Opportunities That Lead to Success with Mackenzie

Transcript

At the end of the day, students like Mackenzie, who you’re gonna meet next, want a school that can help them achieve their goals and reach their dreams. U of I students are highly recruited by top companies across the U.S. and around the world. Check out these numbers. 9,700 unique employers, including 86 Fortune-100 companies recruited U of I students last year. There’s also a huge network of more than 475,000 alumni that students have access to. Mackenzie, who’s a senior has taken advantage of so many of these opportunities available here. Let’s go over to Siebel Center for Computer Science to meet her.

Thanks Alex. So I’m gonna be honest with you all. I felt really nervous the summer leading up to college. I was having trouble picturing myself succeeding in computer science. Because some people tried to tell me that I only got into a top CS school because of my gender. But it only took a few days on campus to make me realize I deserved to be here. There was a women in engineering orientation on campus a few days before classes started. I was able to meet other engineering students, get advice from upperclassmen, and get introduced to the resources on campus. This was super helpful for me because I got to meet so many other passionate students and get hands-on experience before classes even started.

In the spring semester of my freshman year, my friends and I participated in Hack Illinois, a hackathon where students tackle interesting challenges provided by different organizations. One of the challenges was taking a set of data about Champaign-Urbana and doing whatever we wanted with it. I talked to city officials during the Hackathon about how the geography of the Midwest leads to infrastructure problems when it rains or snows. Our team decided to build a community tool that could be used by residents to easily and effectively report issues like flooding in their neighborhoods. We ended up winning an award as freshmen and got to continue our research in a tech innovation lab here on campus.

Now I’m a senior and I cannot believe how many opportunities I’ve had to prepare me for the real world. It’s insane how many companies and professionals I’ve gotten to talk to through career fairs and tech meetups. The university has also helped me connect with some amazing recruiters. I ended up being a software engineering intern at Facebook and Microsoft over the past few summers. These internships have been so valuable for my professional journey. I’ve gotten to contribute to products that millions of people use every single day and I was able to find out that I was definitely on the right career path. The best part is that all these experiences have led to a full-time job offer at Microsoft.

After graduation, I’ll be moving to Seattle as a product manager, and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s almost hard to believe that when I started my major four years ago, I felt a little lost. But there are so many different paths you can take here to help you grow and gain confidence. Which is one of the many things I love most about UIUC. I’ve been able to explore so many different social impact spaces during my time here. And I know I’m set up to make a meaningful impact in the future. Back to you, Alex!

Mackenzie, thanks for keeping it real as you shared your story. That’s one of the best things about college. By the time you graduate you’ve come so far, you’re just not the same person as you were when you moved into your dorm your freshman year. Thanks again, Mackenzie.