A year at Stanford: reflections on graduation day
Friday, June 26th, 2009
Contributed by our user Kushagra Mittal on 14th June, 2009, Palo Alto, California.
My mind is full of mixed feelings while I write this article on the day of my graduation commencement ceremony, which is Stanford’s 118th commencement. A year has passed so quickly but I still vividly remember the first day at campus, arrived here as a curious visitor new to US system. Now I see my life and the world around with a whole perspective, this is what Stanford has given me. Past year has taught me more things and given unique experience which could not be even compared to previous 10 years of my life. It was a full action packed roller-coaster ride, once you are on board there is no turning back.
A typical day started with morning class at 8 am followed by further classes, seminars, assignments, papers, group meetings, project work etc. and lasts till 7 or 8 pm with a squeezed in lunch break somewhere in between. For stress reliving I usually went to the gym or surfed the net and again back to work. Getting an internship during tough markets like these is a big challenge and same is true for me (although most people said me that, you are from Stanford and need not worry). I applied to numerous places, got few interview calls but none turned out to be fruitful. I felt dejected and thought, what good is this Masters degree if, it cannot even fetch me a summer internship and thus almost made my mind to go back to India for this summer. But during the third quarter just one month before the beginning of the internship, I received an email from my one of my professor about an intern position at a company in Washington D.C.; I applied to the firm and got a telephonic interview call, which eventually turned into my favor. The story does not end here, the twist is that, I had already given the interview for another very big construction company in the Bay area a month ago and was waiting for their reply. The day I got to know about my acceptance as a VDC (virtual design and construction) engineer in the D.C. firm, an approval email for internship from Bay area construction company also came. This for me was one of the biggest dilemmas of my life- to choose between two very good choices. I ultimately chose to go to D.C. (due to multiple reasons) and explore the east coast.
With three quarters finished and only one more to go, I wish, I had some more time. Some of my close friends suggest maybe I should stay longer and do a PhD. I truly feel obliged and honored being a part of Stanford community. I would like to thank my parents, friends and relatives for being the supporting pillar in all the ups and downs during this wonderful journey.
Kushagra Mittal
M.S. program in Construction Engineering & Management
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Stanford University
Editorial comments: Stanford University rules allow students to walk in the graduation ceremony even if they have a semester more to go. The views in this post are of the contributer, Kushagra Mittal, and do not necessarily reflect those of www.app2us.com
