Son of an autorickshaw driver, this student shares how he got admission in a foreign university

I shifted to Jaipur in Class 12. On the basis of my school performance, the Sitare Foundation approached me for studying in the US. We started from scratch — learning about TOEFL, SAT, and everything. It surely was challenging but with Athena Education’s support, I was able to go through all the steps.

New found love for CSE

My family encouraged me to take up Chartered Accountancy and opt for Commerce in Class 11. But then I explored further and found out that engineering was a safer option too. In Class 11, I was given three options: Physical education, Computer Science and one more, so I chose Computer Science. Eventually, I started liking it and soon enough, it became my new-found love.

Then, I started reading about the success stories of their management and old students. Their success stories of pursuing CSE from abroad inspired me.

Chasing the American dream

While researching my study abroad destination, I found out that the US has better job opportunities than any other country, especially for computer science. Also, the country is known for its top ranking universities that have updated curricula.

I was determined that irrespective of wherever I go, I will apply to engineering schools and Virginia Tech was one of my top choices. I applied for the engineering programme here quite early, and I got in before New Year (mid-December), 4-5 months before my Class 12 exams.

When I landed in the US, I received help from my sponsors and even my varsity. I have a dorm allotted to me by the university, which I share with a non-Indian student. American culture was, however, a bit of a shock and a surprise for me. One of the biggest surprises was that being a vegetarian here does not mean that you don’t eat eggs. Wherever I go to eat, I first have to clarify that I am a “vegetarian who doesn’t eat eggs”.

Even when it comes to making friends, I was hesitant. It was difficult to understand accents, be it the locals or other foreign students. Slowly and steadily, I picked up. However, even if I am unable to catch the conversation, I just end up nodding in agreement, which is funny but it shows a good learning curve.

When I applied to the dorm, I was given the option to choose our community, like there is an ‘engineering community’, ‘English major community’ etc. I chose one which is known as ‘first generation community’, which is for the students who are the first ones from their family to come to a college. Due to this, most of my friends are non-Indians. I get to mingle with people from different ethnicities. I do know some Indians here but my interaction with them is limited.

One of the major culture shocks that I received, though, is part of grocery shopping. In India, we are used to being able to buy one can of soft drink or half a litre of milk, but in the US it is bulk buying. Another thing is that to reach these stores, I need to take a bus and travel some way as it is far from my campus, therefore it is important to plan in advance.

Balancing studies and part-time job

For my major, I am pursuing CS Engineering. I had to complete prerequisites like Physics and Chemistry. For my degree, I had to take more high level Math and extra engineering classes. It makes it more challenging, but in the end, this is what I want to do. To make sure I don’t compromise on my education, I only work for 10 hours per week. I could work for 20 hours but I do not want to push myself that much.

I work as a front desk help at a dining service here. In my job, I simply have to sit at a computer and input data when a customer comes. For example, put in their ID to ensure we know what services they took etc. It’s not a hard job.

US education encourages research work

Indian education is different from what I am experiencing in the US. The American education system is more research-based. Irrespective of what course you take (English, engineering etc), you will be given some research work, something to write etc.

I feel CBSE or the Indian education system didn’t prepare me well enough for that. However, CBSE trained me well in the technical aspects such as hard mathematics, like calculus etc. In that part, CBSE was much ahead of what the American students know. When it comes to writing, interacting and other soft skills, and even research work, CBSE lacks in that part.