Episode Notes | Episode Transcript | AskTheGuest
Hi Fives (5 Highlights) Click for 2-Minute Audio
As an engaged member of MIT Alumni, Miri Choi looks back at her Undergraduate Experience in this podcast. Miri Choi is a graduate of MIT with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science.
She was part of a sorority, and was in the MIT Pistol Team. She was part of the Korean Club, an Admissions Ambassador. She also led the first IEEE Int’l Technology conference at MIT that still continues on campus today.
During the various summers, she did 8 different internships!
She certainly made the most of opportunities to gain experience.
Hi-Fives from the Podcast are:
- MIT - Overall Experience
- Why MIT?
- Well Known Profs
- Unique Dorms
- Advice for Aspirants
Episode Notes
Episode Title: Miri Choi on MIT: Computer Science, 8 Internships and Pistol Team.
Miri says she was a Math and Science girl in High School. She knew she was very good at Math. In addition, she liked to play the flute, participated in lots of events and won awards in a number of competitions.
Miri Choi is a graduate of MIT with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. As an engaged member of MIT Alumni, Miri Choi shares her Undergraduate Experience.
In particular, we discuss the following with her:
- On choosing MIT
- Majoring in Computer Science
- Campus Activities
- Summers of Internships
- Advice to Aspirants
Topics discussed in this episode:
- Introduction to Miri Choi, MIT [0:43]
- Hi Fives - Podcast Highlights [1:31]
- MIT - Overall Experience [3:48]
- Why MIT? [4:46]
- High School Interests [5:58]
- Transition to MIT [7:53]
- Peers [10:13]
- “Well-Known” Professors [11:19]
- Dorm & Food [12:31]
- Pistol Shooting, IEEE Conference, Ambassador [14:36]
- Summers of Experiences [18:00]
- Choosing to Major in CS [23:20]
- MIT’s Impact [24:40]
- MIT Redo [27:23]
- Being a Girl in STEM [29:19]
- Advice to Aspirants [33:33]
- Memories - Swimming Prereq [35:13]
Our Guest: Miri Choi is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Miri runs My College Consulting and her email is info@mycollegecs.com.
Memorable Quote: “In those [Math] competitions, even though I didn't rank like 1 or 2, you know, overall, like male plus female, but in the female portion I was ranked pretty high. So that really helped me to kind of stand out in the girl field. So it kind of acted Pro for me.” Miri on the Pros of being a Girl in STEM.
Episode Transcript: Please visit Episode’s Transcript.
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Episode Transcript
Transcript of the episode’s audio.
Miri 0:14
You have to graduate from the swimming course at MIT. Otherwise, you can't graduate from MIT. So you need to learn how to swim. Um, I don't know why maybe there's like a Charles River in front of MIT. There's a lot of like swimming, I don't know. But you have to learn to swim to be able to graduate from MIT. So if you want to go to MIT learn how to swim.
Venkat 0:43 [Introduction to Miri Choi, MIT]
Miri Choi is a graduate of MIT with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science.
Miri says she was a Math and Science girl in High School. She knew she was very good at Math.
In addition, she liked to play the flute, participated in lots of events and won awards in a number of competitions.
It was no surprise that Miri decided to pursue STEM in college.
Venkat Raman 1:12
Miri joins us on our podcast to talk about her MIT years.
Before we jump into the podcast, here are the High-Fives, Five Highlights from the podcast:
Miri 1:31 [Highlights - Hi Fives]
[MIT - Overall Experience]
Although it's been four years after graduating and living in the society and doing a job, I feel like I really gained capacity of being able to handle work and able to learn fast and efficiently at MIT, a more than the computer science skill sets.
[Why MIT?]
Unique experience when I visited the campus and like the student life there, because not only they really focused on engineering, which is what I wanted to learn and love to love to do. They really foster creativity and the cooperation and MIT and that's something that I really wanted to learn for myself.
[Well Known Profs]
So like, Yeah, our professors were pretty well known. And it was really honored to learn from them. So because of that respect, there was a really good relationship with them.
[Unique Dorms]
One dorm is known to be very quirky and building stuff. So they build rollercoasters, and like bunch of like cool activities together. And one dorm is known to be like a huge, like, food culture. So you get to do more of like food stuff.
