Aalto Takeout provides devices to support students’ creation

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCTKuZa9dvg[/embedyt]

Aalto Takeout booking system.

Aalto Takeout is the place where students and staff can borrow equipments for projects. The main mission is to support students’ artistic creation. Anyone has an Aalto IT account can make a reservation and it’s free of charge.

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FAQs for new Aalto students Part 1 (updated in April 2020)

Congratulations and Welcome to Aalto University!
Here are some frequently asked questions.

Please see all up to date information on admissions and the beginning of your studies on Aalto’s website (aalto.fi) or by contacting Aalto’s Admissions Services (admissions (at) aalto.fi) or your programme’s student services.


♣Student housing

  • Two student housing organizations: Ayy & Hoas. Please apply for both once you accept the study offer. New students have higher priorities for getting a student housing. Please be aware that Ayy and Hoas could not accommodate all students.

When will I get a housing offer?

  • Ayy (Aalto Student Union) will only provide a housing offer one month prior to your request, for example, if you request to start on 01.08, the offer will be given in July not before.

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Metal casting – the coolest workshop ever!

My first bronze sculptures.

The metal casting workshop is the coolest one I’ve ever had in my life. There are beauty and surprises beyond description in each step. Honestly, I didn’t know there’s a foundry lab in Aalto University until I was accepted to the advanced metal casting workshop and stepped into a building I’ve never been to. Even after studying in Aalto for almost 2 years, there are still more surprises to discover, the excitement is like finding easter eggs after a long search.

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How to find a summer job in Finland?

If you are an international student coming to Finland to study, you may be also thinking about getting a job here. The easiest way to kick off your career is either doing a practical training during your studies or getting a summer job. Summer job is a very common practice in Finland and most of the students work full-time during the holiday months and also part-time during the academic year. However, it is not that easy to get a job or an internship place, few things to keep in mind:

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A Journey on Game Design – interview with Gautam Vishwanath

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdh6puDLgZg[/embedyt]

Gautam is a talented game designer. In the interview, he shared his journey of becoming a game designer in Aalto University. We met in the studio course ‘Design for Government’ last year. He is funny, humble and versatile. We had a great time working together in the team project.

Now he is finishing his master thesis, which is dedicated to fight stage fright with virtual reality. In the research, he found the limitations of AI technology. Instead of building a real-life scenario that fails to give normal feedback, he opted for a different strategy. There are different scenarios to help users battle stage fright. I tried the game last week, when I thought I was a human surrounding by the aliens, I looked down and found out that I was a green alien creature. Wow! Gautam has an impeccable sense of humor, which makes his game design full of fun and surprises. Moreover, the game is highly practical, users can upload their own speech or presentation script into the game and practice it with VR.

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Design Your Life – interview with Frank Martela

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al0wF5-tGw4[/embedyt]

Frank Martela started to teach a new course ‘Designing Life’ this spring for the first time in Aalto University. Aalto conducts annual AllWell? questionnaire and works on how to improve the well-beings of all the students. The course is one of the outcomes. Designing Life is one of the most unique courses I’ve ever taken, which addressed the life issues and challenges we face when we are 20 somethings. These issues usually bring stress and anxiety to the young people when they are trying to figure out about their own life and future.

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Civil engineering Day Speech

(This article mainly reviews the studies in Aalto and work after graduation)

Civil engineering day is annual alumni gathering to know what is happening in the program. An opportunity to discuss master’s programmes in Building Technology and in Geoengineering, their present and future, and to meet the students and colleagues. The target group of the event is partners of the Department of Civil Engineering and the Bachelor’s students at the School of Engineering.

I know today’s program should be in Finnish, but I can only give this speech in English, I still haven’t given up on Finnish language, but it seems that Finnish language almost gave up on me.

First of all, thanks to the invitation from Prof Puttonen and Prof Hostikka, I am really humble, honored and happy today to share my story, my thoughts and my journey in the program.

In the beginning of this speech, allow me to shortly introduce myself. I am Yiwei, graduated from the building technology program last year. During my years in the industry, my main focus is the structural calculation and structural analysis. I have the luck to be involved in the structural design of very well-known Finnish projects like Keskustakirjasto Oodi, Tripla as well as many large international projects.

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Motivation brings you the wanted results

The importance of the Finnish matriculation examination has increased, because of the quota for first-time applicants. For many, entrance exams are another option to get a degree place in a university. Still, there are a limited number of places available and competition is hard when trying to get into the best universities.

Motivation is in a key role when you are trying to succeed in exams. You can find plenty of information about how to prepare for the matriculation examinations or entrance exams from the internet, but those things come as second on the list. I think nothing is more important than inner motivation, which gives you the energy to work hard and achieve your dream degree place.

Here are three points, which I thought were the best to find my motivation when applying to Aalto University. Disclaimer; These may not work for everyone, but at least I hope it will give you some ideas on how to find your own motivation.

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