Chaitali Mandavia
Can you introduce yourself with your year, major, and hometown?
I am a junior currently studying Statistics and Economics and minoring in Data Science. I did my high school in New Jersey but I would say my hometown is still Mumbai, India so I am an international student.
How did you choose your majors and minor?
So I feel like I still haven't chosen them; I'm very conflicted because all three of them are very interesting. Statistics, Data Science, and Computer Science — they're quite interlinked in a lot of ways. So even though I'm graduating in one more semester in December 2021; even though that is the tentative plan and I might just switch again, I think more importantly it's because I really like working with numbers, that's why statistics interested me in the first place. That's why I chose Berkeley, because I wanted to do a Statistics major even before I entered Berkeley. I had taken a few classes at a summer college when I was in 10th grade. It was an introduction to statistics course and I really really liked it and so I was like, okay I want to major in this. And then I took a bunch of courses in high school in statistics and I enjoyed those as well and I was like, okay so this seems the right fit for me. Same with economics; I took an economics course as well. The only two courses I took were statistics and economics and I liked both of them so I was like, these two are my majors now. That was my plan before entering. Then I took classes in Berkeley; all the classes, especially in statistics, are super super interesting. They're really hardcore and they can get very intense, but I think the stuff you learn from it is super applicable to the real world, so that is why I went ahead with Statistics and Economics, because of my love for numbers and applications. As for Data Science, of course, coding. I took 61A, I liked the class, I took 61B, I took 70. I ended up taking all the CS classes and then I was like, okay I might as well minor in Data Science.
What are your professional interests and experience?
Currently, I have an internship lined up in econ consulting, so it actually involves a lot of data science, stats, and economics, so it is a very good culmination of whatever I've learned so far. I am also kind of interested in quant trading because again, it's statistics and economics, like a financial application of statistics, and I'm also slightly interested in data science. So more in the tech industry or the finance industry; those are my tentative plans.
What are your hobbies and interests?
I really like painting. I have a whole big painting set here and I make frequent trips to Michael's or, I mean there's no Hobby Lobby close by, but that's the store in India that we usually go to for any of those things. But yeah, I really like painting and I enjoy dancing as well. Those are my two biggest things, otherwise just Netflix and cooking, my recent new favorite hobby!
What is a fun fact about yourself?
This is a tough one. I've been scuba diving. I think that it is pretty fun; I don't know if that's a fun fact but I guess the fact that I've done scuba diving, parasailing, and a lot of water sport activities in a lot of nice places.
Are you involved in any other campus clubs and organizations?
Not really, I was briefly in AFX because I like dancing and I was very very briefly in UEA, the Undergraduate Economic Association, but I think the club I've been most involved with is SAAS, or SUSA, which is what it was called when I joined.
How did you find out about SAAS and why did you join?
So I actually applied my first semester freshman year. Because I knew I liked statistics so much I was like, okay I need to do more stats, and SUSA seemed like a great place because of the different committees that SUSA had at that point. Research and Publication is what I was most interested in back then because I had done a few research projects earlier, and I thought it was a great way to work on an independent research project and have good guidance on all of it. First semester I applied I didn't get in. Second semester freshman year I did apply again and I got into Research and Publication which was a pretty big thing for me. I really really enjoyed the committee so much that I applied to be a committee director, and I became a director the semester after that. I just really like the community and I really enjoy how everyone is super helpful and how SAAS allows everyone to explore whatever they want to do, especially with the committees. Like R&P, Education even, and now that we have Insights and Analytics, everyone can really use their skills in practical aspects. You're not just doing theory, you're not just learning in classes, you're actually applying the things, which is one big thing that SAAS really encourages people to do and that was something that really intrigued me. That's why I continued with SAAS. After R&P, I was in EVP for two semesters and then this semester I'm in DC, so quite a bit of jumping around, just trying to make the most out of the club and trying to see all the different committees.
What has your favorite committee been?
Okay that's a tough one; I'm gonna upset a lot of people. All right I can't say DC yet because it's only been two weeks since I started a project so I can't say DC — that is the only reason. Because I was the R&P director I guess I am attached to that committee because I was a director once and I did have a lot of fun. Of course, not saying I didn't have a lot of fun in all the other semesters, but also because it was an offline semester so it was actually a lot of fun to hold an in-person symposium. And we had in-person meetings, the good old days. So yeah I would say the semester when I was an R&P director.
