Pavel Borodulin

Like many high achieving high school seniors growing up in a lower middle class household, I was focused on finding a school and major that would allow me to become financially independent within a few years after graduation. I applied to schools and programs primarily geared towards graduating future lawyers, doctors or Wall St. businessmen. Although I realize now that Polytechnic Institute of NYU's diverse academic programs could surely have taken me on the path to any of those careers, I only applied for their Electrical Engineering degree program, following a suggestion from my high school guidance counselor. Even after receiving an extremely generous scholarship and visiting their campus in the very lively downtown Brooklyn area, I only reluctantly accepted their offer as I still believed that a more lucrative profession, although not fitted to my interests, could generate enough money to be interesting. Well, four years later I have only one thing to say: joining Polytechnic Institute of NYU's Honors College was the best decision I could have made.

Following the successful completion of my Master's research on the radiation characteristics of coaxial, symmetrically excited arrays of circular, conducting loops, I will be graduating with both a Master's and Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering in June of 2007. After a long-anticipated, full summer vacation, I will be joining some of the most intelligent engineers and scientists in the world at Northrop Grumman Corp. in Baltimore, MD. I will be working as a radio frequency design engineer in their Electronic Systems division, which caters primarily to the military.

Landing this dream job, which turned out to be much more lucrative than my initial naive thinking had suggested, is not the end of the story. Throughout my four years in the Honors College at Polytechnic Institute of NYU, I have had privileged access to professors and faculty whose guidance and advice, both in the classroom and out, were crucial to my success and had inspired me to stay the course during times of doubt. I have also been able to benefit greatly from the cooperation that goes on among the students in the Honors College and the racial, ethnic, religious and cultural diversity among my peers, which allowed me to gain many new perspectives on life and to learn more about the world.

Being in the Honors College also helped me obtain an internship with Focke & Co., a precision packaging and machinery company located in Verden, Germany. Polytechnic's Office of Career Services has a special arrangement with this company, and sends two interns every summer. All expenses are paid by Focke, including a generous stipend and a car that can be used for business or pleasure. Thanks to my junior level standing at the end of my sophomore year, I was fortunate enough to be chosen to go. The practical experience I received was very useful in my later studies and the Opel Astra's navigation system came in handy when traveling all over Germany, to Amsterdam and to Prague. The experiences were priceless.

Unlike those commercials that advertise trading software or guides on how to get rich buying real estate, the above results ARE typical in the Honor's College. I strongly recommend that you come and experience it for yourself.