Well, time has passed, and now I have been a TEAM student for one semester. For those of us who chose the two-semester track, we are now halfway through the program. As an insider, I want to talk about the TEAM program from my point of view.
You cannot find any other Master’s programs around the world that has such student diversity in terms of professional backgrounds, nationalities, and fields of study.
As far as professional backgrounds, you will find engineering majors here who have expertise in many fields: computer science, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, materials science, and more. The list is not limited only by our undergraduate backgrounds, because there are also PhD candidates participating in TEAM. This year we have optics, physics, and mechanical engineering PhD students. We also have some courses with MBA students! Taking that into mind, consider this—TEAM courses include a lot of discussion and interaction during and after the class—studying with these other students will benefit you a lot since they have experience and deeper insights about technology and business. In fact, right now I am on a team for a business plan course with a PhD and an MBA student. We are writing a business plan about a real world idea from UR Ventures (the technology transfer office) at the University of Rochester.
Second, TEAM is really an international program. Students come from America, Europe, Asia and Africa. This is the right choice if you want an international culture and language environment. However, there are plenty of chances to practice my English. One of the purposes of study abroad is to pursue a multiple culture experience. TEAM gets you really involved with your classmates—not just sitting beside them in the classroom, but partnering with them for group discussions after class. And in almost every course you need to form a team with others to complete assignments. During this time, your friendship with them builds and your language skills are enhanced. I made some good foreign friends in TEAM. Some of my Chinese friends from other majors even ask me, “How do you get along with foreign friends so well?”
The last distinction among students is their purpose of study. Some of us really want to become an entrepreneur and already have some work experience; some have cool company ideas in our minds already. Some students with engineering backgrounds want to learn business and management practices—perhaps to pursue a career in technical management in the future. Others want to learn more about an engineering field different from their undergraduate background. TEAM encourages us to learn new knowledge from other fields—either engineering or business. For instance, one of my TEAM classmates with a background in biology and medical engineering is now taking a computer science concentration in the TEAM program.
Diversity is one of characteristics that I value most in the TEAM program. I will talk about other cool stuff later!
– Bowei Zhang ’14 (MS)
