God’s Future Engineer

On June 5th, 2019 at 9:43 in the morning, I was accepted into UW’s Mechanical Engineering Department. I’m on the journey to becoming what I’ve wanted to be since high school, a mechanical engineer!

Here’s my story:

By now, whether you’re related to me, friends with me, or awkwardly following me on any form of social media, you’ve probably seen the post. I’m wearing my pink button-up and I look like the happiest kid in the world. This post is not a repeat of that, but this is the whole story, well, it is as much as I can tell you without boring you too much.

Three rejections and one appeal? How does that happen? How did that work? Let me tell you.

Rejection #1: I applied before my first quarter at the UW. I was told that I would most likely not get in, but occasionally they let people in if they have a high GPA. Mine was in the 3.8-3.9 ballpark at the time. (July 2017)

Rejection #2: I applied to mechanical engineering (ME), electrical engineering (EE) and the industrial & systems engineering (ISE) for their early admission. I was rejected by all three departments. (July 2018)

Rejection #3: I applied to both ME and ISE. I was rejected from ME, but accepted into ISE. (April 2019)

It was after my third rejection from ME when I decided I was going to appeal. I had already accepted the ISE major, but I thought I would appeal anyway. Here’s the underlying secret that everyone knows, appeals don’t work. Well, sometimes they do, but a lot of the time you’re almost encouraged not to write one because they’re so rare. I talked to a UW advisor before I had written my ME appeal and she told me that being in a major would lower my chances even more. Essentially, I was spending hours writing an appeal that was guaranteed not to work. After I sent it (May 2019), the waiting began.

During this time of waiting, I had also looked into the ME program at UW Bothell and I was looking more into ISE and if it was something I wanted to do. If you want to read that story, click here. In this time of waiting, I had three options:

ISE – UW Seattle
ME – UW Bothell
ME – UW Seattle

The best case (and least likely to happen) scenario was by far, the third option. And then I heard back, the appeal worked. I was in!

I can’t describe how badly I have wanted to pursue mechanical engineering at the UW. Or maybe I can, as that’s almost what all of these blog posts have been about thus far. The journey has been beautiful and painful, and this is a new beginning. I can’t describe how grateful I am that my best case scenario happened. Yes, I am a hard worker. Yes, I have perseverance. Yes, I have determination. And although I appreciate all the pats on the back and high fives, I am reminded that all glory goes to God. I am nothing without Him and my identity lies in Him. I can’t explain why He finally said “Yes”. I can’t tell you why He continues to show us (me) love, mercy, and grace when we’re imperfect and sin-filled people. I don’t know why He does these things, but He is all-knowing and all-loving. He loves me. He loves us. He knows what is best for us and sometimes His best happens to be what we think is best, not always, but occasionally. I don’t have enough words to describe how thankful I am for this opportunity.

We are just getting started, friends. This is where this blog transitions from me wanting to get into the ME department to actually earning my mechanical engineering degree from the University of Washington. I don’t know what God has in store for me, but follow my journey and we shall find out.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23