For Selena Liu, being an undergraduate student at the University of Washington is less about following a straight path and more about exploring as many directions as possible, sometimes all at once.
Originally from Beijing, China, Selena came to UW with an early sense of curiosity about interdisciplinary learning. Her journey to Seattle included a year of high school study in Rhode Island, followed by a return to Beijing during the COVID-19 pandemic. When it came time to choose a university, she was drawn to UW’s combination of strong academic reputation, interdisciplinary opportunities, and its location in the Pacific Northwest.
“I really value the interdisciplinary aspect of U.S. education systems,” she shared. UW, she said, offered exactly that along with the kind of flexibility that allows students to explore widely before narrowing their focus.
Exploring Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
Selena describes her academic journey as “all over the place” but in the most intentional way possible.
She arrived at UW with interests spanning sociology, design, and social science. After learning about Human-Centered Design Engineering (HCDE), she realized it brought together many of the things she cared about: technology, people, and problem-solving through a design lens. HCDE became her major, but it didn’t define the limits of her academic path it expanded it.
In just her second quarter, Selena joined a Direct Research Group focused on decolonizing mental health, which introduced her to health as both a research field and a global issue. From there, her curiosity expanded. “I started wanting to learn more about epidemiology and how health connects across different contexts,” she said. That shift led her to pursue a minor in Global Health, where she could explore how health outcomes are shaped not just by biology, but by culture, environment, and access across different countries. She later brought that learning into practice through a study abroad program in Peru, where she engaged directly with global health topics in a new cultural and environmental context, an experience she describes as one of the most meaningful of her time at UW.
At the same time, another interest began to take shape: entrepreneurship.
“I was really scared of failing at first,” she said, describing how an idea emerged from her own experience of using arts and crafts as a way to cope with stress. Over time, that personal practice evolved into something larger, a desire to help others access similar creative and therapeutic experiences. Through campus programs like the Dempsey Startup Challenge, her idea began to take shape evolving from that initial concept into a travel-inspired craft kit designed to spark creativity and cultural connection. What started as a personal coping strategy is now becoming something tangible, with real feedback and growing momentum.
Across all of these interests, Selena noticed a common thread: they all reward exploration, iteration, and hands-on learning.
“That mindset carries through everything I do,” she said, noting how her interests often connect across different areas.
Even when her schedule feels overwhelming, she sees her academic path not as divided interests, but as overlapping ways of understanding and experiencing the world.
Community, Creativity, and Finding Balance
Outside the classroom, Selena’s UW experience is just as diverse.
Earlier in her time at UW, Selena also worked as a FIG leader, supporting first-year students as they transitioned into university life. In that role, she taught and mentored a small cohort of students, helping them navigate resources and build community in their first quarter.
“It was really rewarding because I love interacting with peers,” she said. “I wanted to help make that transition easier for them.”
She is a member of the UW Undivided Dance Team, a hip-hop choreography-based group where she practices multiple times a week and performs in quarterly showcases. What started as a continuation of her love for dance has become a space for growth in new ways, including choreography and team coordination.
“It allowed me to grow as a choreographer, which I had never done before,” she said.
She also serves as Design Chair for the UW Hip-Hop Student Association, where she creates flyers, graphics, and merchandise—an opportunity to apply her design skills in a community-centered context while staying connected to hip-hop culture.
Her involvement in the Interdisciplinary Honors Program has also been a consistent part of her UW experience both as a student and as an Honors Recruitment Ambassador, where she helped introduce other students, especially international students, to the program’s wide-ranging, interdisciplinary courses.
Even with a full schedule, Selena is intentional about making space to slow down. She often takes walks around Seattle, sketches outdoors, journals, or listens to music. In one honors class focused on birdsong and music, she even began birdwatching at places like Sylvan Grove Theater, an assignment that unexpectedly became a form of reflection and rest.
“I just sit there for 20 or 30 minutes, listening and observing,” she said. “It helps me relax and notice things I wouldn’t normally see.”
For Selena, balance doesn’t come from doing less; it comes from making space for both movement and stillness.
Selena is a really good example of the ways that students can take advantage of the many resources there are at UW… It really feels like she has done all of the things that many of our students get to do in even the three years that she’s already here.
A Student in Motion
Looking back on her time at UW so far, Selena describes the university as a place where she has been able to explore freely, take risks, and try things without needing to have everything figured out in advance.
“What I love about being a student is that I get to explore my options,” she said. “It feels like a safe space to experiment.”
That sense of openness has shaped her undergraduate experience— HCDE to global health, from entrepreneurship to dance, from research to reflection. And rather than narrowing her path, each new interest seems to add another layer to it.
Selena Liu’s story is not one of choosing a single direction, but of learning how to move between many. In doing so, she reflects something familiar about the undergraduate experience itself: a time not just for specialization, but for exploration in every direction.
Hear from Selena about how she has made the most of her time at the UW.