Sasha Yousefi is an accomplished St. Margaret’s Class of 2016 alum currently earning her Research Masters in Statistics and Data Science at Stanford University. She loves exercising, going to the beach with her friends, and is a self-proclaimed “foodie” who likes to try new foods at local restaurants. Above all, Sasha loves helping people. Sasha wanted to be a doctor to help people when began her college education at the University of California, Berkeley, on the pre-med track. However, Sasha’s plans changed, and she ended up becoming a double major in Data Science and Molecular and Cell Biology with a focus in Genetics. She had never taken programming courses before college but fell in love with coding after taking a few Computer Science classes at Berkeley. When Sasha was in high school at St. Margaret’s, she volunteered for both Breakthrough SJC and Special Camp for Special Kids, where she got to interact with students that she would not normally have had the opportunity to meet. For this reason, Sasha always wanted to go to a big school (like UC Berkeley, with an undergraduate population of just over 30,000 students) where she would be exposed to a more diverse group of people than if she attended a smaller school.
One of her favorite experiences at UC Berkeley was getting to be a TA (teaching assistant) for one of the Data Science classes. She got to create and grade homework, which she enjoyed being on the “other side” of the teaching experience. She also liked how she could choose the algorithms that she thought were the most interesting and applicable to teach her students. After graduating from UC Berkeley, Sasha applied her education to analyze massive amounts of genetic data with machine learning during an internship at the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. There, her research focused on identifying genes correlated with mental health issues and suicidal behavior alongside professional researchers. Targeting these genes allows scientists to devise new gene therapies and treatments to help patients by minimizing the negative impacts of disease-causing genes. Sasha really enjoyed this work because she felt like she was “really making a big difference and impact” in people’s lives, which is very important to her. Although Sasha says she would still be a doctor, she hopes to continue working at the intersection of computer science and health tech. So far, she has applied to 15 potential New York companies for job and internship opportunities this summer.
To get to this point, Sasha was a straight-A student, an AP Scholar, and a Cum Laude Society inductee in high school. She also played piano and volunteered in her community. Looking back, Sasha would have told herself to always “get ahead on schoolwork and not procrastinate,” because “you will wake up feeling happier and more relaxed.” She warns that while some students get away with procrastinating in high school, that behavior “will not work out in college,” because there is much more work. She says that the classes at Berkeley and Stanford have been equally difficult, and that you really have to work hard for your grades. Sasha has also realized that everyone takes different amounts of time to learn new material, and she encourages students to “accept their limits and embrace their strengths” and not worry about what everyone else is doing. Sasha emphasizes how much you need to figure out your unique limits on how much you can procrastinate, go out, or study, to still have a balanced life in college: a healthy mix of sleeping, studying, and socializing.
Sasha still remembers reading Huckleberry Finn, Moby-Dick, and says that Mrs. O’Shea is on her list for the “Top 5 smartest people Sasha has ever met.” She also remembers how supportive and helpful her parents were. She would have told her high school self to listen to her parents more, because they are “so wise, so special and know so much.” After all, “your parents only want the best for you, and, even though their opinion might not be the most popular… they are right 99% of the time!” In college, Sasha says that “you will miss your parents” because, especially at a big college, no one will be holding your hand every step of the way, making sure you go to sleep and get to class. As such, college is an important time to develop more self-responsibility and grit! It is also a time to make new friends and meet people that are different from you. Sasha highlights the importance of picking friends that you can naturally get along with, people who compliment you, make you happy, and share your values, instead of worrying about their popularity or interests. She insists that the people you spend time with, since you won’t be home with your parents, will shape your college experience.
Thank you, Sasha, for interviewing with The Margazine! Our subscribers really appreciate your advice and insight.
Readers: ‘Like’ this article if you would like to see more Alumni Answers articles in the future! <3
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Comments