Quote:
Originally Posted by DoctorMD
I'll probably be going with the Class of 2020 after a gap year.
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Excellent! I couldn't recommend a gap year more. I think I remember you from CW2?
I was the one who told everyone to take a gap year.
If you have any questions about taking a gap year and what you could do with it, please feel free to PM me, or find me on Facebook (Arpan Rau) and message me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DampRobot
Congratulations! I looked at Olin, but decided that it wasn't for me. I was actually at candidate weekend 3, any chance we met? I remember quite a few FRC kids...
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Thanks! I was at CW2
, but yes, Olin is probably >60% FRC alums.
Quote:
Originally Posted by madhav
Could you share anything you learned about your gap year?
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Magical things happen when you have tons of free time.
Seriously.
I took a gap year because I wanted to go to Olin and was wait-listed, so I had no plan at all going in. I was pretty sure I was going to spend the whole thing watching netflix.
I somehow managed to get an engineering internship at a local firm last summer designing, building , and programming a machine to measure break-pads autonomously and non destructively.
In the spare time I had, I built a quadcopter and a CNC router and helped 3061 run an outreach program building quads with middleschoolers. I got to help 3 teams - 5125 , 4979, and 3061- with preseason training.
After I left that internship, I learned the basics of web design and applied to internships for this coming summer before FRC season started.
During the season I wasn't able to mentor 5125 because they're an hour away, but managed to help out with 4979 and 3061. I got to go to rock city with 3061 and midwest with both teams.
Due to a connection I made at Olin I flew out to california for a few days to game announce the ventura regional. I met MC blair and had dinner with Woodie flowers (He's AWESOME!)
This summer I'll be at JPL working on a 100 meter occulting disk in space.
None of that would have happened if I hadn't taken a gap year. You also get time to think and gain an intangible perspective. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
http://blogs.olin.edu/olinformer/ has a lot of blog posts by myself and fellow gappies talking about our years. Please feel free to PM me or find me on facebook (Arpan Rau) if you have any questions.