Christine Liu

Hear from Christine Liu, co-president of Engineers Without Borders.

Name, Hometown, School: Christine Liu, Nutley, NJ, SEAS (Chemical Engineering)

Claim to fame? Being the first to die in the 2010 CU Assassins games, Co-President of a silly group of passionate engineers. I’ve been told I make funny faces.

Where are you going? Some streets down and a few avenues over, working at one of those consulting firms until I figure out what to do with the rest of my life. But before that, Guatemala to work at an NGO and play with small children!

Three things you learned at Columbia:

  1. It’s ok to fail. I got the lowest midterm grade in my freshman year Adv Gen Chem course and almost failed a course Junior year and am still somehow graduating employed. I probably learned the most from my own failures during my time here and how to bounce back from a seemingly hopeless situation.
  2. Smile and say hi to people you’ve met when you pass them. It’s polite and beats pretending to read a non-existent text. My peers are what made my experience at Columbia, more than my actual classes and professors.
  3. Don’t be afraid to quit things. College is a time to explore and figure out what makes you, you. If something isn’t making you happy (an activity, a friend group, a major), don’t be afraid to drop it and focus on something else. Yes, even in SEAS it’s possible to change your major/minors up to a certain point. Find what you love and stick with that.

Back in my day… People paid full price for a Deluxe burger, Broadway between 119th and 120th was a constant construction zone, JJ’s chicken fingers and fries weren’t bottomless and each bite was savored

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: Engineers Without Borders. (Sigma Omega Beta), Meh, Moo

Write a CU Admirers post to anyone or anything at Columbia: @The CU Security Guards. Thank you for always brightening my day, especially when I’m trekking home at 4am either drunk or caffeinated. No judgement (that I know of) was passed by you. Also a shoutout to the Mudd custodial staff that never kicked me out of any classroom at night despite my person being very in their way of doing their jobs.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? My favorite story to tell at parties is about the time I accidentally mixed Brie Cheese and chocolate together and how my life quality has increased since then.

One thing to do before graduating: Have an international experience. Columbia gives you so many opportunities to do so, be it through study abroad, international internships, or student group initiatives. I spent last summer in Jordan through the CEO Amman program and had the absolute BEST experience and met some cool people; we even made it onto the CCE FB page!

Any regrets? Lots, almost all of which are about the things I DIDN’T do rather than what I did.

One thing that sticks out though is not going abroad. However, I’ve definitely more than made up for that by yelling at every underclassmen engineer to go abroad, despite what all their SEAS/CSA advisors might tell them otherwise. It’s possible! YOU can do it too!

Besides that, make a list of everything you want to do at Columbia and check it off as you go. Don’t try to cram everything into one semester like this poor senior here. You don’t want to miss out on anything this great school and your amazing peers have to offer you.