Summer Cohort Paved the Way for Dylan Hoffman’s Success
Dylan Hoffman started his college career with us at Summer Cohort and was a Focus Collegiate student throughout college. We spoke with him as he prepared to graduate with a degree in data science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Focus Collegiate: Congratulations on your upcoming graduation.
Dylan Hoffman: Thank you!
FC: Before you started school, you spent the summer with Focus Collegiate at Summer Cohort. Tell me about your experience.
DH: I had a great time. I was very close with my roommate and a few other people… I remember a trip we took to little island off Boston, it was a lot of fun. Living in Boston was a great experience for me. When I go back it feels familiar to me like I lived there.
FC: What was your experience like with Focus Collegiate in general?
DH: It was great. I worked with Amy and Brenda. I’ve been with Brenda for two and a half years. Sometimes I don’t need help when we meet, but it’s nice to have someone to talk to. Somebody I’m not related to, or somebody who is not a student. She gave me great study options and I learned a bunch of stuff. It was great. I would do it again if I could.
FC: What did you find most helpful?
DH: Learning how to schedule better. My time management skills were bad. I’ve been very fortunate to be quite capable when it comes to school – I could quickly do my work and did not have to manage my time, but when I got here, I had to do longer projects. In high school I’d finish a project in 30 minutes. In college, projects take six hours.
FC: Why did you choose WPI?
DH: I was looking for something where I thought I’d fit in and meet people. When I visited here, people seemed to be like me, playing Frisbee in the quad – that’s the vibe I like.
FC: Did it take you a while to get comfortable there?
DH: Not really. I stepped out of my comfort zone right away to meet a bunch of people. There is a month-long period [at the beginning of college] when people establish their friend groups. I met a ton of people early on. I adjusted pretty easily. I’m normally a very introverted person, but I knew that it would be harder to make friends the longer I waited.
Summer Cohort definitely helped. I found a lot of people at the Cohort who were more shy like me… it made me want to come out of my shell a bit more to talk to people and that made it easier to do the same at the start of college.
FC: Tell me about your transition to college. How did you gain your independence?
DH: Honestly, it was a lot easier than it was hard. I did a bit of boarding in high school, so it was not completely unfamiliar with living away from home. I was happy to have more time to do what I want. The only difficult thing was that my parents moved, and we were nowhere near each other. It was not a super hard adjustment, but if you get in an emergency, it can be hard, but I was very ready to be independent and living my own life, learning what makes it easy for me to learn, what my hobbies are… I got to decide what I wanted to do rather than being told.
FC: What was the most difficult part of your transition to college?
DH: Roommates. At the end of high school I looked into an app called ZeeMee an early orientation app, I got into group chats, but did not look into roommates and housing. I probably should have. I was in a suite with eight people and was roommates with two. We did not mesh well as roommates. We had different time schedules, different plans.
FC: What was the easiest part of your transition to college?
DH: I really liked the liberty you have with classes. When I was having a rough day, I could watch the lecture online, my teachers were not upset about that as long as I got the work done.
FC: How about making friends?
DH: It was relatively easy for me to make friends. I was the one reaching out to people, so they did not feel the pressure.
FC: What was your greatest challenge at school?
DH: My IQP (Interactive Qualifying Project)* we spent seven weeks abroad on a project. I had a cool time, but the project itself was awful, people wanted to completely redo it, we stayed up many nights working on it. I was excited to go to Ecuador, but not that excited about the project.
FC: If you were to do it all again, what if anything would you change about your college journey?
DH: Good question. I’m pretty satisfied with how things have gone. I probably would have spent more time going out with people. I went out a fair bit, but as I near the end [of my time at WPI] I wish I’d spent more time with people.
FC: What Advice would you give a new student today?
DH: If they’re nervous about making friends, put yourself out there. If you wait too long, it becomes a lot harder to make friends. If you’re introverted it’s harder to talk to three or four people than it is to talk to one.
In terms of academics, you just have to put your head down and get the work done.
FC: What are your plans after graduation?
DH: I have a job at Dell starting in June I’ll still be in the Worcester area. My job is near here. I’ll be a data analyst.
FC: How did you get the gig?
DH: I did an internship at Dell last year and they asked for me to come back. I’m sad to be leaving college. It’s nice to be in a position to make some real money and I’m excited for new beginnings, but I will miss school.
*The Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP) is a nine-credit-hour requirement involving students working in teams, with students not in their major, to tackle an issue that relates science, engineering, and technology to society. “Students experience of working in interdisciplinary teams to solve a problem or need that lies at the intersection of science and society.” From the WPI website.