Humans of Haas: Manav Rathod
Written by Caelin Sutch.
Manav Rathod is a junior studying EECS and Business in the Management, Entrepreneurship, & Technology Program (MET) program planning to graduate in Spring 2021. He is originally from Okemos, Michigan. On campus, Manav is involved in the MET student board, the Metrobot Project, and the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR), as well as serving as a staff member for various computer science classes. Outside of his various professional interests, Manav enjoys reading non-fiction books about tech, learning about human psychology and philosophy, education, leadership, playing board games, and going on walks around campus with his friends.
How have your interests developed in college?
I did debate, research and plant biology back in high school, which is very different from the types of things I’m doing now, which is mostly computer science related things like natural language processing research. I think I’m interested in the startup entrepreneurial environment currently.
What’s your favorite part of Haas?
I think you’ll learn a lot more from the people that you meet and the different perspectives they bring, just discussing random ideas, and random things are happening in the world with people and seeing how their perspective about how they think industries are shifting.
What’s been your favorite class so far?
I really enjoyed UGBA105, especially in the theories about how people think and cognitive biases, and how to organize teams to be the most effective. I’m pretty interested in human psychology as well, and the class does a really good job of exploring those topics.
How has it been with Haas being in a virtual environment?
I think it’s definitely been challenging. I’ve been doing a pretty good job of connecting with some of my closest friends on a regular basis, I’m just giving calls, and making sure to be proactive about ite. Because if I don’t try to be active about it, it’s very easy to kind of go weeks without talking to people.
What would you recommend for undergraduate students who are starting in Haas?
In general, exploring your interest is always a good idea. I have shifted my career interests a lot since I started Berkeley. Just being open to all possibilities and never outright denying a possible opportunity, because you never know what can happen.
By Caelin Sutch
