Stories of SUNY Ulster — Nathan

“What’s interesting is that, originally, I didn’t like ‘computer stuff’. I didn’t really care for it because we didn’t really have a computer in my house when I was growing up. My dad had this old, old desktop with Windows XP on it, which is so ancient now. But, back then, it was the newest thing. However, I didn’t really get to use it or the internet until I was about twelve. And it wasn’t until my twelfth birthday, when my aunt got me my first computer, which was a Macintosh Powerbook G4, that I realized I was really good at using computers. Everything else I had failed at. I would try physics or chemistry or math or science, and I would always mess up the equations. I tried art. I can’t do art; it’s been proven. I guess I can write, but that’s an acquired skill. It’s not natural. So, receiving that laptop really set me on the path to doing what I do now.

It wasn’t until I was browsing the internet one day and came across something called ‘programming’ that I ended up looking into that foreign word and discovering a whole other realm of science that was just so cool. It was something that I quickly got the hang of and ended up teaching myself, which, by the way, I feel is such a homeschooler trait. Being homeschooled really allowed me to ‘waste my time’, as my parents put it, on the computer, and I was able to learn pretty much everything that I wanted to about programming. And now, here I am at SUNY Ulster, and I’m graduating in May with an Associate’s Degree in Computer Science. The people who teach the program are very good at what they do. So, I know the education I’m receiving is top-notch, and I highly recommend the Computer Science program because of that.

After I graduate in May, I don’t know where I’m going. I’m still waiting to receive acceptance letters from Northeastern University and Brandeis University. If I don’t receive letters from them, then I’ll be going to SUNY New Paltz and working towards getting my BA. My goal in life is to try to be the best of the best that I can achieve, so I want to eventually get my PhD. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always had this strange inward desire to be called “Doctor Nathan Bunch”. I thought at first about being a surgeon, but then I realized blood and gore were not my thing. I can’t dissect anything to save my life. So, then I thought that I could be a Doctor of computers, which I guess kind of works. And that’s why I thought to myself, ‘Why not pursue a PhD?’”