What would you say your proudest accomplishment in SAAS is?
I feel like I've accomplished a lot because of SAAS. In SAAS I hope I have contributed a lot but my biggest accomplishment would just be even being able to guide a few people while I was a director. I think that was a pretty proud accomplishment for me because I was still quite young; it was my first semester sophomore year and I think I was the youngest director at that point. The other two people were also super helpful, the other two directors Nicole and Nickan, both were super super helpful. It was a new leadership position for me and just being able to use my skills and knowledge to help other people do things that they enjoy or research things that they enjoy was I think a pretty proud accomplishment for me.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced as an R&P director?
There were things that I didn't know fully because everyone was working on a variety of projects, so it's a very different skill set that everyone has that you have to cater to. That was a pretty big challenge as an R&P director because you were expected to help the people who would be working on projects using techniques that you might not necessarily know. But I think the greatest help was because of Nicole and Nickan, like they were pretty hands on at all points; they definitely helped me. You have to put in a lot of work in terms of coordinating with people and searching online, you also have to spend a lot of hours learning the stuff yourself, so you can help other people because obviously, you don't know everything. So I think that was the most challenging part. But I definitely would say that having all the members of the committee being super helpful, like they would understand and adhere to guidelines, adhere to deadlines, never had problems like that, that really helped. Everyone was very coordinated, so everyone would just help and we would all be working together.
How has SAAS helped you with your professional development?
In general, just in conversations with seniors in SUSA/SAAS who have graduated and current seniors, just normally talking to them, like them giving career advice during the internship cycle, during the recruitment cycle, them saying you should try this, you should write that, all of that has been super, super helpful. And R&P has been something that I've been able to talk about at my internship interviews. Same with EVP, just getting to know how to reach out to other people and sound professional. All of that is something EVP also really, really helped me with. Brian also helped me, like I had reached out to him for quant because I was interested in it, and he was super helpful. I think everyone in general in SAAS is like, anytime anyone asks for advice, everyone's always down, like, oh, let's just get you on a call really quickly. And let's just talk about it. In terms of that I feel like SAAS has a really great alumni network, and a very helpful senior class. Always. Every senior class has been super helpful so far, and so I hope to live up to that.
Of the three SAAS values of community, exploration, and mentorship, can you choose one and explain what it means to you?
I guess I would just go with community, right, because the way I would describe it is, it is what SAAS is for a lot of people, including me. So it just provides a way for all the people who like statistics to come together; you don't necessarily need to just be there sitting and solving problems all the time. It's just a way to express yourself, meet new people, get to know new people, build bonds. A lot of people get stressed about a lot of things, including me, and I was really stressed about the recruitment cycle, but just having a community that you can talk to and who can help you and tell you it will be fine, and in general just having a community that is willing to support you and help you throughout all the processes is something SAAS is for me. That's what it has done for me and I really appreciate that. So, that is something that is very important to me, and I think that is something I've very directly associated with SAAS. In fact, it's almost synonymous.
How did you meet and make friends with people in SAAS?
So offline, it was just going to committee meetings, to socials, like actually physically going there and getting to know people. As a director, again, going to director meetings, going through all those things. Online was a bit more difficult because everyone was in a different timezone. I was in India until two months ago and I just came back to Berkeley. So it was a bit more difficult because I couldn't attend a lot of things because of the time difference, but I did donutbots, which helped a lot, just getting to meet new people. Those one-on-one conversations also make it much easier to get to know the other person. The big-little program is also pretty cool. I got to meet my two littles last semester, and they were really, really sweet. I think one of them is a big now, so it's really nice to see that. So through all of these programs and of course, the socials, which sometimes I will be able to attend and sometimes not because of the time difference, there are so many ways that SAAS provides to just meet people. And they are ways to meet people at your own convenience; you set your own time and all of that, and houses, I think they're comparatively new, like when I was first in SUSA we didn't have it, and I think that is again, another good way of getting to know more people. So yeah, that has all helped and I can see that difference.
