Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Studentinterview2 Kylelindeman
Studentinterview2 Kylelindeman
EDPS 105
McCan
10 October 2020
Student Interview
1. Another student I chose to interview on September 30th was Robbie Beeler, who is a 5th
Due to personal preference, my interviewee has told me to use his google email instead of
decided to transfer before senior year from his former major, which was chemical
engineering. The backstory as to why he decided to make that change was because prior
to making the official change, he expressed heavy disinterest and no longer having fun in
chemical engineering all together, and this is coming from a man who also said that he
has a blast doing chemistry classes. He pointed to the reason for this change being he
wanted to use his love for chemistry and choose a career path that would entitle more
application of new ideas. In addition, he also loves the idea of nature around him and
wants to be in a career that he not only likes but is up and coming in terms of popularity.
3. When being addressed on what classes are normally like, Beeler described the size of
classes truly being dependent on the class you take, placing a wildcard factor into this
major given how much it can vary. He was certain however in how the classes were
constructed and the type they were. Almost all the classes he took were book, theory, lab,
and recitation based early in the major. As you are further down the road in this major,
Beeler asserted that there are more lecture-based classes as opposed to labs and
recitations.
4. Beeler quickly pointed to organic chemistry as his favorite class. His reasoning behind
such a decision was because it came naturally to him from the moment he enrolled and it
made the most sense to him, making stress less of a trouble for this class. He expressed
how fun he had when doing labs for that class and how his enjoyment for chemistry
5. In terms of his least favorite class however, Beeler sounded disgusted when talking about
the class is only theory-based, the concepts were difficult for him to get a grasp on and
defining systems in this class made it tough conceptually. The math in that class
combined with all these factors was the kiss of death in terms of what made this class
hard for him. So much so, it took him 2 semesters for him to complete the course and was
quick to point out that he would not take that class again.
6. When boiling down the core abilities and skills a student needs to be good in this major,
Beeler was confident and found the main ones easy to identify based off his years of
experience. The first skill he emphasized was the need for good time-management skills.
He was not vague however in his description, because he specifically pointed to the
things you can do every moment to make the most out of your time being the best asset
for a student moving forward in college. The second core skill is the need for resilience,
because Beeler was blunt when saying the classes in this major will not be a cakewalk for
anyone, regardless how smart or interested you are. A key takeaway that really stuck to
me was that he told me not to worry about my exam scores that much like a high school
student should. He said that if you do the work and show that you care about a class, you
will be perfectly okay. He also warned to not treat college learning like high school
because philosophies of how to do things in high school do not work very well in a
college setting. Finally, the third skill Beeler stressed was the need for good problem-
solving ability. In particular, he stressed the need to think outside the box for the sake of
being in a major such as engineering and expressing creative solution ideas in to reach
the goals and products a student may strive and work for.
7. Beeler’s projected plans after his graduation is to start up a new business in the field of
environmental ecology and he does not have plans to go to grad school after graduating.
Beeler said that graduate school in this major is not at all common unless you are going
to use this major in a setting of law. When discussing the type of careers that can come
from this major, he identified the headline careers into two separate classes, traditional
and industrial. Traditional careers consist of wastewater treatment engineer, air quality
emission engineer, soil engineer, and landfill engineer. Industrial careers on the other
hand consist of being an enforcer of environmental policy, assessing ISO standards, and a
life-cycle engineer (LCE) among others. There is variety of careers that can come out
8. When Beeler was asked about what extracurricular activities are available for students
the amount of student organizations there are on campus and joining the vast amounts of
clubs there are on campus. Examples of such clubs and organizations he describes stem
the valuable experience you can extract from an internship in this field of study. Beeler
personally applied for an internship that is related to this major and was quite content and
gratified when talking about how much he learned from working in a position that is tied
9. When asking Beeler about his major change from chemical engineering to EEE, my
personal question brought out the importance of money to him in all the steps to get him
to where he is. He smirked and simply said that projected money should not be the
primary catalyst towards deciding a major. Beeler himself dealt with this scenario; he
chose chemical engineering before freshman year at Purdue because he saw that chemical
engineers at the time of him being a freshman make $70,000 as a starting salary after
college. He slowly realized that the decision to pursue chemical engineering was not a
smart decision because it was not what he truly wanted to do for his whole life. Beeler
asserted that his desire to want to have fun in what he does for a living outweighed his
desire for money during his junior year, which prompted him to make the change that he
felt was best for his future. He summarized his thought to just a simple point, money you
will make should be not be the number one factor to consider when deciding, because
you do not want to be miserable for however long you plan to work. He provided more
wisdom further by saying a college degree will get you at minimum at $45,000 annual
earnings as compared to a high school degree job would, around $30,000. To this day,
Beeler believes his decision to choose joy over money has worked out in his favor and
think will prove to be meaningful. Even if I do not see myself pursuing a major in this
field like I use to, I still think his wisdom in general was worth doing an interview. First,
he has given me a student’s perspective on how to look at a career and debunks my habit
of prioritizing projected money and told me that money should not at all be the main
reason to choose a major. I also learned from this interview that it is okay to change, it
will not be seen as a failure and you just have to know what is best for you for the sake of
your happy future after college. He had to take a class twice and he is still going to
graduate so failing a class is not the end of the world. After my interview will Beeler, I
personally believe I can use the advice he gave me and tactically make decisions with
more comfortability and not feel terrible about a class if I just put in the work needed to
succeed whilst showing initiative to do good as well. Even if the major Beeler is in may
not be the one I choose to pursue, I think his advice about how to decide a major and how
to handle myself when push comes to shove will be powerful enough to push me forward
in the right direction. This interview was a success, and I am happy with the information