¶ … rubbed my eyes and stared at the codes emblazoned across the computer screen. My fellow students involved in the Cooper Union Summer STEM program looked frantic and tired. We needed to make sure the videogame controller was operational. I typed a few lines of code. With shaking fingers, I clicked the upload button at the top right of the screen. I rearranged a few wires on the board to match my code. Success! One major wall had been broken down but we had to move onto the next challenge, not bask in the warm sunlight of pride and relief.

Although I mostly studied electrical and computer engineering at Cooper Union, I was also able to explore the business aspects of the field. This led me to choose my future career path, that of electrical and computer engineering but with an entrepreneurial focus.

Teamwork, perseverance, problem-solving, and pride in a job well done are all words that characterize what engineering means to me. My experiences with engineering have taken me on a series of emotional rollercoasters, from a sinking sense of failure to the joyful giddiness of success.

Engineering is fundamentally a practical profession that seeks to convert ideas into reality. Not only would Carnegie Mellon provide me with expert knowledge, it would also offer the necessary hands-on experience to make myself useful to a future employer.
Carnegie Mellon places a strong emphasis on teamwork. It takes more than one person to bring even the grandest idea to fruition in the real world. Two minds are greater than one, especially in the field of engineering. Carnegie Mellon also fosters interpersonal skills as well as technical knowledge in its students through its program structure, since both are critical to future success.

On my campus tour, my eye was immediately drawn to Carnegie Mellon's Build18. Here students have the space to experiment and bring their own ideas to fruition. This willingness to empower students to take risks is at the heart of Carnegie Mellon's essential spirit. I am already excited to think about the process of submitting a project proposal, building a team, trying out new ideas and then finally presenting my work. It will enable me…