[Advice for Aspirants]
So my first advice is to be able to build your niche and build your character in second is to learn how to communicate that. Even though you know a lot of things, sometimes people communicate in jargon, sometimes they don't know what they're good at.
Venkat Raman 2:55
Now, I'm sure you want to hear the entire podcast with Miri.
Venkat Raman 2:59
So without further ado, over to Miri Choi!
---------------------
Venkat Raman 3:03
Let me start by welcoming you to our podcast, "College Matters. Alma Matters." Thank you so much for making the time. Really interested in sort of hearing your story, your MIT story, if you will. And this is for the benefit of high schoolers all over the world. And hopefully, they can benefit from your experience. So thank you again.
Miri 3:29
Yeah, definitely. I'm honored to be here.
Venkat Raman 3:32
Fabulous. So maybe we can start sort of at the top and ask the question, how you feel about MIT a few years out of college now? What were your overall impressions?
Miri 3:48 [MIT - Overall Experience]
Yeah. Um, so at that point, I was majoring in computer science at MIT. And I thought what I would gain out of MIT graduation would be the skill sets that I gained from computer science. Now that it's been for years after graduating and living in the society and doing a job. I feel like I really gained capacity of being able to handle work and able to learn fast and efficiently at MIT, a more than the computer science skill sets. So that's something that I really enjoy learning from MIT and something that I really like about I'm graduating from MIT.
Venkat Raman 4:27
Well, so you basically learn to learn, I suppose, as a way of saying
Miri 4:31
exactly, yeah.
Venkat Raman 4:37
Maybe we can rewind a little bit and talk about why you picked MIT. What were, what were your expectations going in?
Miri 4:46 [Why MIT?]
Yeah. So I always knew that I was just good at STEM area, especially math and science more than English in history. So I knew I wanted to just go into STEM and visit at MIT and then in They had a really unique experience when I visited the campus and like the student life there, because not only they really focus on engineering, which is what I wanted to learn and love to love to do, they really foster creativity and the cooperation and MIT. And that's something that I really wanted to learn for myself as a team, because you can never do a project by yourself, it's always going to be a team. So that's something that I really highly value when I was trying to choose a college. And I knew that the area that I wanted to study in was MIT was really just great at it. So I wanted to pick a college where it could really offer me the opportunity to learn in the field that I really love doing. And then what I was good at at that point.
Venkat Raman 5:47
Now, what what kind of interests did you have in high school, you said you were always interested in STEM. Maybe beyond academics, what kind of things were you interested in?
Miri 5:58 [High School Interests]
Yeah, um, I was mainly a very strong in math girl. Math was just always on my strong point, because I am in like, Originally, I'm from South Korea. And when I moved to US, the language was a barrier, as many other students do when they just come from another country. So for me, at that transition, just number is a universal language. And it's something that I didn't have to learn all over again, in a communication way. So it's something that I just caught up right away. And it's something that I, you know, stood out in the field where I just couldn't communicate in the right language. So math was always on my favor. And on the science wise, I was strongly favoring, um, chemistry, and some coding aspect. But I just wanted to create something new. So I was always like creating something innovating something. I'm leading something. So I knew that engineering was my field. So that was things that I was interested back in high school.
Venkat Raman 7:00
Now, did you do a lot outside of class or were you more academic?
Miri 7:06
Oh, you mean extra curricular wise, and? Oh, I see. Yeah, I was mainly obviously, academic focus for math and science. But outside it like, I did few sports. Well, actually, I was a strong music parts person. So that was another my hook. I played flute. And that was something that I did for 10 years. And I gained a lot of awards, and Activities and Leadership from flute activities. So it's something that I also built as some of my character.
Venkat Raman 7:41
You know, you finish high school. And then here you are at MIT. What was that transition, like from high school to college, and now specifically, MIT?
