Life will always be approaching something new or different than what it currently is, but don’t wish away your life, enjoy it.

As the semester draws to a close, and your eyelids weight seems to approach infinity as your average number of hours of sleep per week approaches zero, keep on. As you see the days get warmer and feel the sun get brighter and don’t want to finish your work, but rather go outside and enjoy the weather, keep on. As the number of days until summer is rapidly dropping and there are only a few weeks (and soon days) remaining keep on. Summer will be filled with many wonderful things, sunshine,
recreation of all sorts, entertainment, real food that your mom will insist that you eat lots of, and many hours of sleep, but for now, keep on. Summer will get here when it gets here. Life will always be approaching something new or different than what it currently is, but don’t wish away your life, enjoy it. Eventually you will be able to relax and do fun things but for now work while it is time to work, put in the hours and you will get the results. This summer when you are kicking yourself because you got that 3.7 instead of a 4.0 or that 2.7 instead of a 3.0; now is the time that you can change that. You are almost there you will eventually reach summer and be able to enjoy it, but for now, keep on. On the other hand however if you mess up now or slip a little bit, it is not the end of the world. You won’t die, planets won’t crash into each other and you won’t end up on the street begging for food, life will go on. Live and
let live, do your best and forget the rest, <insert favorite cliché here>. You have to inspire yourself and you have to acquire your own desire, you can’t blame your roommate, your parents, your high school teachers, me, or anybody, your GPA reflects your time put in; so before it’s too late do something about
it! Go, Fight, Win, Finals here we come!

 Upon arriving at RPI, I immediately knew that it was a place that I could call my home. I could easily sense the happiness among the proud families and the camaraderie from the prospective students.

I woke up on Saturday absolutely thrilled for the weekend. My second set of exams was all completed, and I was looking forward to a little bit of fun and downtime.  As I stepped outside to grab some breakfast at the Commons Dining Hall, I looked around and immediately realized that it was Accepted Students Day! Instead of going to breakfast, my friends Max, Alex and I, decided to check out the events going on and began to reminisce on how we felt as prospective students. For all of us, accepted students day was indeed what confirmed that Rensselaer was a great fit!

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            I remember waking up 6:00 A.M. to catch an Amtrak train to Rensselaer for accepted student’s day. As a student who was accepted to the Rensselaer/Albany Medical School – Accelerated Medical Program, RPI was one of my top choices. However, the decision to attend would be a difficult one as the seven year commitment would have a monumental impact on my life.

            Upon arriving at RPI, I immediately knew that it was a place that I could call my home. I could easily sense the happiness among the proud families and the camaraderie from the prospective students. At the East Campus Athletic Village (ECAV), the President of RPI, Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, congratulated us on our acceptance and told us what to expect from college here at Troy. I remember feeling overwhelmed by the numerous opportunities available and the number of students from all over the world who had decided to attend.

            After the speech, I met up with several friends from my high school. All of us had been admitted to many other great schools along with RPI. Upon arriving at Accepted Students Day, none of us were sure if we would be attending, however, after at the end of the day we all knew that RPI was the college for us.

            As I walked around campus, I was awed by how the facilities of the institution matched my all of my interests. First and foremost, I was looking for a college with great research opportunities. When I walked into the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) and took a look at some of the state of the art labs, my expectations were exceeded. Secondly, I was also looking for a college that had a flair for music and the performing arts. Upon hearing about the Rensselaer Music Association (RMA) and walking through the newest building of RPI, The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, again my expectations were exceeded. Lastly and most importantly, I was looking for a college with a rigorous academic curriculum that not only stretched me to my limits, but also provided me effective hands-on experience. When I was told that I would be taking classes in the Walker Laboratories and the Jonsson-Rowland Science Center, I knew that I was getting exactly what I asked for.    

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            As I walk through the Armory and Union a year later on the anniversary of my Accepted Students Day, I was thrilled to see the ineffable joy of the high school seniors as they transition from prospective students to students of Rensselaer. With a school whose motto is, “Knowledge and Thoroughness,” changing the world as a Rensselaer student is nothing out of the ordinary.

So as this is my introductory post, let’s start at the very beginning! Why did I choose to Rensselaer? In the month of April the majority of high school seniors go through a stressful process where they must choose one college that they shall call home for many years. Definitely a tough decision!

