Rabia Khan

Though rewarding at times, being an engineering student can be both challenging and frustrating. I am a graduate student in the Biomedical Engineering department. The biggest challenge I faced while studying was being able to focus my time and energy on one task at a time. I would get extremely overwhelmed with work, school and taking care of my father who is disabled at home. My overwhelm self would manifest anxiety that would trigger me to take on too many things on my plate when I did not have the time to take anymore. I learned how to balance these events of my life since, I recognized that none of them have to completely go away. I just needed to learn how to manage my time which in turn would help me stay focused on one thing at a time. For the incoming engineering students, I would recommend that although in between classes, jobs and other responsibility you might feel as if you don't belong or are as smart as your peers around you are just remember that everyone has a story that you don't know about. The best thing you can do for yourself is take responsibility of your actions, make habits that will help you stay on task, take some time for yourself such as doing yoga or watching Netflix. Just remember taking it easy is ok so as long as you don't stop going forward. If you fail an assignment or test that you put a lot of work into completing, IT HAPPENS. It doesn’t mean your work was invalid. Engineering is hard. It can be extremely discouraging when you don’t understand difficult topics, or are drowning in course work and still getting bad grades after expending a lot of effort. If you experience depression or a sense of hopelessness, try to find mental health counselor on campus that can help you feel better. Or find a career-path counsellor that can help you pinpoint your long-term goals so you can find ways to keep working toward them.  After all, the next step after graduating is trying to form a career that will be satisfying for you.That said, don’t be afraid to switch majors if you realize engineering is not your optimal career path. If you want an engineering degree, keep working hard to get it. But if you decide that majoring in engineering will ultimately make you miserable, take a chance on something that you think will make you happy, and that you think you can sustain putting hard work into for a long time. It is your life, and you are capable of making something out of anything you are passionate about. If you decide to change your trajectory, make sure you pick something that will be lucrative for you based on your interests and strengths. This summer, I worked at a pharmaceutical CMDO industry here in Albuquerque. I was able to learn and discover the very means of manufacturing of the drugs that are used in hospital settings. I also picked up Mountain Biking that opened a whole avenue of destressing activity.