Monday, May 31, 2004
Life After 150 part 3
The story of me and 150 has been the coming-of-age story of a bad student turned good, or maybe a good student turned great. Incessant questions of can I?
and am I good enough?
answered with a resounding I can
and hell yes
. The attitude is it over yet?
replaced by the attitude why does it have to end?
.
I've fallen in love with school. It must sound strange. I don't think any of my classmates share the same feeling. The idea of furthering one's knowledge for the sake of furthering one's knowledge has captivated me. It's like buffing up your team in RPGs before the final boss. It's exhilarating to be powerful, and similarly exhilarating to be knowledgeable. In RPGs, that tactic would make the final boss a joke. But in life, there are always more challenges to pursue and more mysteries to unravel.
If those words sound like those of a future graduate student to you, then you would be correct. My post-graduation plans have changed. No more worrying about the job market; I'll be taking my act to graduate school. I figure that since I enjoy school so much, why not spend a couple more years there while increasing my potential starting salary? And besides, getting into a good graduate school must be easier than getting a good job. All you need is (undergraduate) research.
This change was sparked by the research I did for E190 (Technical Communication) and the design projects of 140. But it was 150 that kept the flame burning. You see, mid-way through the semester, a post on the 150 (and 140) newsgroup announced an undergraduate research position at the trendy BWRC (Berkeley Wireless Research Center). The catch: it required 150 and upper-division circuits courses (105 required, 140 series recommended). Not much of a catch, eh? It perfectly matched my broad coursework. The graduate student in charge of that position thought so too and I was offered the position. (I accepted).
With research in hand, graduate school seems inevitable. All of the pieces are falling into place and the uncertainty of my future has disappeared. All of this in one short semester; all of this largely due to one class: 150.
