We are pleased to announce our October 2020 alumna of the month is Sonia Kopel, a 2018 graduate of the Master of Science in Mathematical Sciences. Currently, Sonia is the Vice President of Counterparty Credit Risk at Citibank in New York City.
Sonia attended the College of Charleston for both her undergraduate and graduate degrees, taking advantage of the 4 + 1 programs that we offer. A 4 + 1 program allows an undergraduate student to begin graduate course work during their fourth year, resulting in only one additional year of graduate school in order to complete the degree. So, a student can complete their undergraduate and graduate degrees in only five years time.
Sonia earned her bachelor degree in data science and perfectly paired that degree with a master’s in Mathematical Sciences. This winning combination opened endless opportunities professionally, and Sonia decided to pursue the in-demand industry of data science, an industry that typically requires an advanced degree.
Sonia is thoroughly enjoying her role at Citibank, as she gets to spend most of her day doing what she likes – coding. On a daily basis, she is putting to use the math and skills she learned while pursuing her degree. We could continue to detail Sonia’s career for you, but we think we’ll leave that up to Sonia:
CofC Alumni on Careers in Mathematics: Sonia Kopel from College of Charleston.
When asked if Sonia had any advice for current students to maximize the educational experience of an advanced degree, she had a few stellar tips:
- Build a good network
- Do research, get an internship (ideally both) as early as possible
- Take some classes you are actually interested in
- Don’t take it personally when you apply to over 100 jobs and only head back from 3
Keep up the great work, Sonia!
