Arnold, Meg

"I was going to do math first," said Meg Arnold.  "I came in as both math and computer science.  I took a computer science class in high school but didn't think it was something I was going to pursue.  But I like computer science classes.  I still use math-oriented logic skills and I still like the theory, but I like the practicality and applicability of computer science.  Mesh it with something medical down the road or something artsy down the road."

Meg, a self-described military brat, finished high school in Chittenango, N.Y., following stints in North Dakota, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Colorado.  Why UB? That's easy.  "Cost."  When she and her dad visited CSE's open house, Nick Di Rienzo (CS BS '15) gave a talk about his experiences at Google, first as an intern and then as a new hire.  Meg's dad was sold: "UB is the cheapest school you applied to and all these kids have all these opportunities."  "So I decided to stick it out with computer science," Meg continued.  "But they do have the math department here.  You can do literally whatever you want.  I wasn't 100% sure what I wanted to do and the open house enlightened me."

In her years in CSE, Meg has added practically every student leadership role to her CV: UB ACM Chapter President.  Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA) for Carl Alphonce and later for Atri Rudra.  CSE Student Advisory Board Chair.  TechSavvy volunteer.  Student Association fundraiser.  Open house presenter.  UB Hacking '16 co-director, with Sanjee Choudhery: "We've always gotten more people every year.  I wanted to make sure we continued that.  We had at least 350 or 400 this year.  And we had Indian food, Chinese food, not just pizza."

Meg has a job lined up at Bloomberg in New York City.  She'll start apartment shopping the day after graduation.  "All my friends are there, and they all work at Bloomberg," she said.