Caltech Magazine Student Study: Sophia Chen (BS '17)

My name is Sofia Chen. I'm a senior at Caltech,
and I live in Lloyd house.
My days usually start around 11
I usually study a bit before heading off to class
If I don't have a class I usually
take one of my projects to lab or I'll
meet with a professor to talk about what I'm working on.
I chose to major in electrical engineering
My dad is an electrical engineer, and when I was little
would always get me little electronic kits
that really kind of got me interested in
different electronic projects.
I love EE because it's really practical
It's something that can apply to
the whole world from phones to
computers to coding and I really get to
see what I'm building and
see what all of my knowledge is working towards.
Caltech gives you the option of being very hands-on
Professor Choo is probably one of the
nicest professors I've met on campus
and also one of the most relatable.
Probably once a term I'll meet up
with him and you know talk about what
I'm doing what class I'm taking.
It's really easy to talk to all the professors
here and you really get to know them.
You're interacting with world-class researchers!
Caltech offers a lot that I wouldn't
have gotten out of bigger school.
Besides the classes that I take from my EE major,
I'm also taking some fun classes like
shop class or cooking class
I like shop because it gives me a chance
to work with both high-tech and low-tech machines
And if I ever were to build a device,
I can make packaging for it now.
Also, in general I think it's nice to know how
to you know 3-D print or laser cut if you
have access to those resources
After all my classes I really look forward to tennis
practice because it's a chance for me
to take a break, see some friends and have fun.
Tennis actually factored quite a lot into my decisions
because I didn't want to give up tennis
and I also wanted to keep competing
and keep being on the team.
Actually, a lot of schools I applied to were Division I,
you know, I think I made the right choice.
Caltech is definitely a way better fit for me
and I can play tennis here.
I'm close to everyone on the team
and so for the first year I was the only
team captain, having the team support me
was really awesome.
After a while, it kind of became natural
I realized that I actually -do- have some leadership skills
That gave me more confidence to go out and try to be
a leader in different engineering or Caltech culture.
I was team captain and automatically number one
and I kind of took on the mindset that
okay you know what I'm playing these
really good girls that I probably won't
be able to beat but that's okay because
I can just work on things I really need to work on.
You know, they always say you
match the level of your opponents so I
definitely got a lot better just by
playing people were way better than me
Having that two hours every day of
practice helps me take my mind off of
academics so when I go back I have a
fresh mind you know I'm like ready to work again.
Tennis can be tiring but I go straight to dinner after
so that it usually fuels me back up.
This year I'm actually taking a Caltech cooking class,
It's really fun and it's a great way
to get to know other people in the other houses.
The other students are all super smart,
everyone is smart and there aren't that many of us
so everyone really gets to know everyone.
Sometimes I have classes after dinner,
otherwise I'll just work on whatever sets are due.
Sometimes I work on my room or
sometimes I'll go into one of the
lounges we have in Lloyd and work there.
Usually I'll take some breaks from work
to play Catan with people
or play ping pong in the lounge.
I usually study pretty much right up until I go to sleep
I go to bed bed around 2 and get ready for the next day.

Caltech Magazine Student Study: Sophia Chen (BS '17)

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