Meet Emily P. Chang
Your major and date of graduation:
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 2007
What are you doing after graduation?
I am attending graduate school at MIT. It’s a PhD program in chemical engineering.
What is the one piece of advice you have for underclassmen about deciding on a career and graduate school?
If you love to learn and you’re curious about one particular field and you want to gain more expertise in it, you should definitely choose graduate school.
What career paths have you been considering?
Research or manufacturing in pharmaceutical companies. Perhaps after a few years in industry, I will consider an academic career.
What influenced your decision for your post graduation plans?
I’ve enjoyed my chemical engineering classes at Penn and I feel ready to study the field more in-depth. I’ve also received a lot of support from my family and professors to pursue graduate school. I believe the degree is necessary for some of the career options I am considering.
When did you start looking at graduate programs?
I started looking at graduate programs the summer before my senior year.
Did you have internships during the summers and were they related to the graduate field you are pursuing?
Yes, I have had an internship at Merck, working in a chemistry lab to analyze many commonly used inactive ingredients. Because my interests are in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, this internship was related to the field I will be pursuing.
What do you think made you a successful candidate for admission into the graduate school you will be attending?
I was able to demonstrate my potential with my past research experience and good grades. I think my recommendations from faculty were also very helpful.
What is the one thing you wish you knew as an undergraduate at Penn?
One thing I think many undergraduates don’t know as freshmen or sophomores is that building relationships with professors and upperclassmen is a great way to network and get advice.
Your recommended links for careers/job searching?
I recommend narrowing down graduate school choices by speaking to professors and other graduate students and then to just go to the departmental websites for each school to learn more about the programs and research being done.
