Learning through experience

Guenevere Chang, Class of 2023

I knew I wanted to study business and computer science in college, but many of the schools I looked at only offered standalone majors. Washington University’s Bachelor of Science in Business and Computer Science (BUCS) joint degree program was different. The partnership between Olin Business School and the McKelvey School of Engineering integrated the two fields in dynamic ways that appealed to me.

Portrait photo of Guenevere Chang

I was thrilled to be admitted to WashU and the BUCS program and even more so when I learned I had received a scholarship. My scholarship felt like WashU’s way of setting me up for success now and after I graduate.

WashU’s collaborative, experiential learning culture was a big draw for me, and my time here over the past three years has more than measured up. The faculty is terrific, but I gain just as much insight from working with my peers in and out of the classroom. I have also met incredible mentors as a participant in the business school’s Pam Kendall-Rijos Women’s Mentor Program and through two summer internships with Mastercard.

Outside of my degree program, I am pursuing a minor in Korean language and culture through the College of Arts & Sciences. Although I am Korean, I didn’t really know the Korean language well. I came to the university hoping to improve my fluency. This coursework has helped deepen my ties with my family and find a community outside of my business and computer science classes.

The experiences I have had at WashU have changed me. I’ve grown academically, of course, but also socially, emotionally, and spiritually. The opportunity to explore and discover who I am is a gift—one I would not have had without my scholarship—and I am incredibly grateful.