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- Hi, my name is Haroon Rasheed.
I'm a third year at UCLA, I'm a bioengineering major,
and I'm from the Bay Area.
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- So tell me a little bit about
the bioengineering major at UCLA.
- So it's actually a really broad major,
which I really love about it.
I get to touch all sorts of different disciplines,
everything from electrical engineering to physics.
There's a couple other requirements where you have
to take up calculus in math, up to multi-variables actually.
Actually, differential equations, apologies.
We have to do a couple of life science classes,
we have to do some thermal dynamics,
and then when you get into your upper divs,
it's more about your own specialization.
Because it's such a broad major you can specialize
in anything from drug delivery to biotechnology
or anything like that, so I really love it.
- So have you already decided
on your focus within the field?
- Yeah, so I've chosen my technical breadth,
it's what a specialization is called here.
I've chosen my technical breadth to be in pre-med actually,
so I'll be using those six or so classes that you have
for technical breadth in fulfilling my pre-med requirements,
so doing organic chemistry, doing more biology,
doing physiology, stuff like that.
- How does bioengineering give you a different in
to medicine than maybe somebody who's just taking
biology or other pre-med courses?
- Right, so I think that plays into
why I chose bioengineering as a major.
Part of the reason why I chose it is because
it's so focused on the engineering aspect of it,
and I think that a lot of the future in medicine
is going to be in biotechnology.
So the fact that I'm taking classes like I said,
like physics, and electrical engineering,
and stuff like that gives me more of a perspective
and more of a thorough understanding
of the technologies that I might be using in the future.
In addition to that, bioengineering is special
in the engineering school in that it has
a lot of the single requirements that you would need to do
if you were pre-med, so it helps along that track as well.
(upbeat music
- So we are now in the School of Engineering
and Applied Sciences, is this
where most of your classes are?
- Yeah, so most of my lower divs were definitely here,
in addition to Young, but we'll transition to
the bioengineering department as we go into our upper divs.
- So you are the President of
the Engineering Society at UCLA.
Tell me a little bit about what you guys do.
- So the Engineering Society at UCLA
is the umbrella organization
for all the engineering clubs here.
So the 20 or so clubs, everything from
the American Society of Civil Engineers
to ACM which is the computer science society.
A lot of the events we do are for the entire student body,
rather than a specific group of majors.
- You have your hands in all different
engineering projects on campus, and you're really
representing engineering to the rest of the campus.
- Yeah, and a lot of our work is done with the admins,
so we're kind of the bridge between the student body
and the administration of UCLA engineering as well.
Also I actually was an intern here,
in the Engineering Society, my freshman year.
After that, last year I was the alumni chair,
and I hosted a few alumni events, and now this year
I was lucky enough to be selected as president.
And I've been trying to do my best to earn that right.
- So how does your work with the Engineering Society play
into what you're studying in the classroom or vice versa.
- What the engineering school is missing.
So while the engineering school
definitely gives me a STEM background,
it definitely teaches me the math, the physics, the sciences
that I will need to do my job,
the engineering society teaches me
the leadership roles, the social skills,
the communication skills that I will need to do
to be an effective doctor and engineer.
- Yo
(laughs)
Good answer.
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So outside of the engineering society,
what other extracurriculars are you involved in?
- So I do volunteer, just two main places I volunteer at.
One is the Venice Family Clinic which is in Santa Monica.
That's a clinic that serves under privileged
and poorer sections of the community.
In addition to that, I also volunteer at
a walk-a-thon that's held at UCLA that's called
the Walk to Cure Arthritis, and last year
I was the chair for that and we raised
somewhere around $200,000.
But a lot of takes place in this area, actually,
which is really cool, and we do a wide walk around campus
to celebrate patients who suffer from arthritis
and to help raise money for them.
- And then are you also involved with academic work
or helping professors with their classes?
- Yeah, so what I did last year, actually,
was I served as a learning assistant here.
Which is essence is an undergraduate TA.
- And are these for classes that
you've already take and done super well in?
- You have to have done decently in the class at least.
But the program is very receptive to anybody
who wants to come in, but it's really cool.
It helps facilitate your understanding of it,
because you have to teach it now.
So, it's a great opportunity.
I did it for physics which I hated before.
- And now you're teaching other people physics.
- Exactly, so whenever somebody comes in and says,
"Oh, I hate physics, I never could understand it."
I say, "You know, I did too, and now I can."
You can, trust me, you can.
But yeah, that's really fun.
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- So when you're not in class,
and you're not with your extracurriculars,
what're you doing just to have around here?
- Just personally, there's a couple of things I like to do.
I always think that exercising is
a great way to de-stress from the day,
so I always go to the John Wooded Center,
usually four to five times per week,
and just get any sort of workout in.
Besides that, I really do like writing.
I'm trying to publish a book as well,
so I love storytelling, and I work on that
in my free time, but just around UCLA
there's so many opportunities.
There's things anywhere from within UCLA
like dance groups you can do, martial arts you can do,
movie screenings that you can go to,
but outside of UCLA you can go to Santa Monica,
you can go to the Ellen Show which is really popular,
you can go on hikes,
there's all sorta of things around here.
- Have you been to the Ellen Show?
- I have not, but I really wanna go,
and Disneyland is not that far away either.
- I've heard.
- So that's like the hail Mary of the best places to go.
- So you can make a weekend of it and hit all that up.
- Not a weekend, you can make four years of it.
(bell dings)
- [Cameraman] That was a good ending.
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- So what was the most surprising thing about UCLA?
- So that's interesting, I think the most surprising thing
is how much the small things matter,
so when you're going throughout your college experience
you usually look for the big things.
You look for which one has the best academics,
which one has the best sports, if you're into that,
which one has the best social life,
but for me, coming to UCLA I realized
that it really has a mixture of all that,
and it also has these small things
that just get you through your day.
For example, the view we have here.
You're walking back from class, a stressful day,
you look out on the view and realize
that hey, there's bigger things than just grades and class.
You go to the dining hall, we are the best food
in the nation, the best dining hall food in the nation,
so especially if you're on the hill
you can go back to some great food.
And just the people here, as well,
are very welcoming and warm to be around,
it's overall just a great environment
to be growing up in a college environment.
I think definitely establishing
a good work ethic in high school is important
because you come to college and the quarter system here,
especially at UCLA is very fast.
You need to be on top of your game every single day.
But in terms of the overall college experience,
I would say come in with an open mind,
especially coming to UCLA which is such a diverse campus.
You're gonna talking to and interacting
with people from all different walks of life,
and you're gonna be learning something
from every single one of them.
So I would say, keep an open mind,
establish a good work ethic, and be sure to have fun
at the same time, it's not all about grades and academics.
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(laughter)