By Lizet Ibarra
Whether it’s traveling or working a job, graduate students are preparing to enter the postgraduate phase of their lives and give advice for those who will continue their undergraduate journey.
Juan Flores, aerospace engineering major, will continue to flourish in the aerospace industry by returning to his internship at Northrop Grumman as a full-time employee and pursuing a master’s degree as well.
Aside from continuing his career, Flores plans on traveling to Hawaii in June and hopes to go snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain in May.
The BESST program in the engineering department helped Flores navigate college with the help of upperclassmen and peers. Photo credit: Lizet Ibarra
Flores advises students to apply to internships even if they feel they might not get the internship. He mentioned that he has met a lot of people who meet the qualifications for an internship, but do not apply because they don’t feel like they have a shot at it.
“It is a valid feeling that we all have, myself included, but believe in yourself and apply,” Flores said. “I believe it is better to have failed trying, than to have never tried at all.”
Having only two years of the college experience because of COVID-19, kinesiology major Janette Nguyen hopes that students enjoy their time here while it lasts.
Nguyen will be taking a gap year to focus on work and gaining experience before applying to physical therapy school.
A hands-on experience Nguyen recommends to partake in is participating in a graduate student’s thesis. Photo credit: Lizet Ibarra
Nguyen recommends students to take advantage of professors’ office hours because they are there to help, which is something she wishes she would have done more.
She also wishes she would have used the recreation center more, joined more clubs, and gone to more Associated Students, Inc. events.
For kinesiology majors, Nguyen recommends taking advantage of hands-on experiences because it helps gain knowledge and will help to see if the career is fit for the student.
When facing hardships as a student, Nguyen suggests, “Just take it slow. Take it step-by-step and allow yourself to experience those emotions and validate those emotions. Sometimes you ignore it and it gets worse and worse. Take it slow and go at your own pace.”
Han Pham, computer science major, has been working part-time at her internship and hopes to get a return offer but has also been interviewing at other places. She also plans to travel across the U.S.
As Pham’s undergraduate journey comes to an end, she is being pulled in different directions in terms of her postgraduate plans.
As part of the Girls Who Code alumni council, Pham gets to fly out with them to talk about her experiences in tech. Photo credit: Lizet Ibarra
Pham plans on continuing to be involved in her academic community. She is a part of an organization called Girls Who Code, which she will continue to be involved with.
“Something I feel proud about doing is exploring my niche or the specific community I want to be in. I want to be in spaces with women in tech,” Pham said.
Pham emphasized for students to use CareerLINK to look for jobs or internships as it has been a very useful tool for her.
“Diving into your niche and really applying yourself, you never know what free opportunities are out there,” she added.
As seniors walk into their next chapter, everyone has their own plans and goals that they will now pursue. One thing they all have in common is the hard work they put in to make it through their undergraduate degree.
