For these three friends from Leverett House, what comes next will be bittersweet since it means parting ways.
Bernstein, who’s from Chicago, is heading to the University of California, Berkeley, to study physics in the graduate program there. She is thinking about pursuing physics, which was her concentration, as a lifelong endeavor. “It’s hard to say right now but I would really like to pursue a career in academia, be a professor, and continue doing research in some way,” she said.
San Francisco native Haas-Kogan will be staying in the Boston area as a research assistant at the Center for Health Equity, Education, and Research at Boston Medical Center. Her line of research will focus on women’s health care and infant mortality. “This will be a good test if this is what I actually want to do with my life,” said Haas-Kogan, who concentrated in the history of science and global health and health policy.
Medina, whose family lives in Los Angeles, landed a data-analytics consulting gig for FTI Consulting in Washington, D.C. She is excited about the constant change the job will bring. “It feels like I kind of get to push committing to one thing off by a few more years, [because] every three to six months I’m on a new case doing something entirely different,” said Medina, who concentrated in applied mathematics. “That was actually kind of the charm of consulting. I don’t really know yet [what I want to do], so I’m excited to try a bunch of different sectors and then hopefully from there I will be able to narrow down exactly where I want to end up building my career.”
While the three are happy for one another and plan to keep in touch, they know things won’t be the same.
“I think we’re definitely all feeling a little sentimental and nostalgic,” Bernstein said.
“It’s sad to leave our friends,” Medina added.
That’s why they are curious about their classmates’ future plans. “I think that Harvard brings together a really interesting mix of people who have different interests and are off to do cool things,” Haas-Kogan said.