Admitted To Purdue Engineering: Leadership Team Members Reflect
Purdue was definitely an unexpected choice for me. I went to high school way out in New Jersey and honestly, didn’t realize how amazing Purdue was at first. As I knew that I wanted to pursue engineering in college, the Purdue Engineering program was a top recommendation from my Google research. However, I had my sights set on other east coast schools and while I did apply to Purdue, I didn’t look into the program that much.
Purdue was one of my first college acceptances and I was really excited to know that a school wanted me. However, I hadn't realized how amazing of an opportunity I received yet. Just a week later, my English teacher brought an alumni from our high school to speak to us about college and he also happened to be attending Purdue at the time. He told us all about the academic opportunities he had at Purdue like braving the many, scary career fairs and getting to work on actual hands-on, team engineering projects as a first-year through EPICS. I was also amazed by the school spirit he described at the football games and basketball games. After that presentation, I knew I had to look into Purdue more. That’s how I found the Women in Engineering program’s social media and blog. I absolutely loved the access to information about everything ranging from campus life to the study resources available. I was sold!
Looking back on when I was first admitted to Purdue Engineering and then into the Honors College, I felt a great sense of joy. When I received my admission, I was on a school Habitat for Humanity trip and celebrated with all of the students there. Since I applied early action, Purdue was one of the first schools I heard back from. I went to a small high school in Philadelphia where my graduating class size was 132 and the average classroom size was between 10-16 students. Initially, I had my mind set attending a smaller school, but when April began to approach, I had narrowed down my college options to a small private school back home and a large state school across the country. To help me make my decision, I spoke with several students at both colleges. Even though I thought a large college was not for me, the community atmosphere and highly regarded academics of Purdue won me over; a welcoming community is a great tool for collaborative majors such as engineering. In addition to the great community, the smaller community of the Honors College provided me with a small school feel, while still providing the many resources (such as career fairs, advisors, women in engineering program, study abroad programs, clubs, etc.) of a large school. My major take-away from coming to Purdue is that you can make a large school small, but it is very hard to make a small school large and provide the same plethora of opportunities.
Now a semester away from attaining my bachelors and 1.5 years away from attaining my masters in structural civil engineering, I’ve made hundreds of friends (and a few very close ones), studied abroad in Italy, formed close relationships with my professors, gained real-world experience from several internships, formed a great network from connecting with alumni and my fellow students, and paid it forward by speaking to many high students who are considering Purdue. Selecting to attend Purdue has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and I’m so proud to call Purdue my home 705 miles away from home.
I lived in Michigan for the first fifteen years of my life, and I had always known a little bit about Purdue. But when I was younger I never thought of potentially going here one day. My freshman year of high school was when I moved to Indiana, and I quickly learned so much more about Purdue. Everyone around me was always talking about Purdue, anywhere from the amazing academic programs, to the fantastic Purdue sports. At this point in my life it was hard to not know about Purdue, and I began to realize that this was definitely somewhere that I could see myself going.
The day I found out about my Purdue decision is very clear in my memory. It was a Tuesday, and I had swim practice right after school. Many of my teammates were also waiting for their decisions and we all had to reluctantly put our phones in our lockers and head to practice. The second that practice was over we all ran back to the locker room, didn’t even take the chance to dry off, and immediately went to open our emails. My phone always had terrible signal in the pool area, and I remember hearing the other girls on my team saying that they got in. But mine was stuck loading… Finally my admissions portal began opening, and the other seniors were all huddled around me, as I was the last one to see my decision. We read the message saying that I was admitted into the engineering program and we all got super excited. All of us girls that had applied got in and we were all so happy for each other. As we were leaving our coach asked us what all the screaming was about, and one of us responded, “We are official boilermakers now!”
From the beginning of my college search, I knew that Purdue would be the place I would call home if admitted. Purdue had everything I wanted in a school. The incredible engineering program, the interdisciplinary honors college, Big 10 sports, and an amazing community of students are what drew me to Purdue and eventually made me choose to enroll.
I remember so clearly the day I was admitted to Purdue. I remember going to school dressed in black and gold and anxiously awaited for an application update. When I opened my application portal after receiving the email, I think I literally jumped for joy. I could not contain my excitement! I called my family and close friends, and we all celebrated together. A few weeks later, I found out by scrolling through my email I had also gotten into Purdue’s honors college, and remember actually crying tears of joy. I had just gotten dressed and ran downstairs as fast as I could to tell my mom. Again, I called all of my family and closest friends to tell them the good news. I was over the moon.
Since coming here in the Fall 2020, I can easily say choosing Purdue has been the best decision I have ever made. Even in the most challenging of times, Purdue has continued to be one of the brightest lights in my life. I have been able to have so many incredible and unique experiences I would not have had anywhere else I was admitted to. I could not have asked for a better place to call home for my four years in college.
As someone born and raised in Indiana, I have been a Boilermaker since birth. Both of my parents attended Purdue, as did several of my aunts and uncles. Along with this, Purdue’s fantastic engineering program, great community, sports, and proximity to home made Purdue the obvious choice in my college search.
I went into work the day acceptance emails were sent out, and initially planned to read it after work with my parents, as I figured I would not have time to check my email at work since the email was scheduled to come out in the middle of my shift. The moment I walked into work, my plans changed, as my coworker who also applied to Purdue informed me that the emails had been sent out. I nervously checked my email and was in a rush as my shift started in five minutes. The nerves paid off though, as I was accepted into Purdue Engineering. I quickly called my mom and excitedly told her the news, then worked my shift at work.
Coming here has been a blessing in my life. I have met some of my best friends while being here, and have made some unforgettable memories. I am so honored to have the opportunity to come here and cannot wait to see what the next few years here look like.
WE Link Leadership Team
Stay Connected With Purdue WIEP!
Facebook: Purdue Women in Engineering
Twitter: @purduewiep
Instagram: @purduewiep
Blog: purduewiep.blogspot.com
Email: welink@purdue.edu
Use the hashtag #PurdueWIEP on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!
Comments
Post a Comment