Off-Campus Report: SURF at MIT and Study Abroad at the University of Edinburgh

Few Caltech students will take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad during their undergraduate time here. Understandably, undergrads are some of the busiest people you will meet here: classes throughout the day, sports and house activities through the afternoon, problem sets throughout the night and well into the morning, sleep if you can afford it, rinse and repeat. Our four-year plans are often packed; graduating on time is important when your tuition is, to say the least, exorbitant. We are lucky if we have the sheer time management to fit in downtime, much less plan opportunities to exit the Caltech bubble, the boundaries of which are fortified by mediocre public transport and the expense of a car. Throughout my freshman to junior years, I struggled intensely with work-life balance, gradually setting goals to leave campus once a week to control the stress associated with this place.

I left Caltech over the summer and fall for new opportunities, but also because of an intensely needed break from Caltech. My junior year was riddled with many stress-exacerbated health conditions, and retrospectively I’ve been concerned with how normalized my experience is amongst upperclassmen who experienced prolonged academic stress here. However, I am happy to say that upon my return to Caltech after leaving for about 6 months, I’ve arrived not only refreshed but with new appreciation for the Caltech experience.

Over the summer, I was lucky to arrange an off-campus SURF opportunity at an MIT Biology lab. Off-campus SURFs tend to be trickier to arrange than a Caltech SURF due to how proactive students have to be in both reaching out to faculty at other schools and informing faculty how SURF works and what monetary support they are expected to pay. I was fortunate to successfully arrange this opportunity and find myself in Cambridge for the summer.

Boston and Cambridge are wonderfully different places from Los Angeles: there is a (mostly) functional public train, a community of colleges within a concentrated city center, and the beautiful Charles River splitting the cities. I lived in an MIT-associated co-op house known as Student House, which advertises the cheapest accommodations for students in Boston (They have free groceries?!). Being in Pasadena for the past two summers, I loved the newness of everything in the East: going out to new restaurants every week, backpacking and summiting Mount Washington, and exploring the city with the ease of cheap public transportation are only a few of the enriching opportunities I took over the summer.

Beyond the idyllic summer weekends, I worked in a new lab that had a refreshingly different environment from my Caltech lab. I enjoyed many aspects of the academic community at MIT, such as attending local talks at the Boston Protein Design and Modeling Club, which is open to academics and industry people alike. I attended group meetings across labs and learned so much from members of my own lab, who were often co-advised with faculty in different departments. I loved the project I was working on and felt that my technical and communication skills were growing as the product of trying out a new research environment.

Many Caltech students already pursue internships off-campus, so I don’t think I have to do much to convince my fellow students that doing a summer away from Caltech is not only fun but valuable for career growth. For students who are interested in research opportunities, I would highly encourage you to take advantage of an off-campus SURF.

Many Caltech students don’t appreciate the fact that SURF is one of the most well-funded and broad undergraduate research programs in the country - Student Faculty Programs funds hundreds of Caltech and non-Caltech students to do research over the summer, while other universities have much more competitive programs that can only fund a handful of students. As a Caltech student, you have a much higher chance of receiving funding for a SURF than for an NSF REU or Amgen Scholarship, which are geared towards students at non-research universities. Even equivalent programs like MIT UROP limit their students to only research at MIT, and won’t fund research at other institutions. So in short, if you aren’t already applying to an internship off-campus, consider doing an off-campus SURF to gain a fresh perspective on your field.

After the summer, I took a huge leap and flew to Europe to start my study abroad experience. I applied to study at the University of Edinburgh in early January last year because I wanted to try this unique opportunity that I knew would be difficult to replicate in graduate school or working life. I had never been to Scotland before and was vastly surprised by the rich culture, complex history, and vibrant city life. Studying in Edinburgh was a profoundly reorienting and eye-opening experience in my undergraduate time.