Miri 7:53 [Transition to MIT]
Yeah. Um, so my high school was pretty big. It had around like, 1000 students per grade, it was a really big public school. So the size wise, it was pretty similar to MIT, because MIT is not a huge school. Um, something different was like a uniqueness and the quirkiness, if I would say, because in high school, it was more various, it was very well rounded. Like, there were people who were really good at sports. There were people who were, you know, maybe not hugely an academic, but they had a really good social skills. And they were really good leaders. And they're good music people. So it was really well rounded in a mix in high school. But once I got into MIT, it was very focused. So I saw a lot of students building, like a roller coaster out of wood, and they're riding like a small car or like a, like moving machine, I would say, like they built. So if they want to do something, they really build it by themselves, and really show the engineering skills. So at first I was like, Okay, this is kind of weird. It's like a geeky thing and a nerdy thing. But once I got used to it, like, it was really a lot of creativity going on at MIT, in a very specific field, because it was really hard to find someone who was really English and History focused. Everyone was math and science focus. So an all the buildings, all the majors, everything was a number. So you would say, Oh, I major in computer. I mean, you don't you wouldn't say I major in computer science, you would say a major in six, three. Are you going to book nine? And are you taking that class? 10-0-5? Oh, and yeah, room number is 703. So everything is just communicating in numbers. So something that freshmen is really having a hard time to get used to it, because you have to memorize all the numbers when you're going in the first year, but it was something I really enjoyed. And then everyone knew why we liked and why we came to MIT so it was really well niche focused.
Venkat Raman 9:56
Yeah, you must have loved the numbers. Anyway, so yeah,
Venkat Raman 10:05
How did you get used to the different classmates and peers? What kind of social angle did you have these students?
Miri 10:13 [Peers]
Yeah, um, so we usually do. Well, actually, in the beginning of the year, when it comes to MIT, there's no grades. So usually, you're not graded A, B, C, or D, whatever, in the first year, it's a PNR, which means that it's pass or no record, you don't even fail. So you get to kind of enjoy and get used to MIT live and make a social life. And MIT surprisingly, has a really huge Greek life there. So I also joined a sorority, and it was to make friends there. I mean, there's events. And their motto is, you know, work hard, play hard. So they work hard and play hard. So making friends there was not a problem. And they also have a lot of cultural clubs there. So I also joined a Korean club and making Korean friends there. And the dorm life was also fine because they also have their own dorm culture. So MIT really has a really good social life balance.
Venkat Raman 11:14
How were the professors? And how was the teaching at large?
Miri 11:19 [“Well-Known” Professors]
Yeah, um, professors were a great majority of them were really well known because they were like a novel prize winners and like, they're like, all over the place on the article. And fun side story was that my professor was caught on the article for dating, like, read kid, or something. So like, Yeah, our professors were pretty well known. And it was really honored to learn from them. So because of that respect, there was a really good relationship with them. And there are a lot of TAs who's helping us to catch up if we don't have much support. So very young professors TAs, the academic structure was really well suited for someone who's kind of falling behind.
Venkat Raman 12:02
Yeah. Now, did you guys have I mean, I'm sure you had office hours, would you take advantage of office hours? Did you go to office hours?
Miri 12:10
Oh, yeah, I went to a bunch of OHs office hours.
Venkat Raman 12:18
Let's switch over to the campus life, you mentioned a little bit about the dorms and dorms having their own culture. So talk to us a little bit about dorms, and you know, and then we can get into cultural social activities.
Miri 12:31 [Dorm & Food]
Yeah. Um, so the dorms, each of the dorm has a very huge culture characteristic there. So you get to choose him based on your personality and all that. Like one dorm is known to be very quirky and building stuff. So they build rollercoasters, and like bunch of like cool activities together. And one dorm is known to be like a huge like, food culture. So you get to do more of like food stuff. One dorm is known to be a little more quirky, and you get to like dye your hair to kind of indicate that you live there. And one form is like only girl only culture. One dorm is like freshmen only culture. So it's very different door. It's a lot of fun. And we get to have like a entire dorm activities. And with another dorm, it was a lot of relationship building. So it was fine. Like food wise, it was offered in more of like, every building had different menus. And then they had a different like system like one is a buffet like one is they just serve certain menus and all that. So depends on what you want to eat, I guess that you could grab it. It's kind of getting vague in my head now. But I just remember that I just went to the food court, like in my own dorm just constantly, because it was a buffet. So I'm not a huge food person. So I'm, it's just really vague in my head at this point.
Venkat Raman 14:02
Oh, no worries. No worries. Yeah, we don't need the menu as much as how was it?
