Annie Rong, University of Illinois

Degree: B.S. in Computer Science

How did the Stamps Scholarship help shape your undergraduate experience?
It gave me an incredible amount of resources to pursue something I knew nothing about! It also gave me the confidence to pursue tough classes and time to focus on extracurriculars.

Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your freshman self?
Care less about grades and more about learning. This was something that clicked for me sometime early junior year, and I really wish I had known how much more rewarding it is coming into college.

Who has had the greatest impact on you throughout your college career and how so?
The people I’ve met in the CS department have had the greatest impact. Some of these people are crazy brilliant–they come up with absolutely incredible ideas and will sacrifice an unbelievable amount to see their ideas come to fruition. I’ve met individuals who have designed their own algorithms; others who have made thousands selling apps. Some will pull consecutive all nighters to finish a project and others will drop out of school to pursue a dream.

Please share your most memorable Stamps Scholar experience.
Definitely the conventions! I attended both the one in Michigan and in Georgia. Both had terrific workshops and awesome speakers! Plus, I got to visit and explore different places I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise!

Plans after graduation?
I start my career as a Software Engineer at Google, working on their Cloud Developer Platform. I’m also planning to travel a bit, visit my friends abroad in Europe and my family in China.