Name, Hometown, School: Sean Zimmermann, New York, NY, SEAS, Electrical Engineering (EE)

Claim to fame: Bwog ESC Reporter for 4 years, IEEE President, SciFi Club Librarian

Where are you going? I’ve accepted an internship at Microsoft for the summer. After that, I’ll return to Columbia in the fall to get my Master’s Degree.

Three things you learned at Columbia:

  1. The people are what make this school truly great.
  2. Participate in things that make you happy.
  3. If it doesn’t work, check that it’s plugged in.

“Back in my day…” Dorm internet bandwidth quotas were a serious annoyance.

Justify your existence in 30 words or less: I knew I wanted to be an EE when I got enormous happiness from building a small green LED.

Is the War on Fun over? Though I’m not sure if it is over, there was once time I returned from a movie to a party in my suite with someone passed out in front of my door. While waiting for CAVA, I got to see a row of at least 5 public safety officers slowly approaching our townhouse.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? Cheese can provide happiness on demand, oral sex cannot.

Advice for the class of 2016: Ask for help! If you feel yourself falling behind, speak to the professor. Many will go above and beyond the call of duty to assist you. As a professor said to us during our first week in 2008 – “You already got in, you don’t have to prove anything.”

Regrets? Though I don’t have many, the greatest one was probably not learning MATLAB earlier – professors (in your more advanced classes) simply assume you know how to use it, and I could have saved myself many headaches in the long run.