Jeremy Min-Cheng Wu '21
Like many international students, the COVID-19 pandemic altered Jeremy Wu’s plans considerably. He left campus in March of 2020 to study remotely from his home in Taiwan, assuming he’d be back to campus by the following fall semester. As the 2020-2021 academic year started, he realized that he couldn’t make it back to the U.S.
“There’s pros and cons to studying from home,” he reflects. “You get to see your friends and family, but I can’t have a lot of the great college experiences that Syracuse offers.”
A two-time recipient of the Greater China Alumni Endowed Scholarship, Jeremy Wu ’21 continues to utilize all that Syracuse has to offer, whether on campus or remotely. This past year has brought him a great deal of academic and work experience despite having to stay in Taiwan.
Jeremy studies Economics at Syracuse knowing that it would provide a good foundation for where his career might take him. While on campus, he pursued Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies at the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. He remains interested in how to incorporate the function of the brain into his studies, and it was the opportunity to study very different disciplines that brought him to Syracuse in the first place.
In addition to his initial pursuits, Jeremy has also taken up Linguistics in the College of Arts & Sciences for which he will receive a minor. “I’m interested in the interplay between linguistic studies and applications for AI,” Jeremy notes, referring to commonly known technologies like Apple’s SIRI.
At this point in his studies, Jeremy is using his economic training and a renewed interest in statistics to pursue a career path in business analytics. He has recently held three internships for both U.S. and Taiwan-based entities, honing his skillset in that area. He hopes to return to Syracuse in the summer months, finish his degree, and then enroll in a master’s program in business analytics.
“I want to work in the U.S. for 5-10 years to learn as much as I can about busines analytics,” Jeremy explains, “and then return to Taiwan to start a business. This is where my friends and family are, but the field is not as advanced here yet.”
While Jeremy misses Syracuse, he is looking forward to returning to campus soon. At no point did Jeremy see the pandemic as a reason to slow down. Adding a minor, pursuing internships, and settling on a career path all made sense to him during these trying times. “Overall, studying from home has made me more disciplined and self-driven, which is a good thing.”