A ONE Institute
Apr 24, 2024
Welcome to the first part of our interview with a graduate from Cornell University’s Engineering program. We appreciate your understanding that this video was filmed in 2021.
Interviewer: Could you please introduce yourself?
Student: My name is Ryu Jin. I immigrated to the United States in May 2018, around the end of my 9th grade. I am currently majoring in Mechanical Engineering at Cornell University and plan to continue my studies in a program called Early Masters of Engineering.
Interviewer: Could you explain the Early Masters of Engineering program? Student: The Early Masters of Engineering is a program where you take graduate school courses while conducting research. It’s not unique to Cornell, but it’s called Early Masters of Engineering at Cornell. In this program, you have to take 30 credits of courses in addition to research. It’s a program where you complete a Master’s course in one year while taking graduate school level courses for a year after graduating from undergraduate. The advantage of the Early Masters of Engineering program is that students who have completed their undergraduate studies at the same school can proceed to the Masters program without taking the GRE, and because they include students as Legally Undergraduate status, financial aid is well provided.
Interviewer: How were you able to graduate early?
Student: I enjoyed taking classes from my freshman year, and I was confident that I had chosen the right major in Mechanical Engineering. As I moved up in grade, I wanted to take more classes that included applications rather than theoretical ones, but the reality was that there wasn’t much time left until graduation. So, I ambitiously took many different classes, and at some point, I had finished the requirements. When choosing a class, I registered for various reasons. If I heard that the professor taught well, I would take the class, if I was curious about the field because it was easy to get a job in the industry, I would take the class, and if my friend was taking it, I would take the class. These are the reasons why I took the classes.
Interviewer: Have you ever wanted to change your major?
Student: Mechanical Engineering classes are mainly theoretical until the third year, and start to include applications from the fourth year. However, Computer Science (CS) classes have a lot of application-included classes even in lower grades compared to Mechanical Engineering classes. So, I was fascinated by CS because the CS projects looked fun and the job placement was good after graduation. I thought CS would suit me well and considered changing my major, but I decided to stick with Mechanical Engineering, which I had started, for fear of looking fickle. It’s good to be determined, but if you’re worried, you might consider a minor or ask graduate students in the department you’re interested in.
Interviewer: Did you have a lot of interest in math and physics from a young age?
Student: Personally, I don’t think I was good at math and physics, but I think I was weak in memorization and preferred understanding to memorization, so I became interested in high school math and physics when I was in high school. I think A-One Institute also helped.
Interviewer: Is there any outlook/insight you want to convey from the professors at school?
Student: When I hear about job placements around me, I can see fields where research activities are active or where there is a shortage of manpower, and I think it is promising to go into aerospace. It seems that there are many cases where Space X or NASA branches hire. Not only aerospace but also CS, I can feel that the job placement is really good, and I think CS is a major that can get a job in a very wide range of fields, not just a specific field. Also, Information Science seems to be on the rise. CS is already in its heyday, and there may not be as many jobs as there are now in a few years. But if you’re still interested in CS, I would advise you to consider Information Science as well as CS. In terms of research, I would like to tell you that Biomedical/ Biomechanics/ Robotics fields are also booming. At Cornell, I feel that research in Food Science and Hotel Administration is actively underway.
We will answer your curiosity about what EC activities you did in high school, what your GPA was, and what your public certification test scores were in Part 2.
We hope you gained a lot of insights through the interview with the student who studied at our academy and successfully completed the admission process. We will end today’s post here. Thank you.