Elaine Jingyu

Passionate about math and logic, I chose HKUST School of Science after graduating from high school, and joined the Debating Society where I had a precious memory of two years’ sparkling experience. For me, who was a freshman at that moment, the intelligence and rationality I pursued were something lying in the math formulas manipulated on scratch paper and the heated discussion in a debating game. 

Thanks to the flexible curriculum design of the undergraduate program, I had a chance to explore freely in courses offered from any subject in the first year before deciding on my major. From international law to microeconomics, from psychology to corporate finance, I was ushered into a wider world under a liberal education. 

That’s also when I came across programming, a whole new territory for me where logic exists besides math reasoning and debating eloquence. Moreover, the unique charm of engineering resides in the fact that there is an inextricable link to the real world and infinite possibilities to transform abstract knowledge into application. I found myself so inspired by the idea of making “visible change” to the world, and finally decided to choose the joint-school program offered by SSCI and SENG: Data Science and Technology as my major.

I’m glad to join the HKUST engineering community and become an engineering student ambassador (ESA). If there’s only one thing I may highlight from my experience, it would be: HKUST is really an inspiring and welcoming community that encourages us to keep digging into ourselves and explore our passion. Be brave and give it a try.