A day in the life: Maggie Lo '27
We followed mechanical engineering student Maggie Lo '27, as she powered through four classes, fabricated components for Yale's Formula SAE race car team, and led a board meeting for a student culture club she helps run.
Name: Maggie Lo
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
This timeline represents a typical Monday/Wednesday in Maggie’s week this semester. She is really intentional with her time, and it shows in the quality of her work, and that she also has time to give to other things that she cares about. If she could talk to her high-school self, she’d say this: Yale is full of opportunity, but growth comes from leaning in—asking questions, joining teams, and making time for both ambition and well-being. Because at the end of the day, being an engineer isn’t just about the work. It’s about building—skills yes, but more importantly community, the very thing that engineers are meant to serve.
8:00 AM — Wake Up
First things first: breakfast — yogurt, peanut butter, and granola at home before heading out. It’s a small routine that helps her feel grounded before a packed day of classes and hands-on engineering.
9:00 AM — Class 1: Heat Transfer
Her academic day begins with Heat Transfer, a core mechanical engineering course. Whether it’s conduction through solids or convection in fluids, the class pushes Maggie to think about how energy moves through the physical world — concepts that show up everywhere from engines to the human body.
10:30 AM — Class 2: The Rise of China
Next is a favorite: a storytelling-focused course on the rise of China. As an engineer, Maggie loves stepping into a humanities classroom where discussion, narrative, and global context take center stage.
11:35 AM — Class 3: Thermodynamics, Kinetics & Structure of Materials
Late morning brings a graduate-level mechanical engineering elective with Professor Jan Schroers, whose research Maggie was involved with during a past summer. Building on a materials course she took last semester, this class connects atomic-scale structure to real-world mechanical behavior — why materials bend, break, or withstand extreme environments.
1:00 PM — Class 4: Mechatronics Lab
After a quick lap around the building, Maggie heads right back into the same classroom for Mechatronics Lab, a MechE ABET requirement. Here, coding meets circuits meets mechanics. Whether she’s wiring sensors or troubleshooting a control system, this is where theory turns into moving, blinking, buzzing reality.
2:30 PM — Lunch with the MechE Crew
Lunch is a daily highlight. Maggie meets up with close friends from the mechanical engineering cohort — a tight-knit group of about 30–40 students who take many of the same classes together. Conversations jump from problem sets to weekend plans, reinforcing the sense that engineering at Yale is deeply collaborative, not competitive.
3:30 PM — Gym Break
Before the evening rush, Maggie usually fits in a workout at PWG — a great reset before diving back into work.
5:45 PM — Dinner
Dinner is often with her sorority family, a chance to catch up with friends from different majors and parts of campus life.
7:00–9:00 PM — Yale Bulldogs Racing (BDR)
Two nights a week, Maggie is in the shop. As Suspension and Manufacturing Lead for Yale’s Formula SAE team, she helps design and build components for a student-engineered race car. Her work involves machining, welding, grinding, and hands-on fabrication—whatever the car needs that day.
She collaborates closely with her co-lead, Michael McClammy, and mentors underclassmen in BDR, one of the most formative parts of the club. Bulldogs Racing isn’t just about technical skills; it’s about a shared engineering culture.
9:00 PM — Asian-ish Board Meeting
On Wednesdays, Maggie heads to a board meeting for an Asian and mixed-Asian student club she helps lead, Asian-ish. Event planning often revolves around food and culture—dumpling making, chai nights, and family Olympics.
10:00 PM — Study Time
The night winds down at the library or back home with focused study time. True to her philosophy, Maggie works in distraction-free stretches so she can be fully present in the other parts of her life.
12:30 AM — Sleep
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Published Date
Apr 9, 2026