Miri 14:10
That was fine. So and they offer food really, really well. And they also have like a different small businesses in a campus that you can buy food if you like that menu. So there's a variety there. And if you just walk across the bridge, there's a huge street with different restaurants. So you get to have plenty of options.
Venkat Raman 14:34
What kind of activities were you involved in?
Miri 14:36 [Pistol Shooting, IEEE Conference, Ambassador]
Yeah, so mainly, in the beginning, I was involved with pistol shooting clubs, so they had a pistol shooting club and I enjoyed it as just part of my sports helped me building focus for that. So I really enjoyed that part. I also was huge on a Korean club as well for my cultural activities. And outside of that I did like an IEEE. It was like a conference for technology. So I led a international conference for IEEE at MIT as a first general conference. So And surprisingly, that's still going right now as an eighth year. I feel like so I've been I created the club with a conference with the help for some of the government help and the funding. So yeah, it's still going. So yeah, the IEEE was a huge part of my life.
Venkat Raman 15:33
Now, I'm, I'm quite intrigued by this pistol team. So what exactly was that? And why did you pick that? I mean, is that something that you had an interest in? Are you just that let me give it a shot? Yeah, we've Not a pun Yeah,
Miri 15:48
yeah. Um, so my dad was an Army officer. So I grew up in the army base in Korea. So not that I was, I grew up with guns around me. But I was just used to that army base there. And I just wanted to do some like, pistol shooting here and there. But like, MIT is surprising. And the really good pistol team, they were like a JV and varsity, it was really good set. So I joined and then I'm not a huge active, like a sports person. But the pistols works itself, you only get to stand in one place. And you just do it at one place without like much. But it really requires a huge focus and self training mindset. So it really helped me both academically and on my focus and my mental health, too. So I really enjoyed it. It's something that I still enjoy until this point.
Venkat Raman 16:48
Now, I read somewhere that you were also a student ambassador, what is that?
Miri 16:53
Yeah. So MIT, I worked in an admissions officer Well, admissions office in the beginning of the year, as my part time job there. And then they also require someone to do like a campus tour when someone visits MIT. So I'm really someone who like kind of tour guide for MIT to, to as well as my part time job. And that ultimately became like a student ambassador for MIT. So I got to learn a lot about MIT aspect, and its admissions. And that ultimately led me to just create a YouTube channel about like MIT admissions, and all the US college admissions, and ultimately, to my college consulting, which I currently run. So that experience really, really helped me to meet a lot of people getting their question and working closely with the admissions and ultimately became an MIT interviewer. So, um, that experience really helped me.
Venkat Raman 17:49
So now, let's sort of segue to the summers. What what kind of things did you do the various summers you were in? MIT?
Miri 18:00 [Summers of Experiences]
Yeah. Um, so they have a good externship program. So in the during the winter break, they offer an externship program where you can intern at a company for a month. So I also did externship, and also the internship. So I ultimately did, like eight different internships while I was in college. So that really offered me a lot of aspect. Not only, like it was not a full time job, obviously. But before full time, I was able to gain a lot of various aspects about like how companies run, and then what companies spit my culture, especially so I get to experience like software engineering program manager, and product manager on venture capital researcher, everything aspect, like small to big companies, designer and Adobe, like GE to like startups. So those eight internships really helped me to build my experience. And MIT was really, really supportive. And I also got to travel to Korea to work for Korean company in a program called Misti. So MIT offered funding and also aside money for me to live there. So MIT really supports students in various way to gain diverse experience.
Venkat Raman 19:14
So maybe you can describe a few of those. Maybe the one would venture capital, another one at Adobe. Tell us a little bit about those two internships. Anyone? Any, maybe a third one that you think might be interesting, maybe the one where he went back to Korea?
