Welcome to part 2 of “Where do we go after Yale?” In these two posts, I’m featuring some of my senior friends and what they will be up to after graduation. Hopefully their stories will get you excited for the amazing variety of opportunities that await beyond the Old Campus gates. Without further ado, I’d like to introduce:
Maya
Major: Cognitive science
What are your post-grad plans? I’m planning on going to medical school! And hoping to become a doctor.
Is there a class, experience, or mentor at Yale that has helped inspire your plans or help you achieve your goal? Within medicine, I’m planning to focus on neurology and the brain in general. I’ve taken a number of neuroscience classes that have formed that interest, and I’ve had some really cool teachers that have just opened up the world of the brain for me. More than classes, I’ve worked in a few neuroscience labs that have just been phenomenal. They showed me the wide breadth of research that has been done and can be done in neuroscience. I am really excited to be a part of that and continue to be a part of that as a doctor. I think my research mentors have been really positive influences on me and have been really caring. They’ve definitely helped me shape my interests in social neuroscience.
Alex
Major: Economics with a certificate in Energy Studies
What are your post-grad plans? Investment banking and growth equity at the Raine Group
Is there a class, experience, or mentor at Yale that has helped inspire your plans or help you achieve your goal? The commitment of Yale’s professors and career network enabled my post-grad work. I took a course on renewable energy project finance my sophomore year and became close with my professor. This led me to work for their investment company for a full year, giving me the skills and experience to build a foundation in finance. The career network that’s accessible online through Symplicity also gives students unique exposure to top-tier firms. We have special visits, coffee chats, and application pools.
Stella (that is, me!)
Major: Computer Science
What are your post-grad plans? I will be working as a software engineer at Cedar, a health tech company based in NYC!
Is there a class, experience, or mentor at Yale that has helped inspire your plans or help you achieve your goal? I’ve been really intrigued by problems in the healthcare sector ever since I arrived at Yale, but figuring out how exactly I want to contribute has been a major question for me. I credit three classes I took in the fall semester of my sophomore year with helping me gain a better sense of direction. The three classes were Introduction to Computer Science, The Human Brain, and Discovery and Design in Biomedical Research. These classes were in three different disciplines–CS, Neuroscience, and Biomedical Engineering. There was really interesting overlap among them, and I realized that I could apply my interests in CS to tackling problems in healthcare and biology. The journey since then has certainly between full of twists and highs and lows, but I can definitely trace it back to my serendiptous enrollment in these three classes. Looking back now, I couldn’t be happier with where I’ve landed.
