So, what can you do with an engineering degree?

Hi, I'm Olivia and I'm the president of the Student Engineers Council. We're here today at the Hokie Launch Party at Eastern Divide celebrating the graduating class of 2026 in the College of Engineering. And what are you doing after graduation? Uh, well, right now after graduation, I have planned to go to graduate school next year and continue my education here at Virginia Tech. I'm going to Bank of America to be in their global operations division. I'm working for a construction company that specializes in underground and heavy civil. I am working with Dupont as a process engineer. I'm staying here to do the accelerated masters program. I'm working at a startup in the DC area after graduation. I'm going to be working for a local land development firm. Going to be a software engineer analyst at Deloitte. And is this what you expected to be doing when you came into college? No. Well, I actually thought I was going to be in mechanical engineering and I ended up declaring ISE after my freshman year. Not at all. I did not know what I wanted to do at first. No. Previously, I thought I was either going to just directly go to work or maybe try doing medical school. Started considering continuing my education in biomedical engineering. Kind of. I feel like I kind of wanted to always work with people. So, I feel like construction was always like a route I would go to. Not at all. Not at all. No. I thought I was going to do mechanical engineering and then, you know, maybe design something to do with cars or heavy equipment, but honestly, no. I thought I was going to do like a postgrad schooling, but going straight into the workforce is a little bit different from what I thought. I would say like it's not directly what I expected, but it's along the lines. I knew I wanted to do something with computers and like electronics. So, um I'll be working on power electronics for like satellites. It's pretty similar. I would say I didn't know what I was expecting to do when I first came here, but once I got into the land development classes, I knew that's the route I wanted to take and be on the design side of things. Um, no, honestly, I thought I actually came in being a computer engineer, so I'm doing something quite a bit different, but I'm still excited to see what is to come. It wasn't entirely what I thought I'd be doing. I knew I wanted to do something like hands-on and involved in a process, but my first internship was at a chemical plant in Colorado. and being actually involved in the process really showed me that that's exactly what I want to do. If you could pick any engineering major to be, which one would you do? Mechanical. Ah, okay. What gets you excited about your major and your future career? Rocks. I like rocks a lot. The great thing about industrial and systems is how versatile it is. I think pretty much everyone will tell you that um when you get in. uh being able to see the things that I build and create. Just discovering new things. Um new classes provide a lot of really new uh interesting information and it's just really fun to learn. What gets me excited is just the opportunities to do so much. So many ideas, so many open opportunities to invent, to create, to build, to make something, to help people. How excited are you for the new class of freshman engineers to come to Tech? How do you feel about all of us seniors leaving tech and going on to new things? A any advice you have for the next incoming class of freshman engineers? Have fun. It's exciting. There's no pressure or shame in asking for that little bit of extra help. Uh go to class, eat at D2 a lot so you can save your money and then splurge when you're up late studying. That's what me and my roommate did. And support our football team. Uh have fun. You don't need to get an A on everything. make the most of it. Talk to everyone, go to every event, make every friend possible. It'll go so far with like connections and also just having a good time. Galileo was a pretty good um way to like meet other engineers and see what they're doing. And then I also joined a design team my sophomore year which kind of helped me like get real world experience. Take everything as a learning experience. Soak everything up. Be a sponge. Don't be afraid to fail. Being a senior, time goes by really quick. So just enjoy every moment and uh make a lot of friends. Virginia Tech has endless opportunities, especially like hosted by the SEC. Go to Eball. Go to Eball. Go to Expo as a freshman. Put yourself out there. Believe in yourself. Do not give up. And ask for help when you need it. Oh, and we're enter Sandman. Always go to those football games.