Miri 19:31
Yeah. Um, so when I went to Korea, it was a software engineering internship in a network company. And I got to gain a small project there. And I got to live in a separate apartment where MIT offered me and I also got some stipends there from the company. So with the money I got to travel the country around but at the same time work, so I went to Korea because I had few families there I wanted to see but majority of My friend went to different countries like Spain, Netherlands, or like UK. So they offer a variety of countries there. So choose and pick that it really lingers in my memory because it was my first internship and I really, really enjoyed it. Designer internship at Adobe was something was really not computer science engineering major at all. I wanted to do some kind of visual communication and Adobe was something that I was interested in. So they surprisingly, got the internship because you have to interview through, and I still contact my manager, he's been great. So there, I learned a lot of visual communication way, like how I should communicate to the world visually, and how they what kind of information they want to hear what kind of information I need to deliver to them. So that really helped me to be able to communicate with the world. Because some of the downsides of the engineering and might be for MIT is that because they're so smart, and they have their own language and jargons. And it's really difficult for them to communicate clearly to the world in a sense that the world understands what we're talking about. So I got to kind of learn the language to be able to communicate better. So that audience understands and what they want to hear. So that's something that will be taught me a lot.
Venkat Raman 21:26
Cool. You mentioned one other internship, which was interesting now. In addition to the one, Adobe, then you had another one, right?
Miri 21:39
Yeah, right. Ah, so
Venkat Raman 21:41
I mentioned another another one, which was that now I got a blank drawing a blank.
Miri 21:47
Venture capital like previously...
Venkat Raman 21:49
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Talk about talk about the VC. Because, yeah, it's kind of different. So yeah, you know, one outside the US one in a high tech company. And another one is a VC. Yeah, that's, that's why I was interested.
Miri 22:00
Yeah, VC was cool, too. Um, I wanted to kind of work on a different perspective of like, getting a fund or like, investing side instead of the working side of the engineering. And then I got to have work with the angel investors and some of the venture capitals, and see how they invest and see how they present to the to the team. So it's been very helpful how startups approach the venture capital in a sense on the other side, it was an externship, not an internship. So it was a very short period of time for me, but it helped me gain the perspective from the other side, because I'm also interested in startups. So yeah, that really helped my visual, well, perspective as well.
Venkat Raman 22:45
Cool. Very well. So it looks like you had a pretty rich and you know, lots of opportunities to try out different things. So, and explore. So that's great.
Venkat Raman 23:00
Before we move forward, I kind of wanted to understand why you picked computer science as a major. I mean, I know that you were strong in math and you liked, you know, stem in general. Why did you or how did you converge on computer science?
Miri 23:20 [Choosing to Major in CS]
Well, I initially actually got accepted to MIT as a chemical engineering. So I was interested in chemistry, and I was strong in math. So I thought like chemistry plus math was like chemical engineering, but was very different from what I expected. So Chemical engineering is one of the really difficult, a major at MIT, and the field that chemical engineering ultimately goes to was not on my interest. So that point like, as it always has planned, but computer science has been a very boom, like when I was in freshman at MIT. So I ultimately made a transition in my major, because computer science was really huge. And I knew that even though my interest changes, computer science has a really wide application there, which turned out to be true. So I ultimately majored in computer science and MIT offers a really strong computer science program. So it was has been very intense. But I don't regret my decision. And that's how I ultimately changed my decision to computer science from a chemical engineering.
Venkat Raman 24:27
Yeah, you've been out of MIT for a few years now. How do you think broadly, MIT has shaped your post college life, you know, career wise.
Miri 24:40 [MIT’s Impact]
Um, yeah, I can't deny that MIT is name tag doesn't help me. Um, it definitely helped me on my resume and my conversations, it helps me build rapport on whatever I say. So that has been an undeniable fact because a lot of people asked me, you know, didn't MIT name help you. So I can't wait to die. Um, it did. But it only helps him in the first stage. After that it's up to you on their skill set how you make through. So I knew that even though I studied computer science, ultimately, a lot of people expected me to be a software engineer on just as other people. But I was more inclined towards product names just running a company as a whole and the business. So I went to technical sales. Surprisingly, I've been very few of the students who didn't turn my way to software engineering, technical sales, where I was selling a product at IBM using a technical jargon, and kind of making a small demo to them to show like, how it works and all that, and I really enjoyed it. Um, sales is something that I really neglected, I thought it was a very easy job, but it has turned out really hard job, but you need to listen. And I feel like sales job just goes into every single job opportunity. And especially if you want to run the business, you have to be good at sales, I feel like so it's something that I really gained there. And after that, I worked as a technical program manager at Amazon. So that's currently my job as well. I really enjoyed it. More than the engineering portion. I love working with product managers and building product together discussing the roadmap together, how the project runs here, and working with the engineers directly to see like what they're blocked on. So it's like really running a whole big scale of the project, like a mini CEO. So I really enjoyed it. Um, that also helped me my experience to be like CEO for the other company, like my try currently run so has been a lot of bring me in a business perspective. So all the opportunities that I gained through a computer science, even if it didn't lead to software engineering world has been really helped me to be come a good leader in the computer science field.
