Subhan Ali

Getting a PhD was never a part of the plan. I came to Stanford to get a 9 month Master’s Degree. One month after starting, the largest financial crisis of my life started to play out. Not long after that, I was looking at a job market that was significantly harder than the one I had faced just 2 years earlier when I finished college. I didn’t know that PhD students were paid to for the research they did. So all of a sudden getting a PhD at Stanford looked like a pretty good option when compared… Show more

Getting a PhD was never a part of the plan. I came to Stanford to get a 9 month Master’s Degree. One month after starting, the largest financial crisis of my life started to play out. Not long after that, I was looking at a job market that was significantly harder than the one I had faced just 2 years earlier when I finished college. I didn’t know that PhD students were paid to for the research they did. So all of a sudden getting a PhD at Stanford looked like a pretty good option when compared to being unemployed for an unforeseeable duration. A professor whose class I had taken in my first quarter offered me a chance to get a Stanford PhD. I liked his research. I liked him and I liked Stanford. So I figured this deviation to get a PhD from my dream school would be a worthy endeavor. I’m still not sure if I made the right decision, but I know I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the farm and look back on those years with great fondness and immense growth. Show less

This turned out to be my mini MBA experience from my graduate years at Stanford. Met an incredible cadre of other grad students and working professionals. Developed and fleshed out an idea for energy efficiency with a team of 5 other participants. If I ever wanted to start a business one day, the skills I learned here would probably be valuable. Let’s see!

Students applying to the UC system have to pick a major upon applying. I liked math and physics so I figured engineering was the field for me. But you can’t just get a degree in “engineering”. You actually have to pick a specific field of engineering. I narrowed down the choice to civil engineering and electrical engineering. My dad was a Civil Engineer and had his own geotechnical engineering firm. There was a future where I could take over his firm. So I figured I’d go the civil engineering… Show more

Students applying to the UC system have to pick a major upon applying. I liked math and physics so I figured engineering was the field for me. But you can’t just get a degree in “engineering”. You actually have to pick a specific field of engineering. I narrowed down the choice to civil engineering and electrical engineering. My dad was a Civil Engineer and had his own geotechnical engineering firm. There was a future where I could take over his firm. So I figured I’d go the civil engineering path. During my 3rd year of college, I took my first geotechnical engineering course and realized that I hated it. There goes the dream of following in my dad’s footsteps. I ended up focusing on structural engineering as it had a high degree of physics and math all over it. I enjoyed it and it sharpened and accentuated my innate analytical abilities. And so I finished college having become a Structural Engineer! Time to go design the biggest, best buildings in the world (or so I thought). Show less