Stevens Institute of Technology: Admissions Blog

From Stevens to the Peace Corps

Just a few weeks after she graduates in May, Katie Quish '13 will fly to Liberia, where she'll spend the next two years teaching math and science to children for the Peace Corps. While there, she'll look back on her years at Stevens as a time of learning, exploration and personal growth.

Quish, 22, grew up in Hartford, Conn. Her father is a travel agent and her mother is a teacher. She is an only child. She attended high school at University High School of Science and Engineering, a reputable magnet school affiliated with the University of Hartford. She swam, played tennis and joined the school robotics club.

Quish wanted to attend a college where she could continue to pursue her lifelong interests in science and math. She had been touring colleges throughout the northeast when her uncle, a guidance counselor in New Jersey who used to live in Hoboken, suggested she look at Stevens.

“I fell in love with it instantly,” she said about her first visit to Stevens. “The location is great, and it's the right size school for me. Everyone is involved, and everyone knows everyone, which is great. There's a lot of support around because everyone knows who you are.”

Quish said she overcame the challenge of adapting to college and academic life during her freshman year.

“The first year was rough, and I wasn't ready for it,” she said. “But through repetition I got used to it. When you're involved with things on campus, which is easy to do at Stevens, then you learn that balance. You're always busy so you learn about managing your schoolwork and organizing everything.”

Quish will graduate with a degree in Engineering Management.

“It's still a degree in engineering, but more of the business world,” she said. “I like being able to talk to people and help them manage their projects.”

During her time at Stevens, Quish served on the Entertainment Committee and helped bring events to campus. She also worked in the community with the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, and served as vice president for the Stevens chapter of Habitat for Humanity and as treasurer of the Stevens chapter of the Society of Women Entrepreneurs. She spent her senior year spring break in Portland, Ore. building houses with other Habitat volunteers.

Quish also joined the Stevens Cooperative Education program, which helped her land two internships, first with the Louis Berger Group, an engineering firm in Morristown, and then with Hamilton Sundstrand, a subsidiary of aerospace company United Technologies Corporation. She worked for Hamilton Sundstrand out its offices in Connecticut and San Diego.

Quish credits one of her professors, Teresa Zigh, with encouraging her to join the Peace Corps. “She was really supportive,” Quish said. “I told her I really want to do the Peace Corps, but I was wondering if I should find a job instead, and she said no, go for it, it's something you want to do and it's in line with your career goals.”

Quish said she's excited about her opportunity to teach abroad, in a country that is recovering from civil war.

“They're really pushing for education over there, and the kids we'll be teaching will be the next generation who will be able to improve Liberia's economy and help them grow,” she said.

She said she's preparing for the change in lifestyle.

“I know it will be really different, going from having everything readily available all the time, to going somewhere where I might not have internet for a month,” she said. “I'm sure it's going to be hard, but it's something I really want to do.”

When she returns, Quish wants to find a job that blends her expertise and interest.

“I'd like to use my engineering and project management skills for international development, and help other countries that might not be as well off,” she said.

In her spare time, Quish enjoys practicing yoga, hanging out with friends, including her sorority sisters in Theta Phi Alpha, and exploring cities like New York, Boston and Washington.

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The Stevens Summer: Programs for High School Students

July - August 2011

Multimedia Production,  Business, 

or Engineering & Science 

    Each summer, talented high school students from around the world diverge from traditional summer break plans to participate in The Stevens Summer.   Why? 

    Because The Stevens Summer is about challenge, discovery and exploration, in interesting fields of study but also in friendship and fun!  

        

    Add the benefit of Stevens' amazing location, and it's an unbeatable proposition for the summer break.  Living on campus in Hoboken, New Jersey, on the banks of the Hudson River overlooking Manhattan is exciting!      

    If you're a rising junior or senior in high school who is interested in engineering, science, business or multi-media production, The Stevens Summer should be on your radar.  Apply Today!

    Take it from a past participant...                                           

"Every day was a new adventure into the world of engineering. We worked together in labs with professors from the college and met with professionals in the field from large companies like Becton Dickinson and Schering-Plough. One of the most rewarding parts of the program was learning about each specific field in engineering, ranging from mechanical to chemical engineering, through real field lab experience. We also competed in numerous engineering competitions: a programming competition (my group won!), a naval engineering design competition (we sank), and a chemical-biology bubble gum competition (we won - pineapple flavor!), among many others. However, the program brought much more into my life than experience in engineering. It brought me a taste of college life." 