Venkat Raman 27:09
You know, now that you've been out of MIT for a while, if you got a chance to go back and redo those four years would you do it differently? Would, Would you change some things? Or if you would, what would you change?
Miri 27:23 [MIT Redo]
Yeah, um, what I would change is that because I transitioned to computer science, a little late, because it was a not from the beginning. And I didn't gain the interest in high school. So I naturally fell behind of other computer science students at MIT, and ultimately, built me like negativity around like software engineering and coding at that point. And that's how I naturally got into product management. But at that time, if I were to do differently, I would kind of get rid of the negativity and be open about coding as a at that. If so, then I would be able to build more engineering skill sets, because like product management and technical program manager, it would have been very helpful if I built my more experience in software engineering, and know how to build myself.
But I do like in that field a little bit, I do see more of a bigger picture. But I wish I could have built more engineering perspective and coding. At that point, I was being a little negative about it. But if I were to go back, I would be open and I would have been more willing to learn about coding and willing to become a software engineer.
Venkat Raman 28:41
Now, you mentioned coding software engineering stem in general. Now, I wanted to ask you, you know, there's a lot of talk about girls and stem. Now, what is what was your experience while growing up? You know, high school and of course, MIT has, I think more women than men are it's 5050 distribution. But how was how did you feel? You know, your interest in STEM? Did you feel supported encouraged? While you were pursuing it in high school, let's say
Miri 29:19 [Being a Girl in STEM]
yeah, um in high school. Definitely. It was man heavy. Male heavy. So let me uh, well, there was really no con to that for me. I just got along with a lot of my you know, guy friends and studying math together. I wish I would have gotten I mean, gotten more like a female friends but I'm naturally just interacted with them more.
But I usually had a more pros to be girl in STEM in high school. Because like if you want to be a leader, sometimes it was good to have a mix between like a guy and a girl. So yeah, I can leader in Science Olympiad and math team. and all that, like a captain positions.
And also they kind of rank separately for like a female in a math competitions. Sometimes in those competition even though I didn't rank like one or two in a whole overall like male plus female, but in the female portion, I was ranked pretty high. So that really helped me to kind of stand out in a girl field. So it kind of acted Pro for me because I was good at math and science.
Like, if you're good at math and science, it's easy to stand out more, because they're not many who's competing against you to be honest, but not very good and not getting an interest, then it's difficult to climb up the ladder, because you have just too much too much competitors around you. And you might just let yourself down because there are so many good people around you.
So once you climb up the ladder and kind of be good at it, you have more pros, but it's difficult to get to that position, if that makes sense. And when it comes to college, because MIT has a really good mix of ratio in sex, like a male and female is almost 5050. So it might be easier for like stem and girls to get into my t then male, like if you have a same, like academic status. Um, so that kind of acted Pro for me as well, why where it kind of becomes cons than high school and MIT is when you actually get a job and to work on it. They're way more male working on tech, and a lot of the leaders are male, so you would kind of have to compete against them. And when I realized it, that it might have gone difficult as a lifestyle.
So ultimately, if you want to get married, if you want to get baby, ultimately, it's more impacted to woman than male, you got to be you know, pregnant, you got to raise your kid and maybe more emotional cycle there. And because I went to my Amazon, which is a big company, they have a really, really good support for that, like a maternity leave, and all that.
But I feel like sometimes I wished I was a male, where I would have not gotten impacted by the emotional cycle, or the family situation or the baby situation. By these days, a lot of women are in STEM are really strong. And they're really, and a lot of men are helping with their home situation too, even though like woman's are who's being pregnant. So I feel like that's where it might come in as a climb to woman in STEM, or a girl in STEM.
But overall, I feel like the world is turning really good supportive system for female in STEM. And they also have a different conference like Grace Hopper conference, which is really popular for women in STEM. So we're always being really, really supportive. So if you're interested, there are tons of opportunities around you to learn. So I wouldn't say this should act against you, I would say this actually should act Pro to you if you're a girl in STEM.
