By Rhea Kundamal
Meet Eva Polovina! She joined GRC last semester as a consultant and has loved it ever since.
Eva grew up in Croatia; naturally, her life before Berkeley was very different. Her lifestyle, friends, education, social activities, and culture surrounding her were completely different from what she currently has now at Berkeley. She had some amazing friends in Croatia who she still talks to today, and her parents are always there for her. Eva’s educational experience was definitely less positive compared to Berkeley as the Croatian educational system has many flaws and makes it difficult for people to develop professionally and personally outside of the school classes. She feels strongly about how the Croatian education system needs to change. However, she still managed to pursue things she was passionate about, such as writing and reading.
Academically, Eva is very passionate about immigration law and learning about the American legal system. She feels like she learns something new every day and loves exploring the intersection of law and other academic fields, such as philosophy, sociology, and psychology. Along with her academic passions, she is a big fan of classic rock and 60s and 70s music. When she was younger, she used to read a lot of books about the Beatles! A fun fact is that she knew every single one of their songs. Eva is also passionate about traveling and exploring new cultures and places. She loves learning about cultural customs, language differences, and traditional foods, and thus, she has loved her time exploring Berkeley and the Bay Area.
After graduating from UC Berkeley, Eva is considering entering the consulting field as a generalist. She loves problem-solving and challenging herself professionally. Later on, she would love to go to law school if she manages to get into a law school of her choice. She thinks the consulting experience would help her practice corporate law. Further down the road, she can see herself practicing immigration law or something in that field.
Eva loves her consulting project this semester! She is working with a non-profit interested in defending free speech and ensuring free access to information. Currently, she is researching the new developments in the fields they are interested in and considering the implications of this research on their advocacy strategies. Eva’s research is connected to the legal field, and therefore she likes using her prior knowledge and skills to contribute to her project.
In terms of her application process to Berkeley, whilst Eva does not remember what she wrote about, she did request to see the comments the admissions officer made on her application. The admissions team highlighted how they appreciated Eva’s love for learning and passion for giving back to the community. Eva devoted a lot of time to revising her essays, and she did not have high hopes for the results when she applied.
Eva is also involved in other clubs and activities on campus. She is a member of the Berkeley Political Review and the Dialectic Club. In Berkeley Political Review, she is in the World section, meaning she writes about global political topics. She has been focusing on Eastern Europe and the Balkans region, as that is where she grew up. In the Dialectic Club, they discuss interesting political topics in a non-structured setting. These clubs support Eva’s passion for writing and discussing politics. Eva is also in a sorority, which enriched her social experience at Berkeley, and she met her core friend group there.
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