Eddie Tapia is a UC San Diego mathematics- computer science
alumnus currently working on dual master’s degrees in electrical and computer
engineering and technology ventures at Carnegie Mellon University. When he was president
of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) at UC San Diego, he created
the Graduate Road Map (GRM) event to increase the number of underrepresented students
applying to graduate school. Here’s why:
“I
grew up in a low-income household, so my goal for the longest time was to go
work after my bachelor’s degree so I could help provide for my family. As a
result, grad school was not in my plans throughout most of my undergraduate
career. Yet, through the help of some amazing friends, staff members, and
faculty, I learned about the benefits of obtaining an advanced degree and
they provided me with the insight I needed to craft a strong
application.
However,
not everyone is lucky enough to have the help I had and I noticed that many
students, especially underrepresented minorities, were not applying to graduate
school because they had a lot of misconceptions about the whole process. I was
bothered by this realization so I began to think of ways where I
could give students the opportunity to connect with faculty, current graduate
students, and university representatives to demystify the graduate school application
process. I created GRM to increase the number of
underrepresented students applying to graduate school and support students who
might otherwise not apply to graduate school.”
This
year, SHPE will host GRM on February 9. If you’re not sure if graduate school
is a good fit for you, or don’t really know what the application process is
like, come learn from the experiences of current graduate students and
professors. Thanks to SHPE, the National Society of Black Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers at UC San Diego for organizing this event. Details
here: https://sites.google.com/ucsd.edu/graduate-road-map-2019/home
