Hello, my name is Sophie. I’m an EngSci 2T4 + PEY majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). I’m born and raised in Toronto. I love to hike, run, and make fermented foods (kombucha, kimchi, sourdough etc.)
Why did you choose U of T EngSci?
Like many other students I chose EngSci because I wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to study. Coming out of high school, I barely knew what engineering actually meant. I wanted the opportunity to meet people with somewhat different interests and career paths while also keeping multiple doors open for me to explore, and EngSci let me do that!
How did you find your transition from high school to university? Do you have any tips for incoming high school students?
The transition from high school to university is truly different for every individual. I was fully remote my first year due to COVID, which definitely provided a different set of challenges.
One thing I struggled with and still struggle with is not tying how much I enjoy something to how well I did. In high school, I liked that I was good at sports, academics, and clubs. In university, I was suddenly surrounded by a larger group of students where a lot of them were also good at those things. Suddenly, I couldn’t be the best at everything and I started disliking things that interested me but I was bad at.
So one tip I would give is to try not let things like grades and results take away from how you felt during the whole experience. A bad test, or even a bad class might happen but that doesn’t mean you can’t continue to explore an area if it interests you. While it can feel scary, it’s normal to be bad at things that excite you or good at things that you don’t like. Don’t chase something just because it seems easy right now, find things that you are curious about and excite you.
What extracurricular activities are you part of? How do you balance academics, hobbies, and social life?
Currently I’m one of the co-presidents of Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) – U of T Chapter, and a member of the competitive dragon boating team at U of T, Iron Dragons. Previously I was a part of Brew of T, Blue Sky Solar Racing, and F!rosh. My strategy for balancing multiple aspects of my life is to regularly reevaluate how I’m spending my time and identify if I’m having regrets about those choices. Most things are trade-offs and everybody has different priorities so I don’t think there is a hard and fast rule about how to balance everything. Sometimes school might take priority and other times your hobbies or social life. If the way you are spending your time reflects what goals you are currently working towards, I think that’s the right balance for you.
What is one piece of advice you would tell yourself in first year?
Don’t be afraid of change. One piece of advice I would tell myself is to be really curious about the world around you. It’s normal to have plans for how you want your life to go, but you change and oftentimes what you want changes. Be open to new experiences, learn from the people and about the opportunities around you, and oftentimes you find yourself on a totally different path than where you started.
You did some research in the past at UHN and U of T. Can you talk a little more about your experience with research and advice you have for students interested in research?
I worked as a software research student at Princess Margaret Hospital for a year after 1st year. Specifically, I worked with consumer-grade neuroimaging devices to build statistical and machine learning models that can collect and classify human brain data. Prior to this experience, I had done a little bit of research in high school but it wasn’t similar. I think if you are looking to get involved with research, don’t be intimidated by cold emailing professors. I went onto U of T’s faculty page and looked for professors that were doing work that interested me and just emailed a few expressing interest to learn more. Especially if you can secure some funding or are looking to do so through programs like ESROP (Engineering Science Research Opportunities Program), it makes it easier for professors to hire you. Sending out those emails was really scary for me at the time, and I felt like I didn’t have any skills to offer. But I’m so glad I did it. I learnt so much from that experience, the professor and team I worked with taught me so much. So definitely if you are interested in research, it’ll likely take a few tries but just reach out to professors and you never know what might happen.