     

On the Road Again: Stevens at a College Fair Near You!

As always, Stevens admissions counselors have a full travel schedule this fall - ensuring that prospective students near and far have ample opportunities to learn about Stevens, our offerings and the admissions process.  Visiting a Stevens admissions counselor during a college fair at your school or in your region is also a great way for us to get to know you!

Inquiring with your school's guidance staff is a good way to discover when Stevens will be at your school or in your area.  We also make a schedule of Stevens-attended College Fairs available to you as a resource on our website.  Of course, once you've met a Stevens representative at a fair or individual school visit, coming to campus is then the best way to get a first-hand feel for Stevens. Register for our next fall visit day in November - if you haven't already done so! 

If you are further along in your search process and you know Stevens is right for you, then it's time to apply for Early Decision - the deadline is November 15!  Applying for Early Decision tells us that Stevens is your clear-cut first choice.  It tells us that your enthusiasm for Stevens runs high and that your commitment is strong.  There are several benefits that come with Early Decision, and we are available to answer any of your questions - in the Admissions Office or on the road!

Intersession Abroad

For a group of Stevens students, the end of the fall semester signaled the beginning of a new adventure. This adventure took the form of a trip sponsored by the Office of Student Life, Intersession Abroad, when a group of students and staff members participated in a 10-day excursion to Prague, Vienna, and Berlin.  An annual program at Stevens, students are able to experience the culture of Europe at an affordable rate with their friends… and maybe even learn a thing or two.

For instance, Erica Carpenter ('10) learned that when traveling “bring American cold remedies because outside Germany their cough medicines [aren’t as effective].” Andrew Kaplan ('09) learned (the hard way) that Europe has “a lot of small doors.”

Typical for Stevens students, the remnants of the Berlin Wall and bomb shelters in Prague are not always enough to distract from their chosen fields of study.  Andrew, who has passionately studied traffic engineering in his civil engineering courses, was excited that “the opportunity to learn about the transportation systems of Europe, including the subways, streetcars, and driver-pedestrian interactions expanded my professional knowledge.”

Intersession Abroad is just one of many opportunities Stevens students have for international experiences.  Students regularly study abroad in the UK, Australia, Spain, Turkey, and Israel.  The Stevens chapter of Engineers Without Boarders also regularly travels to the Dominican Republic to use their technological skills to improve life for the nation’s population.

- Regina Pynn, ‘11
Photos by Mike Manzella, ‘09

Mike Munley's Journey to Job Success

I knew when I decided to attend Stevens (way back in spring of 2004, mind you) that I’d be getting a first-class engineering education, which would set me up for obtaining a great job post-college.  What I didn’t know is that everything I did from that point on would affect my future job hunt.  Bear with me as I explain my college experience; you’ll soon understand what I’m doing.

Coming into Stevens I knew I wanted to study Engineering Management (EM).  I liked the combination of core, broad-based engineering peppered with business, economics, and project management.  Beyond that, I was clueless.  Ask me what I wanted to do with a degree in EM, and I’d give you an “Umm, I dunno... business maybe?  Maybe construction management?”  Clueless.

Freshman year at Stevens I did about a thousand different activities outside of class: Stevens Political Awareness Club, Dramatic Society, Ambassadors’ Club, Entertainment Committee, American Society for Engineering Management.  In the spring, I utilized the NYU/Stevens relationship and took Elementary Japanese 2 at NYU’s College of Arts & Sciences (I was fortunate enough to place into EJ2 thanks to four years of high school Japanese).  Over that summer, I did a construction management internship with the Port Authority, where I had the opportunity to go to the top of the George Washington Bridge and down into the pit of the World Trade Center Site.  Without a doubt, it was the most exciting of any of my jobs to date, though it did make me realize one thing... I wasn’t much a fan of construction management. 

And so sophomore year began with me being just as clueless as ever with what I wanted to do post-grad.  I stayed involved with the Dramatic Society, including a position on the e-board, and the Entertainment Committee, and I decided to join a social fraternity.  I knew a bunch of guys who, rather coincidentally, all happened to be in Sigma Phi Epsilon and after hanging out there a lot in the fall, I soon became a brother and quickly became the Balanced Man Scholarship Chairman.  I also did my first co-op at Ethicon, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company.

