In this blog post, I will tell you how to prepare and plan your career path to make your academic plan for the Department of Electronic Engineering more convincing.
Write about your academic experience and what you felt
Discussion classes for efficient science learning
I studied science at a general high school and prepared for a career in science and engineering through a curriculum focused on science and math. At my school, we had one-way classes like in regular schools, but our science teacher was particularly against this. The teacher said that science classes should not be conducted in a purely theoretical way. He said that this is because the content of the science exploration test in the actual SAT is also based on experiments, and the questions are increasingly based on practical and realistic examples.
So the teacher directly proposed to the school to create and operate a science education system centered on experience, experiments, and discussions. I have benefited greatly from the educational system created by this teacher’s efforts. First of all, during class, we put aside the textbooks and studied with other teaching materials created by the teacher, which reduced the importance of memorization and emphasized questions and experiments. Instead, we tried to observe the moon, took pictures, and discussed with our group members to create models based on our deductions. I also used the model I made to study, so I was able to memorize the details by understanding them, and I was able to find the correct answer by checking the reason for the shape of the moon with my model. Rather than trying to solve the SAT questions on paper with a pen, the experience of solving them while experiencing them with the five senses greatly improved my science skills.
Write about your major school activities and what you learned from them
A small group for creative engineering design
The high school I attended was selected as a representative school for smart convergence education as part of science education, and it supported students’ creative activities through this system. I took full advantage of this system and joined a small group for creative engineering design. There were eight students in our club, three of whom were seniors, and the other five were peers. The seniors had already been active in the club for two years and had participated in external competitions and gained experience. So we tried to learn and master many things by following the path that the seniors had already walked.
Basically, the process of our club followed the comprehensive design education program of planning, designing, and producing. Also, because we were in the institutional process for smart convergence education, we were able to apply for research support funds if necessary. When conducting comprehensive design, we sometimes had to purchase basic materials or research materials, and we sometimes invited external instructors to develop our technical skills. In this case, I received support from the school because I had incurred costs. While listening to external lectures, I made connections with the lecturers and learned about the important elements of design from them. As a result, my design skills gradually improved as I listened to the lectures, and I began to conduct systematic research by considering the steps of setting goals, synthesis, analysis, production, testing, and evaluation, which are the same as the design elements of capstone design.
The appliance I considered the most during the practical training was the gas range, and I studied the physics of the gas range. The gas range consists of a high-calorie burner, a low-calorie burner, and a grill, and it was chosen as the subject because it was convenient for research at school or at home. During the practical training, students learned to analyze the shape of the flame according to the amount of air and the pressure of the ejected gas, the appropriate and excessive combustion air, and the low gas pressure. They also practiced separating and assembling or redesigning a piezoelectric ignition device consisting of high-voltage wires, piezoelectric elements, gas outlets, and resistors. In addition, they analyzed the physical and chemical properties of LP gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and liquefied natural gas (LNG) used in gas ranges, and practiced modifying and repairing the gas structure of gas ranges that had problems.
As a result of these hands-on experiences, they entered a creative engineering design competition to demonstrate their improved skills. At the competition, teams from other schools presented creative engineering works such as inexpensive and durable winter clothes, a fire detection system using video recognition, and an alternative housing model using soil and bamboo. There were also topics similar to those that our team has been researching, such as a power-free passive bidet, a multi-purpose battery module using solar cells, a solar drying system, a simple filtration device and water purification system, and a water sterilization system. Our team also developed and presented a simple gas stove and a simple water purification system at the competition.
Caring, sharing, and cooperation: Examples and thoughts
Participation in the operation of the school cafe
There was a cafe in the school store on the first floor. Originally, there was a manager who ran both the store and the cafe, but when the position suddenly became vacant, someone was needed to run the cafe. In this situation, I applied to be a student volunteer to run the cafe for a while. I thought there would be a lot of applicants for this volunteer position, but in the end, there was only me and two of my friends, and we often spent our breaks working at the cafe. Since there was no one to take turns with, we continued to go to the cafe during our lunch and after-dinner breaks to volunteer.
Working all day long, we felt as if we had become the management of the cafe. So we became ambitious to run the cafe properly, attract many students, and make a profit. To do this, we began to divide the work for cooperation. At first, we both took orders and made drinks because we didn’t know how to work, but when we started to get used to it, one person took orders and the other made drinks. I was in charge of making drinks, and I prepared popular drinks in advance so that I could quickly prepare them in case several students came at the same time.
As we worked together, my friend and I began to get along well and we also developed a bond as we worked together. I especially tried to be considerate of my friend, who was always taking orders. I only had to make drinks quickly, but I thought my friend would have a harder time because she had to remember the order and deliver the drinks as she took the order. On the contrary, my friend kept telling me not to change the order when I was making drinks, and because we were moving with consideration for each other like this, we were able to finish the job without any friction. We were able to get the volunteer points, have a good experience, and earn a small profit while working together, achieving the triple effect of killing three birds with one stone.
Efforts and preparations related to motivation and career plans
Expert in home appliance repair technology in the future
When I was a student, I had a goal of going on to study science and engineering, and I made my career plan while participating in a club related to creative design. I am interested in various technologies and products related to electronics and electrical devices, and I have a desire to develop the ability to participate in the technology development and design process. With this motivation, I applied to the Department of Electronic Engineering at ○○ University. In particular, I applied to your university as a social contributor, and I was able to apply as a candidate because I am the grandchild of my grandfather, who is a national merit recipient. My grandfather fought in the Korean War, and I have inherited his strong sense of social participation, and I have the ambition to grow up to be a strong worker in the new era.
In high school, I focused on the basic learning process to major in electronics. Of course, it was meaningful to study practical engineering knowledge and drawing design, but I thought that the background knowledge of basic studies was more important than anything else because the purpose of university is primarily academic research. So, I studied mathematics and science in advance with the textbooks of the major I would study in college from the second year of high school. I also had the experience of feeling that the content I learned in high school was easy while doing prior learning with university applications related to linear algebra, physics, and chemical engineering.
Based on the basic knowledge I have accumulated, I will manage my time by studying second-year courses in the first year of university and third-year courses in the second year. I always want to study one step ahead of other students, and when I graduate from university in my fourth year, I will prepare for a master’s degree. After entering graduate school, I will major in electronic and electrical control and instrumentation engineering, and after completing a two-year master’s program, my goal is to work as a researcher in the development of mathematical technology at a large electronics company. Since repairing home appliances requires different technical skills than designing, I will always be a student and researcher who thinks about research topics in this area.
