Major: Computer Engineering/Software Engineering
Class: 2013
Where are you from?
Crystal Lake, Ill., which is about an hour northwest of Chicago.
What do you like about the CE/SE program?
Both the CE and the SE program have students working with core concepts starting freshman year. For CE I have enjoyed the diverseness of the classes, in that they have taught me everything from complex circuit analysis, to the basics of what I have been learning in my SE curriculum. On the SE side I feel like through teaching us the beginnings of programming, through languages such as assembly and C, and then showing how they evolved into higher level languages, such as Java. MSOE is not only teaching us how to code reliably, but also to appreciate everything that has led to the evolution of the computer engineering field.
Why did you choose CE/SE as your major?
I started my MSOE career as a CE. At the end of my freshman year, as I was signing up for Fall quarter, I noticed that my curriculum path stopped having java classes unlike most of my friends, who happened to be all SEs. Up till then I had been in mostly all of their classes, and that would have been the first split off of CE from SE. I wanted to keep up the programming classes, and so I looked into the double major. I discovered that since I entered with some AP credit, I could finish both major’s in the normal four years (taking 18-19 credits a semester), and so decided I would try for both.
Why did you choose MSOE?
In my junior year in high school I was in a computer science class that competed in a programming competition here at MSOE. Later when I was trying to find good colleges to apply to, I found that MSOE’s application was the easiest by far than the other universities I was investigating. So I applied, and then began seriously analyzing the different colleges. MSOE ended up coming out on top of the others due to the small class size and campus, and a convenient location both in distance from my hometown and in being located in a prominent city. In addition, MSOE was specialized in my field and offered hands on work starting freshman year.
What type of advice would you give someone who is considering attending MSOE?
If you are looking or a campus whose students, professors and staff all care that you exist and want to help you along you meet your potential, and have fun doing it, MSOE is a great choice. But it will be a challenge. MSOE will make you earn the degree, so be prepared to seriously invest your time into your education.
What do you do in your free time?
My free time usually consists of hanging out with friends. The stereotype of engineers being antisocial finds very little ground to stand on here at MSOE. There are always people ready to video game or play Magic the Gathering with me if I so much as ask. Movie nights are quite regular in the dorms, and I also attend MAGE meetings/events, which is the resident anime/video games/board games organization on campus.