– Jason Chan
John Mock
After high school I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I didn't think it was a good idea to start college with no clue, so I took a year off. For that year I worked at a job that wasn't that bad, but I didn't want to do it forever. After that first year I still didn't know for sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I should start college soon or I might never go. I enrolled in the local (Mays Landing, NJ) community college and decided to major in business. Just a few classes shy of an associate's degree in business, I decided I didn't want a career playing with money. I realized that I really liked the math classes I had taken so, I took a few more. I also decided to take a physics class. I found out that although I liked math, I REALLY liked applying the math to solve physics problems. I then decided to become a physics major. Since there aren't many physics classes at community college it was time to move on. I decided I needed a change of scenery, so I went to Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL. I really liked the school but I did not enjoy physics. I thought there was no better time than while in college to explore the country so I transferred to UNH. After some thought I realized that physics might not be for me, so I had to find a major that involved math and solving problems. I spoke with Dr. John Pokoski and got a very good feeling about the EE department. After getting into the ECE program I realized what a great choice I made. I'm graduating in May and I have decided to stay at UNH for a Master's degree in EE.
Myrna Bussiere
I really didn't decide to go into electrical engineering until the end of my senior year in high school. I knew that I wanted to do some kind of engineering because I had always liked the math and sciences. When the Air Force offered me a scholarship in electrical engineering, I took it not knowing what I was getting into. It has definitely been a challenging major, with a hard course load. But I am happy with my decision.
I have also had a great experience in Air Force ROTC. It has introduced me to some great people, and has helped me gain leadership skills, and taught me how to work as a team. I plan on going into the Air Force now as a development engineer.
Jason Chan
I wasn’t exactly sure which college I wanted to go when I was a senior in high school. The colleges that I was accepted to offered me to go to their open houses during spring break. The first open house I went to was at UNH. I was quite impressed with the tranquil study atmosphere that exists in Durham along with the fact that it is only an hour from my home at Nashua, NH. The students are very nice, down-to-earth people that you can get along with and the campus is abundant with activities throughout the semester. I decided during that day that I would get my bachelor’s degree at UNH. So UNH was the first and only college open house that I went to and I forgot about the other colleges. I started out my freshman year as physics major. I knew that I like physics since it’s a fun and interesting field of science, especially the electricity and magnetism part of physics. Midway through the spring semester, I found out that I didn’t exactly enjoy mechanics and thermodynamics. A good part of the physics field and the bachelor’s degree are reliant on these two fields. I had seconds thoughts about continuing on as Physics major if I’m not going to enjoy taking mechanics and thermodynamics classes. However, I really grew to like electricity and magnetism portion of the field. That was when I decided to switch my major to Electrical Engineering (EE).
EE is considered a hard major. But, it’s hard only if you put off the homework assignment or neglect any course material. Given my experiences with the courses and the professors, I believe that this major can be easy if you just have fun with this field of science and you do all of your homework. Most of all, I found out that you can learn a lot from the labs. The Electrical Engineering department has a group of outstanding faculty who are ready and willing to do their best to see that their students have a thorough understanding of the courses that they teach. What I like most about the department is that you can learn so much from the professors during their office hours. This is not just asking for help on homework problems. Rather, you can discuss about a part of some topic that the professor covered in class today or some other topic not covered in the course that seems fuzzy to you. They are there to lend an open ear and help you understand the answers of the questions by discussing it in as many different angles as needed to until you get it. Since the day I went to the dean’s office to change majors, I have not and will never regret my decision to be an Electrical Engineer.
