“After I graduated from South San Francisco High School, I wanted to attend CSM so that I could sharpen my fundamentals and learn how to be a good student,” says Divi Kumar, a CSM alumnus. “I didn’t have the opportunity to attend a four-year university straight out of high school, so I decided that I would transfer instead.”

Once he enrolled in courses at CSM, Divi quickly immersed himself into campus life. He got involved with on-campus organizations during his first semester, such as Phi Theta Kappa, the Student Ambassador Program and the Honors Project. “I enjoyed being involved with all of these organizations because they helped me grow as a student and provided more opportunities outside of academics.” Divi took advantage of academic resources and facilities, such as the Learning Center, and later worked as a physics and calculus tutor, to add to his list of extracurricular activities. 

Given Divi’s flair for math and science, he had originally intended on majoring in aerospace engineering. However, after wrapping up an internship at UC Berkeley, Divi had a change of heart. He made the decision to switch from aerospace engineering to electrical engineering. “I learned a lot while interning for the electrical engineering and computer science department at UC Berkeley. The subject matter really captivated me and that’s when I knew that I wanted to pursue an electrical engineering degree.”

Divi’s experience with UC Berkeley’s electrical engineering department inspired him to apply for admission into their program. He took advantage of his CSM professors’ office hours and the on-campus transfer fairs, which helped him better understand the transfer process. Now in his junior year at UC Berkeley, Divi is majoring in engineering and hopes to become an engineer after graduating.