 During this time, teachers, family members and friends express their opinions on where they think you should attend. On the first Friday of April, I deliberately remember sitting with my family and friends as they casually debated which college would I eventually call my Alma Mater. I still remember my father saying, “You want to be a doctor right? Go to the medical program.” Meanwhile my friends were saying, “…but college X has a higher ranking on US News than college Y so you should definitely attend college X.”

I wanted a strong technical education. I wanted the opportunity to perform seminal research projects alongside experts in their respective fields. I wanted to make friendships that lasted my entire lifetime, and most importantly I wanted to be the first doctor in my family.

I spent that evening doing a lot of thinking. I knew what my parents and friends wanted for me, but what did I want from college? I wanted a strong technical education. I wanted the opportunity to perform seminal research projects alongside experts in their respective fields. I wanted to make friendships that lasted my entire lifetime, and most importantly I wanted to be the first doctor in my family. After I knew what I wanted, the decision to attend the physician-scientist program at Rensselaer seemed to be an obvious decision.

Although I am only in my second semester, I am already seeing most of what I wanted from college being fulfilled. Having had teachers like Professor David Schmidt for Calculus and Professor Scott Bello for Chemistry, I know that I am getting a first rate technical education. Furthermore, at the Bystroff lab of computational biology, I am working on very stimulating project that will help scientists better understand how proteins fold. Regarding making great friends, with activities like the RPI Symphony Orchestra, Student Council, The Society for Biological Sciences, and The Polytechnic, I found it extremely easy to make friends here at RPI.

Lastly and most importantly my last reason for attending Rensselaer was my desire to be the first doctor in my family. By being a member of RPI’s highly reputed accelerated medical program, I will definitely become a doctor in seven years. However, I am always faced with the query, especially by seniors aspiring to be pre-med, on why not take the traditional path of becoming a medical doctor?

Here is my answer: The beauty of a seven year medical program is that a year is saved which corresponds to an additional year of service. Now one year may not seem as that much time but when it corresponds to 100 treated patients… it may seem pretty significant. Personally, in addition to practicing medicine, I have always aspired to have a career in hospital and research administration with the lofty aim of starting my own not-for-profit hospital where physicians with administrative skills run the hospitals and research is used generate revenue to fund the hospital. As a physician-scientist here at RPI, I will indeed get the tools I need to make my dream come into fruition.

 So here are my two cents: When choosing a college follow your heart and identify your goals. Finally, education is what you make of it. A college can provide you the tools, but the rest is up to you so dream on!

I chose RPI because I felt like the community and the opportunities available matched my personality and my goals. I wanted a school where I could really be who I am (nerd?), and I saw that RPI had a rich history. At the time that I was coming in, I was a computer science and GSAS (Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences) Dual Major, one of the top five game development programs in the country. As you can see, I was pretty pumped.

But when I got here, I found so much more, and I found myself going in vastly different directions than I had expected. One of the major things was joining a fraternity. Originally, I wanted to avoid Greek Life altogether because I felt like it wasn’t “who I really was.” But, I took a chance, and Greek Life ended up being radically different from the stereotypes I had grown up with. It started a chain of opportunities I never thought I’d ever take part in.

While joining my fraternity, I decided to make a change and start by taking a leadership role as the Vice President of my pledge class. By the way, you have to understand that I’ve never taken leadership roles in ANYTHING before, and I had no idea what I was doing. But through this experience I got to meet a lot of new people and learn some really important interpersonal skills. I was more confident in applying
to become a Student Orientation Advisor, which was actually one of my goals from the start of my first year. After I got accepted as an Advisor, I met more new people, I got more practice interacting with people I’ve never met before, and I ended up joining Red & White Student Organization and IPAC (Information and Personal Assistance Center). These skills that I’ve learned also came in handy during my classes, and I think I’ve really become a more confident personal overall.

I don’t know what’s coming now, but I can already see some amazing things in the works. This is all because I decided to just try something.

I don’t know what’s coming now, but I can already see some amazing things in the works. This is all because I decided to just try something. Remember how I said that you get out of RPI what you put in? I put in my willingness to try new things and see how far I can go with them, and what I’ve gotten out is an experience that I personally feel has made really good use of my time here so far.

