A Wonderful Adviser by Carissa

A Wonderful Adviser by Carissa - June 2021 Scholarship Essay

My college advisor was one of the biggest reasons that I ultimately decided to pursue a master’s degree. Professor Huen has always been a tough love kind of person. As a freshman engineer with little idea of what I wanted to do, he made me plan out the entirety of my college classes in a four-year plan. This was challenging to decide what electives and minors I would pursue, but because of the extra effort I put in up front, the rest of my years at Calvin University went very smoothly, even if my four-year plan changed several times along the way. Professor Heun also pushed me pick up a second minor due to several of my AP high school and duel enrolled credits transferring. He believed that I could handle the extra classes just fine and bolster my transcript. Additionally, Professor Huen was very helpful in answering any questions I had about the different engineering concentrations and possible second minors. When he brought up the topic about possibly going to grad school, he was just as helpful laying out the pros and cons of going.
Additionally, while taking one of his engineering classes during my senior year, he had a homework problem that compared the average amounts of money earned from Bachelors, Masters, and PhD engineers while considering interest, time spent in school vs work, and average starting salaries. This was very interesting to look into and helped me further consider higher education. Based on the assignment all three options made roughly the same throughout their careers, but the different degrees determined what kind of work would be done and what position the engineers would be in. Higher education would give me a chance to make decisions about where a project would go rather than someone telling me and going from there. I liked the idea of having my voice heard and taking on the responsibly of leading others.
One of the most helpful things that Professor Huen did that pushed me towards pursuing a higher education was his Alumni days during class. Every Wednesday instead of having a lecture, Professor Heun invited a Calvin alumni engineer into class to talk with us about anything we wanted. Beforehand the class was given their resumes and prepared questions to ask them. My favorite question to ask was why they did or didn’t go to graduate school. These conversations that I got to have with the alumni were what finally pushed me to apply to graduate school.
After I decided to pursue gradate school Professor Huen supported me all the way. He even helped me further by writing a recommendation letter that aided me in getting accepted into my first choice for graduate schools, University of Michigan. Throughout my undergraduate education Professor Huen has always supported me and pushed me to be the best I can be. As a result, I am a better version of myself and am striving to excel even further in the next chapter of my life.