (School of Information and Computer Sciences). Some of my interests are cybersecurity, premed, and anime. College is pretty free; you can choose what class you want to attend (which can be a good or bad) and etc. What I like the best about college is that there is a lot to do, so sometimes you may end up staying at school pretty late into the night. My goals for the next few years are doing well on the MCAT, finding an internship, making some new friends, and networking a bit.
Andrea Huang: I attend the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, and I'm majoring in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB). Currently, some of my career interests are in the medical field, biological research field, and computer science. College is very different from high school- being an out-of-state student, I had to adapt to living on my own very quickly, learning how to plan my time and be proactive about my responsibilities myself. What I like most about college so far is the amount of opportunity available. As a student at a very large university, there are so many fellow students, knowledgeable faculty, and organizations around to collaborate with. While it might feel overwhelming at first, reaching out and trying new things is so much easier here. Though I haven't decided exactly what my career path will be, I currently hope to obtain some professional degree, either on an MD or MD/PhD track. However, no matter what, I hope that I will get to try lots of new things, meet lots of new people, and form many new friendships in the future at Michigan.
Amine Adlouni: I’m majoring in biochemistry at UCLA, on the premed track. Currently, I’m interested in exploring the intersection of business and health; both disciplines overlap in numerous industries, offering countless opportunities and paths to revolutionize healthcare. Furthermore, I am also interested in viral research, more specifically bacteriophages and their potential in creating a new kind of antibiotic. College and high school certainly have their similarities and differences; for one, living on campus is a completely different experience than going home after the school day is over. Being in a dorm means you’re constantly surrounded by fellow students with a wide variety of passions and experiences, culminating in a unique social environment that provides you with many new friends and connections. Furthermore, the academic aspect of college is starkly different: especially at a large school such as UCLA, the classroom sizes are massive. Each of my classes have over 200 students, meaning that the potential for more personal, one on one learning is limited. As such, it becomes your own responsibility as a student to pursue other academic resources, such as office hours with your professors.
There is no more hand holding on your academic journey. At the moment, what I love most about college is the freedom and flexibility it provides; being able to choose your classes also means that you have the ability to organize your day around times that best suit you. If you always struggled to wake up early in high school, you can choose to have afternoon classes so you can get that extra sleep. Furthermore, classes simply take up less time of the day in college. While you will probably have to study much more in college, you also have more free time to do so.
In the next few years, I hope to maintain a high GPA (hopefully OChem doesn’t ruin that goal) while also getting a research position with a professor in the field of bacteriophage antibiotics. On a more personal level, I hope to maintain my physical and mental health while also making the most of my college years: making lifelong memories with friends, exploring new activities, and meeting new people.
Kendrick Pham: I’m currently a freshman who is attending UCI trying to double major in Educational Sciences and Environmental Engineering -- an odd combination, I know. Out of high school, I did not know what I wanted to do in the future, but through intensive research I did over the summer, I decided on those two majors. Some things that interest me at the time are music, nature, education and psychology. The main difference between high school and college is the responsibility and independence you have as a student. Everyone is taking their own paths, so your friends might never be in the same class. My goal in the next few years is to gain experience in both the engineering and education world to hopefully create my own project that can provide help for others.
David Tran: I’m a first-year majoring in Computer Science at UC San Diego. My academic interests at the moment are statistics, machine learning, and software engineering. In my free time, I enjoy watching anime of many genres and reading fiction and current events. I also started playing Genshin recently. The one major difference between high school and college is definitely the responsibilities you have as a student. Even before classes start, you have to take initiative and reach out to academic advising if you need help with planning your schedule. With the quarter system, classes are much faster paced, and the workload is borderline manageable even with four classes. My favorite part of college is being able to have a flexible schedule. For me, this means spreading my classes apart from 8 am to 2 pm and having gaps to study or take breaks around campus. Over the next few years, I hope to get an internship, possibly minor in math, and thrive in my CS courses.
Austin Wang* : I'm a first-year at Yale University in Berkeley College, one of Yale's twelve residential colleges in the system, and I'm thinking about double majoring in Mathematics and Physics & Computer Science and Economics (or maybe Statistics & Data Science). I'm still very interested in astronomy and astrophysics as I was in high school, and I'm taking a first-year-seminar called "Expanding Ideas in Time and Space" with a fantastic professor in a class of 15 students. Yale has these cool small "seminar" classes of varying fields and focuses, and I've really enjoyed my time debating about how we perceive time, dabbling through Einstein's equations, Lorentz Transformations, tensors, and all that fun stuff! Lately, I've been very interested in exoplanet search, and there's a lab that I'm hoping to join soon! Besides academics and research, I've developed a newfound appreciation for the emphasis on the arts.
My favorite thing about college so far are the social connections that I've made. Yale has an unique residential college system in which it matches students into one of 14 residential colleges, and I think that it really fosters a community of collaboration and inclusiveness. Some goals in mind are to obtain a well-rounded education, get my degree, make some new friends, run a marathon, create something cool (very vague), and keep pursuing my interests to the fullest extent. As for now, I just really want to have fun and live the four years of my life that I'll never get back!
*Read full interview with Austin here: https://opensourcecollage.com/blog/8