Venkat Raman 33:15
So with that in mind, and you know, there are lots of aspiring students out there, aspiring, maybe MIT students all over the world, and probably half of them are girls. What would your advice to these people be as they apply for college?
Miri 33:33 [Advice to Aspirants]
Yeah. So I worked on MIT interviewer for three years, and I interviewed a bunch of students, and I got to rate them. And I got to write a report for them. So I know how the MIT admission systems work. When it comes to interview, especially, my advice towards them is to build a niche. That's the most important thing. If you're interested in computer science, build a niche within computer science, because it's such a huge field, what you're good at, and they're really showcasing, like how you're doing it and how you're fostering your interest. Usually, it's really broad. And it's really difficult for high school students to build that niche, because it shows the property. So because it's difficult, if you do it, it's going to be make you really stand out. So my first advice is to be able to build your niche and build your character. And second is to learn how to communicate that. Even though you know a lot of things sometimes people communicate in jargon, sometimes they don't know what they're good at. They don't know what you like to do. So just reflect on yourself what they like to do what you're good at, and not learn how to communicate, like speak to a lot of people and see if they understand you. So those are the two tips that I would advise to someone who's aspiring to go to MIT.
Venkat Raman 34:52
Okay, so Miri, we are approaching the end of our podcast before we wind down here I'd like you to talk about anything that we haven't touched on or anything that you'd like to share maybe some traditional traditions at MIT or memories, anything that you might want to talk
Miri 35:13 [Memories - Swimming Prereq]
about? Yeah, um, fun fact about MIT is that you have to graduate from the swimming course at MIT. Otherwise, you can graduate from MIT. So you need to learn how to swim. I don't know why maybe there's like a Charles River in front of MIT. There's a lot of like swimming, I don't know. But you have to learn to swim to be able to graduate from MIT. So if you want to go to MIT, learn how to swim. That's for the MIT.
Miri 35:45
And another side fact about myself is that I currently run a YouTube channel about MIT and US colleges. So it's called Miri’s YouTube Channel currently videos are in Korean, but it's subtitles are in English. So I run a company called My College Consulting. So if you are interested in involving with us, email us at info@mycollegeconsulting.com. So you can ask Venkat for the exact email by you can type in my college consulting (mycollegecs.com) it's a website for us. So if you're interested in engaging in college admissions, contact us anytime.
Venkat Raman 36:29
Very well. And is this for? Anyone in high school? Or do you want only this upper class?
Miri 36:37
Um, it's, uh, anyone in high school, if you're aspiring to go to US colleges, but mostly we help with a STEM students focus, because I went there. And I know really well in that area, oh, you also get a lot of students in marketing, history, Major, etc. But if you're in high school, ninth to 12th grade and you want to go to US colleges, then it's my audience.
Venkat Raman 37:03
So Miri, thank you so much for taking the time and giving us your MIT story. really seems like a great experience. And I think it's going to be extremely beneficial for the high school students out there to listen to your story. So thank you so much. Thanks for making the time. Thank you so much for inviting, sure thing. So take care and be safe. I'll talk to you soon.
Miri 37:28
You too. Bye. Venkat
Venkat Raman 37:29
bye bye.
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Venkat 37:36 [Close]
Hi again!
Hope you enjoyed our podcast with Miri Choi about MIT.
As you heard, Miri joined MIT to pursue Chemical Engineering, but switched to Computer Science.
She was part of a sorority, and was in the MIT Pistol Team. She was part of the Korean Club, an Admissions Ambassador. She also led the first IEEE Int’l Technology conference at MIT that still continues on campus today.
During the various summers, she did 8 different internships!
She certainly made the most of opportunities to gain experience.
I hope Miri’s story motivates you to check out MIT further.
For your questions or comments on this podcast, please email podcast at almamatters.io [podcast@almamatters.io].
Thank you all so much for listening to our podcast today.
Transcripts for this podcast and previous podcasts are on almamatters.io forward slash podcasts [almamatters.io/podcasts].
To stay connected with us, Subscribe or Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify or visit anchor.fm forward slash almamatters [anchor.fm/almamatters] to check us out.
Till we meet again, take care and be safe.
Thank you!