Senior Profile: Samantha John, SEAS

When asked about her peculiar choice of studies, Samantha John, a senior in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences majoring in applied mathematics and minoring in English, calls them “actually complementary.”

John, who has also been active outside of the classroom as president of the Activities Board at Columbia, said that reading for her English classes provided a “nice break” from problem sets.

“Sam has an amazing ability to learn. ... Whenever she wants to learn more about something or pick up a new skill, she will do it, and she will learn it better and faster than anyone I have ever seen,” said Kim Manis, SEAS ’09 and a close friend and colleague of John’s on the Engineering Student Council.

But John did not always plan to go into engineering. “I really didn’t know what I wanted to do in high school,” John said. “I was good at math and science. So, I decided, let’s see what this engineering thing is all about.”

Once she chose to attend SEAS—a decision based on wanting to study the Core Curriculum and her experience at Days on Campus—it took her some time to “learn what engineering meant,” she said. “I kind of just stumbled upon applied math. I was considering a lot of majors. And, I think I just enjoyed my math classes the most.”

Using yet another part of her brain, John served as a class representative for ESC during her first three years at SEAS. Despite ending her formal involvement this year, she continued to work on a council project, advocating for a change in the pass/D/fail policy for SEAS, which is the only undergraduate school at Columbia not to have a pass/D/fail option in place.

John has also served for three years on ABC, a governing board that allocates funds to student groups, where she concerned herself “with all the clubs and having a picture of campus life.”
During her summers, she has researched in Columbia’s medical school, and participated in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program in Hong Kong while conducting research in numerical analysis.

Next year, John plans to work in New York for an Internet company called LinkShare for two years before probably heading back to school to get a doctorate in a mathematics-related field.
“She is always ready for an adventure,” Manis said. “Whether it was competing in CUAssassins and hunting down her target, or running around New York City for the campus wide scavenger hunt, CUSearch, once Samantha sets her mind to something, there is no turning back.”