In other news, I’ve been doing a workout the past week, and my body’s killing me! It’s times like these that I’m glad I’m doing it with my friends, ‘cause at least we share a common bond: difficulty going up stairs. We’re doing our workout in the ’87 Gym, which is admittedly old and a little creepy, but it’s pretty private, and we can do whatever we want within reasonable limits.

You might notice that there’s an ’86 Field right next to the ’87 Gym, and there’s a story behind that (so many stories today!). The Class of 1886 donated money for the ’86 Field as their class gift. They also had a huge rivalry with the Class of 1887, so the Class of 1887 ended up donating the ’87 Gym as their class gift. Fun fact.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and I really want to stress that the experience you get here is up to you. Nobody’s going to force you to do anything, but no one’s really gonna stop you from trying something. What’s your RPI Story going to be?

-Fabian

Losing control of your time and your whereabouts can be very detrimental, especially for an entire week.

 Spring break can be a lot of fun in a controlled manner or it can be too much fun when it’s in an uncontrolled manner. I was safe and healthy but tired from the late return flight. On the other hand, some of my friends returning from spring break looked more like they were returning from the grave! Losing control of your time and your whereabouts can be very detrimental, especially for an entire week. Call me old fashioned but I like to know what state I’m in on a pretty much 24-7 basis. So remember, “fun is fun until its overdone!”

This past week we had our spring break.  It was a much needed rest and a chance to go home.  The weather back home was about the same that it was here.  I got a chance to see some of my friends from high school and catch up with my relatives.  Even though the break was enjoyable, there was still a lot of work to be done.  I had two take-home midterms to finish, plus interviews for internships to attend.  It was a very busy week, but I was just glad to be home for a bit.

This semester hadn’t been just school work for me.  I am very excited that my first intramural soccer game is this week.  As many of you know I play both intramural soccer and intramural ultimate frisbee.  I enjoy playing these two sports very much, especially since I play for my fraternity.  I have also been training for Tough Mudder in April.  I feel it’s going very well and hope to be fully ready by the time the event happens. 

Well that’s it for me, I hope you guys had fun enjoyed yourselves.  I’ll see you next week!

So, a little bit about myself: My name is Fabian, and I am (at the point of this post) a sophomore. I’m currently studying towards a Dual B.S. in Mechanical Engineering/Design, Innovation, and Society. You’re probably thinking “What the heck is a Dual, and what’s Design Innovation, and Society?” but it’s really not that hard:

Dual Major– Different from a ‘Double’ Major. Basically in a Dual, my two majors share a whole lot of requirements, whereas in a Double my majors would’ve not shared most, if any,requirements

Design, Innovation, and Society- It’s a special interdisciplinary major that focuses on learning important design principles, learning how to think creatively and innovate, and figuring out how those two affect and are affected by society. On campus, you’ll hear us calling our major DIS, PDI (Programs in Design and Innovation), or ‘Product Design’ if we feel lazy.

Bleh, besides all that academic stuff, I’m also in the Rensselaer Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music, Red & White Student Organization, and I’m involved in Greek Life (yes, that means I’m in a fraternity).

A lot of people don’t realize that in order to have a good college experience, you really have to balance work and play.

Even if it doesn’t seem like a lot to you overachievers, this is quite a bit on my plate, especially during my two 21-credit semesters. By the way, 21 credits is the max, and I DON’T recommend doing it unless you REALLY have to. It’s a LOT of work, and play-time rarely exists. A lot of people don’t realize that in order to have a good college experience, you really have to balance work and play. If you don’t play, you won’t have a stress-free brain to work with. If you don’t work…you fail. :/

Luckily this semester I’m taking the average workload, and I’m having a lot of fun! I think that I’ve finally found the balance between my commitments and it’s definitely letting me explore opportunities.
This’ll probably be the theme of all my posts: You get out what you put in. Rensselaer is one of those schools where you can’t just sit on your butt all day, complain, and wait for things to come to you. You really have to work for it and explore. The payoff? An experience that I know that I created for myself and that I can be proud of.

I hope you guys keep tuning in!

-Fabian