Ellis Cho
What is your year, major, pronouns, and hometown?
I am a junior graduating in Fall 2021. I am majoring in Statistics. My pronouns are he/him. I am from Northbrook, IL which is a suburb of Chicago.
Why/how did you choose Statistics?
I actually came into Berkeley intending Data Science because that was something I knew I was interested in since I did AP Statistics in senior year and I actually really liked it, and at the time Data Science was a brand new L&S major so it had a lot of hype. I completed most of the Data Science prereqs, but once I went through the CS prereqs, I realized it just wasn't for me. I eventually realized that Data Science inherently involves a deep understanding of algorithms and coding, which didn't really interest me. I decided to switch directions to go to Statistics, because at the time I had already taken Stat 140, and even though it's a really hard class, I actually really enjoyed learning the material and put a lot of effort into that class. I decided that maybe Statistics will be a more appropriate major. That's kind of how I declared Statistics, and the rest is history. I have just been taking my electives since then. I really enjoy it.
Fun Fact?
I have two tattoos. One is a bass clef symbol on my wrist and the other is the V.F.D. eye insignia from A Series of Unfortunate Events on my ankle.
What are your hobbies/interests?
I like playing the cello and have done so in live productions! I also enjoy Netflix documentaries. I've been walking a lot and have recently gotten into cooking, since I feel that it's a good life skill! I have also been doing jump rope workouts for cardio.
What are your professional interests and experience?
I'm involved in a consulting club, Berkeley ABA, which I've done a few consulting projects for and I would talk about those experiences in actual professional internship interviews. Last summer in 2020, I was meant to intern as a marketing analytics intern at a SaaS company called Ping Identity in Denver. I was really excited about it, but because of the turnaround due to the pandemic, the position had to be canceled, which was understandable but obviously a disappointment too. Instead, I ended up interning for a Berkeley SkyDeck startup called SpacePlace, which was a great experience since it was a team of Haas MBA students and I got a lot of great mentorship. They essentially brought me in to research and analyze the data to see trends and how people are traveling due to COVID and whether there were any new travel behaviors that could be leveraged for their business. My goal was to help them see these trends and be able to use these larger market developments for the sake of their startup, since they were really early stage and were still looking for seed funding. This summer I will be a Risk & Regulatory Consulting Summer Associate at PwC in L.A. and will be working in their Data & Technology practice. In this internship I'll be using analytics and data to work with clients when they're implementing new technologies and analyze potential risks of including these new technologies in their business.
Other campus involvements?
I am also doing research for the Berkeley School of Law! I am helping a Ph.D. student analyze advancement prospects by gender in law firms. It's super interesting, since most of the data is categorical, as opposed to mostly numerical data in my other experiences.
How did you find out about SAAS? Why did you join SAAS?
I found out walking through Sproul the fall semester of my freshman year. I don't know if he remembers, but I was actually flyered by Lucas! The club just sounded really interesting, because at the time I knew I was interested in Data Science or Statistics. It seemed like a great opportunity since I didn't know that much about the field, but wanted to learn more.
Favorite SAAS committee you've been in and why?
My favorite SAAS committee was Education. At the time the Education Director was Andrew Rall, and he was a really great director and leader. When we had to write lectures and plan lectures for CX, he was really great at delegating tasks and organizing everything. It was also a really great opportunity to get teaching experience because I think that if you teach subjects you're really passionate about and interested in, it feels really good and makes you happy. Also, at the time, I had really good friends in the Education Committee like Jessica and Joyce. That committee was definitely a highlight of my six semesters in SAAS so far.
Favorite SAAS memory?
Definitely Spring 2019 retreat, which was such a chaotic mess. Some people's cars got lost so we couldn't meet up and we were all in the mountains too, so it's not like we could message each other. People made fun of Adish because his car got stuck in the mud and they had to get rescued by a bunch of birdwatchers, though I wasn't in that car. We had meant to go on a hike, but because of all this chaos we ended up just going to a KFC. So it was just a big chaotic mess, but it was really a moment that you kind of look back on and laugh at. I really enjoyed being in a car with older people who had done a lot for SAAS and that I was great friends with!
What is your favorite SAAS value and what does it mean to you?
Exploration is my favorite for SAAS value for sure. I committee-hopped a bunch. Through SAAS, I got to explore more technical committees, such as Education and Data Consulting. I also got to experience more social or community oriented committees, such as IVP and EVP. I think the mentorship helped a lot, since I got to learn from so many different people. There are a lot of people willing to share their experience and knowledge with people who have questions and are new. I'm really happy to see that SAAS has made that more formally integrated into its community values.
Favorite class and professor?
Martha Olney for Econ 1! She is very approachable and easy to talk to. She cracks jokes and is very knowledgeable at what she does. You can tell that she is clearly invested in the students learning the material. This was my first ever Econ class and she was super effective at presenting the material. You could tell she put her students first over everything else. In fact, after that class I thought I wanted to major in Econ, but I soon realized after taking another Econ class that I don't actually like Econ, I just like Professor Olney.
Favorite place to study on campus?
My favorite spot on campus is Stanley Hall. If you take a few flights of stairs up, there's a balcony at the top of the building with three or four tables and it's a really beautiful place to study with a lot of natural light. It's pretty peaceful and you can see a lot of people walking below on the ground floor. That was one of my favorite study spots that I had recently discovered before COVID.
Favorite library on campus?
The East Asian Library. Super quiet and beautiful on the inside and outside. Unfortunately, there are not a ton of study spaces. The place I spent most of my time was Moffitt, but if I had it my way, I would have spent most of my time in the East Asian Library if it had more seat availability.
Favorite boba shop?
Asha Tea House! My favorite thing to get from Asha was always the matcha latte and they have fruit purees that change seasonally, like strawberry, peach, lychee, or lavender. A lesser known one is Alley Kitchens, which is more of a restaurant, but their matcha latte with white mochi boba was amazing because the offering is super unique. The white mochi boba isn't really offered anywhere else but it's a huge gamechanger.