Oregon State University

Forest Managment Assistant

December 2017 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

The diversity of experiences that this job offers.

What I wish was different

None

Advice

Putting yourself out there at career fairs, having a great resume and just being personable are great skills to help you get a job. Employers like motivated students.

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Undergraduate Research Assistant

April 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

It was a fun laid-back experience with great guidance and fun projects.

What I wish was different

Nothing really. I liked it.

Advice

Branch out and talk to professors. They really do care about helping students get experience.

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Research for Undergraduate Statisics Experience (REU)

June - August 2019 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

I enjoyed getting experience doing Statistical research and being introduced to the graduate level of studies experience with having a university advisor who met with us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, having ten weeks to work with a team of thirteen undergraduate statistics students. I developed my skills further in research using R code, LaTeX, and also being able to work with others. This experience has changed my career focus from wanting to just teach or tutor in mathematics and statistics to doing something with data analysis, and eventually, working one day for NASA in a team of innovators also. The final products produced from this internship is a 48 page document, including research, plots, title page and references and R code, written as a tech report in LaTeX/Overleaf coding software. Additionally, my group of three, who wrote this document on Kaplan-Meier survival curve estimators for Stochastic Ordering presented a 30-minute presentation to an advisory committee of Statistics Board members from Oregon State University, Columbia University and Rice University. This experience also helped prepare me for my Senior Math Capstone Research class I am taking this semester, involving research on a project, one-on-one with my advisor. I am also even more interested in going to graduate school now, which I was unsure I was even "good enough" for, but my initial plan before graduate school is to work 1 or 2 years then go back to graduate school by the 2022-2023 school year (if not before, as I graduate in May, 2020). I even found a passion of possibly getting an advanced degree in 'Financial Mathematics," combining my current Mathematics-Statistics major and Business Administration minor interests. Another thing, this internship helped guide me was the ability to coordinating a plan of when we would finish the project since the times we worked on the research were up to our smaller teams of three, conducting this research, as long as we were able to get the work done, and we were putting in the hours of generally a 9 to 5 job.

What I wish was different

The first four weeks of the internship were 5 "8-hour" lecture days on a Graduate Level Probability and Statistics course (4 hours of lecture, 4 hours of lab taught by a graduate student at Oregon State University), and many of us students, including myself were confused to a great extent by the content, but it did help give some skills in the long run. Near the end of the internship, I wish that we started the research projects earlier (like many of the other REUs we met and interacted with on the campus, who did not have an additional 4-week class and only 6 weeks of research) so that we could be working simultaneously as this course on the research. However, my senior capstone class this semester is run similar; we had two smaller research assignments the first half of the semester, and with 6 weeks left in the semester, I have the same timeline of research required, and I need to learn how to effectively learn skills in time management to still produce an equally great project product of research or better, while also balancing my other courses.

Advice

If anyone has the opportunity to do an REU, research-experience in the field of whatever one is interested in, I strongly do encourage it, as many people benefit from these, and for me, it gave me a confirmed focus this is the direction I want to go for my career, which was changed slightly from what I originally thought coming into undergraduate school classes of CMU.

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Operations associate

June 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

The freedom I had to make decisions.

What I wish was different

We had more staff to support.

Advice

Don’t do so many welcome week events

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Undergraduate Research Assistant

June - August 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

The REU program provided housing, travel, and a food stipend in addition to the stipend. Additionally, I received a lot of guidance about graduate school application, and gained valuable research and presentation experience.

What I wish was different

Advice

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OSU STEM Leaders Program summer assistant

June 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

I like being able to help students be successful.

What I wish was different

I wish I was able to learn more about the structure of a university.

Advice

Never be afraid to share your own ideas, because we are all brilliant in our own way!

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Drone Remote Sensing Intern

June 2018 • Aurora, OR

What I liked

I enjoyed the opportunity to get experience using remote sensing for a research project. It was also a great opportunity to start up this drone project that will eventually benefit farmers. During the internship, I learn valuable communication skills, technical GIS skills, and problem-solving skills. This opportunity has given me valuable experience and a skill set that will help me get a job after I finish college in March.

What I wish was different

I wish that I had a mentor that is an expert in remote sensing or GIS. I had to learn everything on my own and it was difficult and slow at times. However, that did allow me to develop strong independence skills and learn to problem solve on my own.

Advice

Give your all into internships because this is where you really develop the skills and get experience that will help you find a job or enter grad school after college.

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Student Researcher

January 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

Flexible hours and on campus

What I wish was different

I wish the number if credit hours I was taking over the summer didn’t make me a part time worker.

Advice

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Student Researcher

June - August 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

The advisor gave us a lot of freedom in how we went about our daily tasks. Also, there was a focus on external career development like technical writing, Graduate school applications, and research as a career.

What I wish was different

Sometimes there was a bit too much freedom given by the advisor. At some points we got a bit lost, but it lead to creative solutions.

Advice

A weekly schedule and reachable goals are absolutly necessary.

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TOUR Ambassador

June 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

Having the opportunity to connect with so many high school students during their college search.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Student painter

June 2017 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

I like the sense of independence self motivation and responsibility one has to have in order to fulfill this position.

What I wish was different

I wish we were paid bi-weekly

Advice

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Johnson Intern

June - September 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

I liked experiencing what research is really like!

What I wish was different

I wish the experience had a tiny bit more structure, but at the same time it was nice to have flexibility and organize my time and jobs as I needed to.

Advice

Be on top of your reading because the scientific community moves fast and reading papers is the best way to prepare yourself for poster sessions.

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Raft Guide

June 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

It was a fun experience that allowed me to get to know people from wide swathe of backgrounds, and help these groups develop connections and team building skills.

What I wish was different

Advice

Don't be afraid to follow your interests; you can make work out of anything if you're committed!

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Undergraduate Research Assistant

June 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

Felt very involved and welcomed with open arms into their project.

What I wish was different

More specific allocation of tasks.

Advice

Go out and talk to people, there’s tons of opportunities in undergraduate research at universities.

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Johnson Intern

June - September 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

It was a very formative experience for my career. Working in a lab as a freshman helped me develop my idea for a future and it was very fun to work with fellow students.

What I wish was different

Advice

It is great to get involved in real world applications of your field of study at an early time.

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START Leader

March - September 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

Meeting all the incoming Freshman and having a chance to positively impact thier lives at OSU.

What I wish was different

Advice

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SURE Summer Research

June - September 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

I liked the flexibility of the job where you could choose your hours and work around your other commitments.

What I wish was different

I wish the IRB would have been able to approve my study earlier so that I could have interview the target population for this study.

Advice

I would like to encourage other Science Students to look at and consider applying to this opportunity. It is a huge opportunity for students to take advantage of over the summer.

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Student Outreach Coordinator

May - September 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

What I wish was different

Advice

My advice would be to be both passionate and flexible. In any job or internship it is important to do your research with any company you will be interviewed for, but it is equally as important to be passionate about your field of study and back it up with your experiences that reflect that.

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Diversity Tour Ambassador

June 2018 • Corvallis, OR

What I liked

It gives me the opportunity to meet a lot of new people and share my love of Oregon State University. I addition, we aren't just sitting at a desk all day; we get to walk around and give tours so we stay active.