Undergraduate
Student Profiles
Name: Megan Elizabeth Johnsen
Year: 2005
Major(s): Materials Science and Engineering
Minor(s): Mathematics
Hometown: West Chester, PA
What do you plan on doing after you graduate from
SEAS? How has SEAS helped prepare you for your career?
Come September, I'll still be at Penn -- starting my first
semester of law school. Engineering is definitely not a common
pre-law major, but because my plan is to pursue the field
of patent law, I wanted to have a strong background in engineering
so that I can understand the technical language that I will
frequently encounter in my work. At any engineering school,
I'd have worked through the many problem sets that have taught
me discipline and logical reasoning, skills essential to being
a good lawyer. What led me to choose Penn Engineering, though,
was not only the university's excellent reputation, but also
that I could take a fairly high number of liberal arts classes
that counted toward my degree. Communicating effectively is
certainly an important ability for a lawyer to possess, so
the opportunity to enroll in a wide variety of writing-intensive
courses was a big draw for me. Through the well-roundedness
of the engineering program, I believe that my education at
Penn has not only prepared me beautifully for law school,
but will also enhance my future career.
What makes you different from a stereotypical engineer?
How has Penn contributed to that?
When I visited Penn Engineering during my senior year of high
school, if I had seen a school full of "stereotypical
engineers," or sloppily dressed, antisocial, overworked
people, I wouldn't have matriculated. While I doubt that anyone
enrolled can honestly say that they've never displayed any
of these qualities, and there are some students who that description
consistently suits, the truth is that the school makes it
relatively easy to have a life beyond classes. There are times
when exams and project deadlines coincide and my inner "stereotype"
emerges a little, but the stress fades. The courses can get
difficult, but the professors are generally accessible enough
that you can get help rather than struggle for hours with
a confusing topic. That support has allowed me to have time
to do what I enjoy: participating in my sorority, working
downtown, and having time to relax with my friends -- which
we spend shopping and trying new restaurants, not programming
or working on a robot!
What has been your favorite engineering class and
why?
My favorite class was, of all the unlikely candidates, Quantum
Physics. Idly flipping through the textbook before class,
I saw phrases such as "inverse space" and innumerable
Greek letters. I had never been so intimidated. My professor
and his Australian accent, though, promptly brought a very
esoteric topic not only into reach, but enjoyable to learn.
Knowing his audience, he made sure that his students understood
the very basics of a topic before moving on -- a smart move,
as he easily could have lost us from Day 1. As he lectured,
the class would have "Eureka" moments when he hit
on the right way to explain a subject, and he wouldn't leave
a topic until he'd gotten that reaction. The homework and
exams were just advanced enough beyond class discussion to
be interesting, but not so far as to be bewildering. The class
left me with the satisfying feeling of having really learned
something, and considering the number of times I've looked
back at the textbook as a reference for other classes, I'm
glad it did.
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