Q&A with a Tailored Student

Meet First-Year MSI Student: Licheng

Admitted As: Social Computing

Switched To: IAR/HCI

Is Now: Tailored

Why did you decide to tailor?

“Because I was trying to do User Research and there’s not an established specialization for that. HCI is a great foundation… but the problem, for me, is there is a lot of prerequisites and compulsory courses you have to take. Some of them are really useful, but I [have] a sociology background so there’s a lot of things I already know and I don’t want to take it again.”

What is the process to become tailored?

“Being tailored is actually quite easy… from the administrative process. But you do need to speak with a faculty to make sure tailor fits for you. I spoke with Kentaro. We explored my interests together and he offered me some courses. We realized that I want to do both quantitative and qualitative, which is not offered within SI. So I have to go beyond SI for some courses.”

Which departments are you taking these courses from?

“Some from sociology and psychology, some from data science, one from Ross [school of business], one from stats.”

Were they difficult to get into?

“Not that hard. Just make sure to show up in the first day. That’s how professors usually determine if you are interested in the class or not.”

So how did you choose Kentaro to speak to about tailoring?

“At orientation there are some professors presenting. Also I was at the campus visit last March where another 5-6 faculty members were talking about their research. I got to know many, but not all of them. I also searched on their websites. Kentaro is really smart. I believe if he was an SI student he would be tailored too. Because he was a Computer Science PHD and then now he’s doing interviews. There was a strong motivation for him to go beyond his disciplinary training, which is exactly what I am looking for. He seemed to be a perfect fit so I approached him."

Do you find it harder to connect with people in different specializations?

“It’s a common expectation. People think people group themselves into specialization and that’s how you get to know people. From my experience that’s actually not the case. It’s about classes. I actually feel more advantaged in terms of getting to know people because I’m taking classes from different specializations."

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?

“For the first semester, I was exploring the city and trying out restaurants. But now I’ve gotten tired of it. Because I was expecting a lot of Asian restaurants but it turned out to be not many here. So I have to go beyond… to Ypsilanti. [But] this semester I’ve been focused on finding an internship. ...I’ve been attending [on-campus] workshops outside of SI.”

Any parting words?
“Feel free to explore! The good thing is if you don’t feel satisfied with the tailor specialization, you can switch back.”