Accepting admission into the Department of Biology!
Below is the email containing the link to accept an offer of admission to the University of Washington Department of Biology to study Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology.
It was great to actually commit to a major. After going back and forth the previous year about what I wanted to study, discovering my likes and dislikes, I was very proud to be able to decide what I wanted to focus my studies on.
The Process...
After getting rejected from the bioengineering major, I remember trying to think about what it is that intrigued me about Bioengineering in the first place? Were those factors unique to the major? What did I dislike about the program?
Asking these questions helped me decide whether I wanted to try applying to the Bioengineering major again or to find another program that could meet the most of my wants.
After analyzing the pros and cons of the Bioengineering program, I realized I loved the potential that the major had to set me on a path to work in allergy research. I was drawn in by the innovation that happened in the Bioengineering labs. However, I also realized that other biological research that piqued my interest equally if not more was happening in the Department of Biology.
Most importantly, I realized that I wanted to get a deeper understanding of the biology underlying the systems that bioengineering took place in. The program at the time had a fairly rigid set of credit requirements, so the flexibility to explore the biology deeply and finish the major requirements on time was not easily feasible. I figured I could pursue a graduate degree in bioengineering if I was still interested after I spent time learning more about Biology.
So with that, I decided to set my sights on pursuing a major in biology! Below is a draft of my answers for the application: