On College and Careers: a Chat with Georgia Tech Freshman Craig Miller   by Andrew Kerr January 2006 Craig Miller is a Georgia Tech Freshman studying Civil Engineering. We interviewed him about how he arrived at the decision to come to Tech, and he offered a lot of good general advice about how to pick a school and a career. Note: The NASA SHARP program as described by Craig was discontinued in September 2005, but a new program is in the works that will replace it in 2007. (To save the video of our interview to your computer, right-click on this link and "save target as".)

What did you do in the NASA SHARP program? NASA SHARP was an eight-week apprenticeship program that was located here at Georgia Tech. I worked in the civil engineering department with a PhD student and a professor as my advisor. I assisted the PhD student with her thesis topic, which had to do with transportation systems throughout the country. I was trying to see which ones were the most efficient for different types of economies around the world. And I also gained knowledge about presentation skills, and how to put together different projects and how to interact with people, how to network with people when you go out and seek jobs, and I had a lot of fun also. What city has the worst traffic? Atlanta is pretty high up there, but Los Angeles is probably the worst, has the worst traffic, but Atlanta is not too far behind it. Atlanta has one of the longest commute times of any city because of urban sprawl, because the metro area covers a lot more square miles than most cities. Have you always lived in Atlanta? Yes I'm originally from here and I never lived anywhere else. I went to high school at Benjamin E. Mays High School. It's in Atlanta Public Schools, not too far from downtown. It's west of town. So yeah, I'm originally from Atlanta, and I like it here. How did you find out about the SHARP program? Really I found out from one of my older sisters who participated in it, but also at my school one of the teachers would tell the counselors to try to find some students who might be interested in math and science, so I found out from my sister but I wanted to go talk to one of my teachers at the school who knew a lot about it to tell me more information about it. I applied two years, the first year they rejected me, but it was OK. [Laughs] It was a really selective program. But then I guess they saw that I was really interested because I tried a second year and they did accept me the second year. So it worked out better, because if I had gotten accepted the first year I would not have been located at Georgia Tech, because the year I started they implemented a new program which was a commuter-based site at Georgia Tech which basically got students from the metro area to come into Georgia Tech. At first I was upset because I wanted to go far away, but it really worked out for the best since I ended up coming to Georgia Tech, so I got to network with a lot of professors and people like the program coordinator, which was Mr. Docal, Anthony Docal, and it's just that I, since I work with them now I can come and ask them for stuff. They're kind of mentors for me. So I really think it worked out better for me. When I applied it was the only thing that I checked that I was interested in, so they put me in there because I wasn't interested in really anything else. Were you interested in civil engineering as a child? When I was little I used to build stuff in my room, and draw stuff, and my mom was like "Why don't you be a civil engineer when you grow up?" But I never really wanted to be a civil engineer because I never really liked math and science like that. I wanted to be a journalist, actually, and be a news anchor, because I like talking to people. But basically being in NASA SHARP, actually doing the research and seeing what civil engineers do kinda got me more interested in the field, because I can't really say that I was interested in it before. NASA SHARP is the reason why I got interested in civil engineering. Even though you do have to take a lot of math and science courses for engineering, I felt like if I was interested in the final result then it would make me push harder, to do the stuff that I might not excel in as much as others. I can do math and science, but I just have to work at it more. But I was like, "OK I'm interested in the final results, so I guess I just have to put in the work that will get me there." What schools did you apply to, and how did you decide to come to Tech? I really wanted to go the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill because I wanted to be a journalism major and they have one of the best journalism schools in the country. I really liked their school for some reason, and I wanted to get out of Atlanta at first, but it was the only out of state school I applied to. I also applied to UGA, Emory University, Morehouse College, here, and the University, so, five schools. I think my parents kinda might have contributed to my closed-minded attitude [Laughs]. I never really researched too many colleges that were too far away, because it seemed like it would make a hassle for my parents because they'd have to buy airline tickets. So I was like, "I guess I'll stay somewhere here, or at least in the southeast region." But it worked out OK because my parents aren't really on me too much, they kinda let me do my own thing, they don't check up on me or anything like that, so even though I'm in the city that I grew up in, it's still different because I didn't live downtown when I was little growing up, and my parents give me space, so it's kind of like I am out of town in a way. But if I do need to go home for something I can, but I don't go home all the time. There is, if there's someone's birthday party or something, it makes it easier cause I can just go home. How is campus life treating you? I live in a dorm and it's really fun, that's the best part, because the people on my hall are really outgoing and really crazy and really fun to be around. I like it because the school I came from was not diverse at all, and coming to Georgia Tech has really opened up the way I think of things, broadened my horizons, everything, because I've never interacted with so many different types of people. You learn about other people's cultures, you are informed about stereotypes that you might have that could be wrong, and I really think it's good to be in such a diverse area like this. Even being downtown is so much different than living in a suburban area of Atlanta. So yeah, I really do like the dorm life. What advice would you give to students trying to decide on a college, or a career? Really to me the best thing to do is do a lot of research, know everything you need to know about the different areas you want to go into, learn about the colleges, learn about the career, learn about different aspects of the career, things like that, and if you get a chance, even though it might be hard, try to meet someone, or find someone, maybe one of your parents' friends, or maybe one of your teachers knows someone in that field, and just go with them one day and see if you can see yourself doing that. To me that's the best thing, when you actually see people. You can be misinformed about a profession and then you spend all this time in college preparing for a profession that you think is going to be some way and when you get out there it's totally different, so it's like you almost wasted--not really wasted, but then you have to start all over again, don't know what you're going to do. So the best thing to me is to do research about it and find people who are in the field. And with college to me the best thing to do is make a pro and con list. List your different schools you want to apply to, and see what are the good things about it, see what are the bad things about it, see how much it's going to cost to you, or your parents, even if it is unlimited funds, sometimes it's just easier on people, and it might work out better if you decide to do something that might help financially or it just works out, you just have to see, list your options, and see what the best fit is for you. If you get a chance, go visit a college, because some colleges you might go there and you can't see yourself being there. Just explore, just do research, ask people who went to the college, things like that are the best things you can do. Before getting into something (be it a college or a career), do some research. Keep an open mind; one moment you might be an aspiring journalist, the next an aspiring civil engineer. And finally, roll with the punches. Sometimes things that seem like disappointments at first can yield unexpected, positive results later! Web Resources The Aware Home Site http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fce/ahri/ Careers Exploring Career Options (Elementary, Middle, and High School) http://www.ceismc.gatech.edu/busyt/career.shtml#Exploring Engineering Careers: Go For It! (High School) http://www.ceismc.gatech.edu/busyt/career.shtml#Engineering Remote Sensing: Evidence Based Science (Careers) (High School) http://www.ceismc.gatech.edu/busyt/career.shtml#Remote