Elsa Wu - Women's Soccer

Elsa Wu is a captain for the 2011 Carnegie Mellon women's soccer team. Elsa is a business administration major who is an All-Region player and a member of the Carnegie Mellon Student-Athlete Advisory Council.

Adjusting to college was probably one of the easiest things I have ever done because of soccer. I made 26 new friends on my very first day here at Carnegie Mellon. Even though I knew practically nothing about these girls I had just met, we felt like a family. That hasn’t changed throughout the years, as classes have graduated and new ones have come in. It’s incredible how quickly we become friends, and it’s odd to think that there was once a time when we didn’t know one another.

Being a student-athlete is an incredible commitment. Soccer probably takes up at least 30 hours a week, whether it’s getting ready for practice, lifting, rehabbing, practicing, or playing in a game. And this is if we don’t have to travel to another university during the week or on the weekend. Yet I couldn’t think of another way I’d rather spend that time. Okay, maybe sleeping. That’d be nice. But nonetheless, it’s an experience that I would not trade for the world. It’s more than just playing a sport. It’s competing with your best friends, figuring out how to manage your life and learning just how hard you can push yourself, on and off the field. At times, it is difficult balancing school, soccer, and other extracurricular activities, while trying to find the time to breathe, but every experience has been well worth the time spent.

Aside from athletics, Carnegie Mellon is really one-of-a-kind. CMU excels across all disciplines, and it is a very demanding university, but I don’t think anyone expects more out of the students than the students themselves. The people you meet here are brilliant and driven and passionate about what they do. Everyone is so unique and identifies themselves differently. I, personally, am so very proud to say that I am a member of the women’s soccer team.