Should I go to Oxford or the University of Pennsylvania? First of all, you have to find your own direction!

Date：2022-03-22   Author：admin

Shorten the distance with the world

Our senior Xiao from Yisi Boluo is facing a happy "dilemma" : Should she choose the robotics program at the University of Pennsylvania or the University of Oxford, which admits only a few students each year and has a profound historical background?

I think no matter which choice it is, it is the result that countless students dream of. Senior Xiao is obvious to all. From her, we can see that success always has its traces to follow.

So we specially invited Senior Xiao, hoping to help our younger schoolmates get out of confusion and set clear goals through her personal experience. Let's take a look together at how she found the direction she likes!

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Academic background

A 2016 undergraduate student majoring in Computer science and engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, has received offers for master's programs in robotics at the University of Pennsylvania and CS at Oxford.

In my freshman and sophomore years, I received dean's list honor and a total of 60,000 RMB in academic scholarships. In my junior year, I went to UC Berkeley for an exchange program for one year. During this period, I was admitted to the official undergraduate Robotics summer research program of Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute. And received a summer research grant of 12,000 US dollars from the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

For those students who have determined from the very beginning what they want and are firmly moving towards their goals, this article might not be suitable for you.

I envy you for finding your passion so early and admire your persistent efforts.

This article aims to offer a reference to those students who were once as confused as I was - how to make use of all resources and platforms during college to find the direction they like.

My experience can be summarized into the following two points:

For anything you are interested in, be brave to try.

Doing every single thing that should be done at present well is the prerequisite for seizing every opportunity.

01. Trying and Taking detours

The path for CS is very broad: developing software, architecture, algorithms, and applying interdisciplinary knowledge...

But when I first chose the CS major, my understanding of it was limited to just one Python class I took. I only had a rough idea of many fields, but I had no idea what they were all about, let alone which one was suitable for me.

Fortunately, although I am a bit ignorant, I am interested in everything and dare to try.

So during my freshman and sophomore years, I participated in various projects of different professors that I could get into, including Android APP development, web crawlers and database building, VR images and applications, automated unmanned sailboats, and even bioelectricity......

I don't have much spare time either. It's easy to imagine that most of the projects I did were just superficial. Only the automated unmanned sailing boat project brought me substantial help for my application for a master's degree in robotics.

After trying so many directions, none of them came to fruition. In the eyes of many people, this is a waste of time and a kind of "taking a detour".

Perhaps it did seem so in the short term, but when I looked back on the decisions I had made before in my second year of university, I didn't think they were a waste at all, nor did I regret them.

There are three reasons:

Firstly, knowing that a certain direction one doesn't like or is not suitable for oneself, and avoiding pitfalls at an age when the cost of making mistakes is relatively low, is also a positive way to gain knowledge.

Secondly, multiple attempts have broadened my academic path and deepened my understanding of various disciplines, increasing the possibility of finding a direction that suits me.

Thirdly, I believe that no experience is useless. Just as Jobs said in his speech at Harvard University's graduation ceremony: Some seemingly random and unrelated points in your life will become clear at some point in the future. You will find that every attempt in the past has brought you hidden opportunities and connections, which have contributed significantly to your current success.

When I participated in the unmanned sailboat project of the AI & robotics lab of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in my sophomore year, I never imagined that I would be engaged in robot research in the future. I just signed up out of interest in this activity.

When I was taking the algorithm course and the robot manipulation course at UC Berkeley, I never expected that I would later go to CMU to conduct research on intelligent algorithms for robot path planning. I just thought: These courses are so interesting and I can learn a lot of knowledge. No matter how difficult they are, I have to learn them.

It was not until I fell in love with robots and was writing the application documents for the CMU Robotics Summer Research Program that I realized: the algorithms I had learned out of interest and the projects I had done had long provided a very strong competitive background for me to match a mentor.

Without doing many things, it is impossible to make a valuable judgment for oneself just by imagining and listening to others. Because I think the complexity of life, given our current level of brain development, it's impossible to figure out just daydreaming there for a lifetime.

Of course, trial and error carry risks. Moving forward when the goal is not clear is like walking in the dark, with only a vague light source in the distance as a guide.

Perhaps after taking three steps, you have to take two steps back. However, after a month, three months, a year, you will find that you have unknowingly advanced several kilometers, taken fewer and fewer detours, the light source is getting closer and closer, and the outline of the future is gradually becoming clear...

This is why I believe in the power of trying: moving forward bravely, even if it's just a small step, is more meaningful than standing still.

02. Do every single thing well

All the attempts mentioned above are based on one premise - to do well every single thing that should be done at present.

The fundamental thing is to take study seriously and strive to achieve good grades. When you have spare capacity for study, then participate in various projects and try your best to perform well.

The more realistic reality is that GPA is a hard currency. To get into many good programs and good laboratories, you have to compete with fellow students. In many cases, colleges can only allocate places based on GPA.

I was selected by our school's robotics laboratory to participate in the unmanned sailing ship project because of my good grades and getting A grades in many hardcore science and engineering courses.

The exchange opportunities at UC Berkeley are also allocated by the school based on the academic ranking of the applicants.

When applying for a good graduate program, the higher the GPA, the better. Everyone understands this, so I won't elaborate on it here.

When you get a new chance to try, you should also take it seriously.

As mentioned earlier, every experience offers hidden connections. Maybe your interest in this project wanes towards the end, but leaving a positive impression on your mentor might come in handy in the future.

For instance, when I was a sophomore, I participated in a robotics project. At that time, my interest was not very strong, but my performance was acceptable. The teachers in the laboratory also left a deep impression on me.

So later on, I fell in love with this program again. When I applied for the summer graduate program at CMU, the teacher also readily wrote me a recommendation letter.

On the plane home after the exchange at Berkeley, I happened to run into an Asian professor. When we talked about our confusion about the future, he gave me a piece of advice that benefited me a lot: "Do your best to do well in the things at hand."

When you don't know what to do, just do everything at hand well: get good grades and improve your English...

When you come across a good opportunity by chance, you will find that you already have all the necessary conditions, and the distance to your dream is within reach with just a stretch of your hand.