“Coming out of high school, I was planning to play collegiate soccer on an athletic scholarship. But during my senior season, I had three concussions, lost consciousness at one point and was ultimately rushed to the emergency room. Unfortunately, I was required to take a year off sports due to the severity of this injury. During this year off, I had the opportunity and time to join a research lab where I studied neurobiology, an area of interest sparked by my previous injuries. I also loved math and physics, and thought bioengineering was the perfect major for me.
One of the most memorable bioengineering courses that I have taken thus far is BIOEN 504, Introduction to Technology Commercialization. I learned a lot about the business side of bioengineering and found this to be a newfound passion of mine. With both my parents in the business field, and my mom a professor at the UW Foster School of Business, I was naturally exposed to this field since I was a kid. I never thought of it as a career because I was so interested in the sciences, but after taking this course, I decided to take a few other business courses and minor in entrepreneurship. I believe it is easier to teach an engineer business skills than it is to teach an entrepreneur engineering skills because it is the quantitative and analytical skills in engineering that make the fundamentals in business easier to learn.
After graduation, I plan on taking a year or two off to travel the world. My plans may change, but I am leaning towards pursuing a career as a business analyst or in a technical position at a neurobioengineering startup company.
My only wish was that I knew about all available job opportunities for bioengineers, and even careers that are not available for us at an earlier point. Due to the rigorous coursework in the Department of Bioengineering, I was unable to take business courses until my senior year. Although I have started my entrepreneurship minor, I am unable to complete it by graduation in the spring.
Despite the shortcomings of the completion of my minor, I don’t regret not taking any science courses during freshman year, and encourage future students to take full advantage of all the opportunities the university has to offer. It was with my copious amounts of free time during that year that I was able to join that research lab and find my passion, shaping the rest of my college experience.”