What is your favorite SAAS memory?
My favorite SAAS memory would probably be the symposium, because that was, I think that was the last semester we had in person. And then the semester after that, halfway through, we shifted to online. The Research Symposium, we had it at the MLK Student Union; there's a hall there where we kept it, and we also had a collaboration with DSS. I remember going to Costco, getting all the stuff for it, and preparing all the members for it and seeing all the members present their projects. Everyone appreciating them just made us all very proud. You know that we had a successful semester, and the members are happy, everyone else is happy with the work they're doing. I think that's one of my favorite memories so far.
What changes have you seen during your time in SAAS, and what is your personal vision for SAAS going forward?
I have definitely seen a lot of great improvements in SAAS since I joined. As I mentioned earlier, community is a big aspect, at least for me, that I associate us with, and everyone, like IVP, has been very involved in building on that aspect. And another thing, as I mentioned very early on in the call, is getting to encourage people to do what they want to do and letting them explore what they want to do. R&P has repeatedly done that, they're still very hands-on in terms of helping the members on their projects with whatever they want to do, whatever they want to explore, and any interest they have using statistics and numbers. They can definitely learn about new things and research new things. So in that aspect, I think SAAS has definitely come a long way, like we have a whole new committee now, we have Insights and Analytics. We have more socials and new forms of socials. We have houses which didn't exist before. So in terms of that, I think we have already come a long way, and I am sure everyone is working and everyone is putting in so much effort. SAAS has a lot of great things ahead of it in the future. And I know I might be graduating in a semester, so it's kind of sad, but I would obviously keep in touch and I'd love to see how it goes. I know that the future of SAAS, regardless of whatever happens, is that it holds a great community for everyone and a larger community in the future.
What is your favorite class?
I would say CS 188, Artificial Intelligence. Pretty cool class. It involves a lot of probability and of course coding. I took it with Professor Dragan, Anca Dragan was her name, and she's a great professor. She taught the class very very well. They taught throughout the entire class using Pac-Man as an example of how you would get the Pac-Man to work and how the ghost would move based on where the Pac-Man was going, or how to how to program the Pac-Man to find the best possible route to get the highest score, so I think that was a pretty cool class. It combined all the things that I like, you know, numbers and statistics and well, not economics so much. But most of the other things that I like into one class and into a very practical thing, being able to see my Pac-Man move and get the food. I think that would be my favorite class.
What is your favorite spot on campus?
I don't particularly go to the libraries because it's a weird thing, I don't like too much silence. So I can't go to a very silent place. The only library I've gone to properly to study is Moffitt, because that is the only place I can study in. But my favorite place actually would be just around the Glade area. In general, just by the Campanile, I think it's a very peaceful place. It could be really busy and fun when there's people just playing frisbee and there's dogs running. And it could be a really nice place to relax.
In your opinion, what are the prettiest and ugliest buildings on campus?
It could be the prettiest and the ugliest. I'd say Evans; I feel like it's the prettiest from the top floor. The view from there is pretty good if you go there, it's a very pretty view. But from outside, it's a pretty ugly building. So yeah, don't judge a book by its cover, that's what I would say. That's my two-in-one answer.
What is your favorite restaurant?
I have favorites for all kinds of cuisines. I don't have a favorite cuisine. I feel like for Indian food, I think it'd just be my own food, so I don't go to spend money at a restaurant. I think for Thai food, Imm Thai, definitely. In general, Imm Thai is pretty good. And then there's actually this really good Mediterranean place called Turkish Kitchen. They have really good falafel wraps. I think those two would be my two favorite restaurants.
What is your favorite Berkeley memory?
Oh my god there's so many. I'm going to cry. I can't even pinpoint one but I guess my favorite one might just be hanging out with all of my friends. So we live in the same building and our apartments are literally next to each other; it's kind of like Friends, next to each other, like on the same floor kind of situation. And I guess my favorite memory would just be times where I've gone in the middle of the night to campus and just sat at the Glade and just would talk and sing some songs. Of course I think that caused a lot of disutility to the people who were around at that time but I think that was one of my favorite memories.