My third year was basically a repeat of my second year.  My next co-op, however, was at GlaxoSmithKline where I developed various operational excellence experiments to see how we could save money on the packaging lines of Aquafresh and Sensodyne.  Yep, lots and lots of toothpaste.

After my third year, I decided to forgo a co-op term to study abroad in Japan during the summer of 2007.  I studied Intermediate Japanese at KCP Language Institute in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.  At this particular school, they refuse to speak in English in the classroom.  Everything is conducted in Japanese; just ask my buddy Marc who studied there the next summer and knew no Japanese before going!   I lived in a dorm about an hour train ride away with only four other Americans and a ton of Japanese college students.  I took the Shinkansen (bullet train) down to Kyoto, the ancient capital, and I went on a school trip to Yamagata, which is essentially the boondocks of Japan.  And I even got credits transferred for use as a humanities course at Stevens.  The food is strange, the culture is different, but all of it was incredibly amazing and awesome!

My fourth year I was elected as president of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society.  We hold various community service events, such as Tau Beta “Pie”, where we pie professors in the face and the annual Pi Mile Run.  The spring was spent mostly on my final co-op at Medco Health Solutions.  It was about as far away from engineering as a job could be, as I did business analysis the majority of my time there.  And would you believe it… I LOVED IT.

And so came my final year, and the job hunt.  By now, I knew what I actually enjoyed and wanted in a career: business analysis, travel, a leadership/management role, and problem solving.  After working with Career Development, attending the career fairs, and sending my resume to everyone and their mother, I lined up a bunch of interviews with consulting companies and leadership development programs.  It felt as if every other day I was in my suit.  And I had to balance all this with school.  Yes, it’s tough, but if there’s one thing that stands out about Stevens, EVERYONE is in the same boat.  And even with all that, I still found time to hang out and make it to trivia night at my favorite bar (I am over 21 after all).

In my interviews, I noticed I’d get the same questions over and over again:

Q: Name a difficult team experience.  What did you do about it?  A: “At Ethicon, most team members were in different countries and had different priorities and cultures, and I had to impress upon them the importance of quickly doing what I had asked...”  (Side note: remember this was my first co-op job... and can you believe they actually listened?!?!)
Q: Name a time when you had to innovate.  A: “At Medco, I developed a user-friendly self-populating spreadsheet that automatically generated monthly metrics for 12 very different groups with 12 very different sets of metrics...”
Q: What’s your proudest achievement?  A: “Managing a team that organized a 100-person regional conference for Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society...”
Q: Describe a situation when you challenged authority.  A: “When I was the scholarship chairman of my fraternity...” and I’d speak of the time I had a dispute with some of my fraternity brothers on how to manage our scholarship.
Q: Speak about a time when you had to take the lead and learn something new to get a goal accomplished?  A: “In my freshman design lab we had to program a robot, and no one on my team had any clue how to program a robot...”
Q: What’s your best leadership quality? A: “Well, if there’s anything that going to Japan taught me, it’d be adaptation...” and then we’d chat about sushi for 5 or 10 minutes.
Q: What’s your passion outside of class?  A:  “Well, that’d be acting and singing,” and I’d go on and on about all the fun times with the dramatic society.

I think you see where I’m going.  If I didn’t do all that I did while at Stevens, I’d be answerless.

In the end, I had five sets of second round interviews (including one which was an all-expense trip to Fairfax, VA... while it’s not a very touristy city, it was still pretty cool to take the Acela train, stay at a hotel, and eat at no cost to me).  I got the “I’ve got some very good news for you” call from Johnson & Johnson’s Information Technology Leadership Development Program around mid November, and with that call, the weight of the world was released from Atlas’s hands.  I signed, sealed, and delivered my offer acceptance on December 1st, and I’m slated to start my position with Consumer Products (think Band-Aids, Johnson’s Baby Powder & Shampoo, Aveeno) on June 15th.  In my time between school and work, I plan to take a quick jaunt to Scotland to visit some relatives I haven’t seen in more than a decade (with banked co-op cash!) and to road trip out to Wisconsin for my buddy Gus’s graduation party (he’s already got his job lined up with UPS).

And as for this semester, I’ve got Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays off, and with the exception of Senior Design, not a care in the world and no longer clueless.

- Michael Munley, ‘09