Purdue Biochem I Day 17 — Linuki

Heyyyy blog! Guess who survived College & Career Day without completely combusting from an existential crisis?

I woke up this morning with exactly two thoughts: 1) I should probably go to lecture and 2) what f I just didn’t? But duty (and fear) won, so off I scrambled to get dressed and run to the lecture hall. Our lecture block ran from 9am to 11:30am, giving me just enough time to wake up without rushing and to grab a coffee at the Earhart Dining hall before diving into the background for specificity essays that we would be running on Thursday. It’s crazy how much content we’ve already covered and how quickly caffeine has become key to my survival here!

Following the lectures, we were released to our usual lunch break, but instead of heading to the dining hall with many of my peers, I crashed in my dorm for a much-needed nap. I knew the second half of the day would be intense, and I wanted to be fully awake for it.

I arose from my slumber around 12:40, throwing on a formal dress and my favorite boots (which I would regret wearing later due to their 4-inch heels). With a group of friends, I headed over to the Stewart Center conference rooms for College & Career Day. I joined my research group with another team to kick things off with a discussion about our values and what we were looking for in colleges. It wasn’t just the surface-level stuff like “good weather,” or “prestige”—rather, we dug more into ideas such as support systems, access to research, and what types of communities/the culture we wanted to surround ourselves with. Essentially, it was group therapy in disguise. One fun activity our TAs had us do was coming up with an elaborate story for a character, following their career journey after being faced with different important decisions and obstacles.

Then came one of the highlights of the day: a Zoom panel with college admissions officers from MIT, Caltech, and Harvey Mudd. They shared much about the nuts and bolts of admissions and also elaborated on the distinctive cultures at their respective schools. It was rather comforting to hear that authenticity really does matter- that they’re looking for people who are true to themselves and are not purely just a list of stats.

After the panel, we were blessed with an hour to get dressed for dinner. But since I, Alyssa, and Anna were already dressed in semi-formal outfits (because obviously we are always prepared and classy), we took the opportunity to sneak off to the Starbucks in the Purdue Union to gossip over coffee and cake pops.

At around 5:30, we headed back to Stewart for dinner, which was catered by the Purdue Food Company and attended by Purdue admissions officers. The evening closed with our final live speaker, Dr. Jerome Baudry, who talked about his path through science. He explained to us that research was slowly shifting away from just obtaining data to a larger emphasis on analyzing the data currently out in the world. Science is more so about curiosity, collaboration, and perseverance. Between the intellectual conversations and free food we didn’t have to microwave, I’d say it was a pretty successful College & Career Day. If this is what adulting looks like, I might be okay with it—as long as Starbucks stays part of the equation.

Signing off,

Linuki <3

Here are some pictures of College & Career Day!

Figure 1. The girls + Brycen & Jason

Figure 2. The boys, all suited up (for once)

Figure 3. Miscellaneous SSPers and Dr. Jerome Baudry

Figure 4. Me and the GOAT Dr. Baudry dabbing

Linuki is a rising senior from California. You’ll either find her snuggled up in her bed with a book, or out loitering downtown with her friends and a cup of Thai tea in hand.