University Offers: Mark Lohatepanont, Swarthmore College

Congratulations to Mark who received offers from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and Swarthmore College. He will be studying Mechanical Engineering at Swarthmore College.

“I wanted to attend Swarthmore so I applied Early Decision. While Swarthmore is a small Liberal Arts college, it still has a strong Engineering programme. I like the atmosphere of a liberal arts college more than a traditional university because I feel it gives a more personalised and focused education than bigger schools.”

“Through IGCSE and IB I was able to experience both physical and software implementations of a product through Design+ Technology and Computer Science courses. This gave me an understanding of how products in the real world are developed. I chose to study the production side of development, which refers to the physical design of a product because I felt that I had a stronger affinity to it. However, at the same time, I also want to understand the software implementation so that a product design cycle is smoother.”

“Doing an internship and participating in volunteer work and DofE really helped to strengthen my application. Over the summer holidays of 2019, I interned at a technology firm, SkyViv, to help design software to identify good and bad crops. This internship gave me a perspective of what the industry I hope to work for was like and further helped strengthen my resolve to major in Mechanical Engineering. Volunteer work like Thongbai Daycare where I worked hands-on with children for two years developed a more empathetic side of me to complement my academic record. Finally, the DofE programme was the core that helped tie the rest of my extra-curriculum together and allowed me to develop my teamwork, leadership, and time management skills.”