First, while the course load is much lighter than at Caltech, there are still many enriching academic opportunities. The classes I took pertaining to my major were Biological Chemistry 2 and Data-Driven Chemistry. At Caltech, I have a concentration in biochemistry, so I thought I would know most of the topics in Biological Chemistry 2, but I was surprised to find that the Edinburgh system of teaching chemistry is so divergent from the Chemistry core at Caltech. For example, I was able to learn the basics of inorganic chemistry and ligand field theory applied to enzymes. While I haven’t taken inorganic chemistry at Caltech because I was intimidated by its distance from my interests, this class reframed this essential chemistry material in the context of proteins, making it much more accessible to me. Overall, I found the pace of the courses to highly emphasize self-study, and because there is more free time, I found many opportunities to delve into topics independently.

I also took two humanities/social sciences courses, which were Pre-modern East Asian History and Creating Edinburgh. Both classes were unique from anything that is offered at Caltech. Pre-modern East Asian History allowed me to engage critically with a central piece of my Chinese heritage that is not offered at Caltech. For my final project, I explored the historical role and critical accounts of women authors in medieval China and Japan.

Creating Edinburgh is a multimedia, interdisciplinary course that explores different aspects of the city through walking tours and discussions. I had very eye-opening experiences with the “Decolonising Edinburgh” topic, which discussed the history of slavery in Scotland. I found these perspectives to be profoundly different from those I was exposed to growing up in the US. I even attended the Minister’s Questions session in the Scottish Parliament, where I could glimpse into the structure of a multi-partisan government and the complex relationship between Scotland, the greater UK, and the EU. These experiences and discussions were deeply enriching for my understanding of European politics.

Next, student accommodation in Edinburgh was also a refreshing experience. We lived in Kincaid’s Court, a flat-based dorm with no meal plan. This was an excellent practice in managing my time and meals just like if I were living in my own apartment: all good experience for graduate school and beyond. My flat was very friendly and fun; I held a flat Thanksgiving dinner to introduce them to an American tradition. Speaking with and understanding the experiences of UK students, other study abroad students, and students of many majors has taken me far outside the Caltech bubble.

By far, the most fulfilling thing about my study abroad experience is living in a new city. Because of the relatively lighter workload, I got the chance to explore new and old hobbies such as hiking, climbing, and cooking. Every weekend I did something different: a day trip to Sterling Castle, window shopping on Princes Street, hiking in the Pentlands, walking along Portobello Beach, or even taking a trip to Isle of Skye. Scotland had so much to offer that I didn’t expect, and I loved the serene countryside and living in the heart of the old city, everything accessible by foot or bus. I always found the car-centric component of Los Angeles to be the limiting factor in my ability to explore. But in Edinburgh, I was always finding novel things to do every week, whether it was visiting a craft or farmers market next to Edinburgh Castle or finding an exclusive live music pub. Compared to Los Angeles and SoCal (of which I am a native), it was a literal breath of fresh air with low air pollution and frequent rains.

Studying abroad is very different from being at Caltech. I have highlighted some of the things that have been fun about being abroad, but not everything is easy. For example, I found it more difficult to find friends beyond my flat in the broader Edinburgh community. It is not typical to work together to create study groups in Edinburgh, and it took special effort to join clubs to find social groups. I’ve become grateful for the close-knit house community we have at Caltech, outfitted with constant social events, regular dinners, and house resources.

As I alluded to before, the lighter course load was a welcome reprieve at first, but I had to adjust to doing practice problems on my own without the pressure of grades to keep up with the material. Slacking off too much would lead to severe under-preparedness for the final exam in December. I felt that I learned better under constant feedback so that I understood my weaknesses in the material as the course progressed, over unsupervised learning with my grades only counting on one final. So in some crazy way, I also missed the learning style employed at Caltech - I found that you get what you put in, and the more effort I put into my learning, the more I would grow and thrive in my classes.

My six months away from Caltech were an adventure. The work-life balance I attained abroad not only increased the quantity of my new experiences but the enjoyment and excitement I brought to my studies and research. Living abroad and away from Caltech has also given me a much-needed perspective on my senior year: on the one hand, I’ve gained eye-opening experiences outside of the Los Angeles bubble, and on the other, I’ve learned to appreciate the community and curriculum that I have here. As I approach the end of my time at Caltech, I’ve been able to reflect on the things I’ve built in my community and my personal and academic growth. I have only gained this refreshed perspective on my time here due to my time away, and would highly recommend it to any Caltech student.