Fresh Off The Boat

After dropping out of law school, Payal took a gap year to start her own company. Soon after, she majored in Psychology and Computer Science and became part of Yale-NUS College's first graduating class. Although the program was small, it was extremely personal focused and enabled her to develop a new way of thinking. Currently, Payal is working with a team at Linkedin to create equal opportunity for every member in the workforce. She specifically works with potential Linkedin Learning or Talent Solutions clients who are used to upskilling employees and finding new talent. Her strong entrepreneurial interest is evident from the three companies she has founded as well as her time working in a higher learning tech start up. Her previous experiences have provided her with the necessary skills to be successful at what she does.

Originally from Kathmandu, Yash is currently attending the University of Michigan Ann Arbor and plans to double major in Economics and Computer Science with a concentration in Business. Initially, he was apprehensive about a large public university but he has found that through the course structure and advisors, the university still excels at focusing and giving attention to individual students.Although he is in his first years, Yash has been sure of all his interests and priorities. As he talked about his courses, he emphasizes a need to take art and graphic design courses for anyone who wants to become an entrepreneur so that they can be better prepared ahead. In the future, Yash plans to diversify and take more computer science and business classes while still solidifying his interest in entrepreneurship and athletic activities.

Lavanya is currently pursuing a double major in Economics and Data Science & Analytics from Singapore Management University. She recalls the big change in her life as she moved to a new country and how the freshman programs at SMU allowed her to meet diverse groups of people and ease her into her new undergraduate life. To supplement all her academic coursework, she interned at Absolute Data which solidified her interest in data analytics. She was able to create a R Shiny app that helped her colleagues visualize the trends in the hospitality sector. Ultimately, Lavanya has also been able to participate in various co-curricular activity clubs at SMU to not only hone her academic skills but also gain a variety of vital soft skills that she would need in the future.

Hrishi completed high school at the Anglo Chinese School in Singapore and graduated in computer science from Yale-NUS, the newly built campus of the National University of Singapore. As part of the first few graduating batches from this campus, he was fortunate to be part of the budget allocation early on. The access to good resources along with the required additional courses in liberal arts allowed for his holistic development. Currently, Hrishi works as the Chief Technology Officer for Greywing which specializes in risk assessment and analysis related to maritime vessels. He works to aggregate data at large scales and run algorithms on it to find ways for efficient movement. During these times, he helped in redirecting resources to help deal with the issues caused by the pandemic.

Ruhani moved from Chandigarh to Ithaca alone to get her chemical engineering degree and a business minor from Cornell University. She recalls how her professors, group of friends, and family helped her through the rigorous academic environment at Cornell. All her undergraduate experiences allowed her to explore her interests and go into the business consulting space with a focus on engineering. For some years, she worked at Arconic not only as a consultant but also in the growth and market strategy team. She decided to get a MBA to further her interest in finance and accounting. After completing her courses and internship, she decided to focus on investment banking. Now after completing her MBA from the coveted MIT Sloan School of Management, she is going on to work in the investment banking sphere at the Bank of America.

Vedika moved from an urban bustling environment to a small town in Iowa where she graduated with a degree in Economics and a concentration in Global Development Studies from Grinnell College. This quiet small liberal arts program with rigorous academic classes allowed her to explore a lot of her interests. Throughout her undergraduate journey she was keen to work in the social impact space. Not only did she gain experience as social coordinator for the international student organization but also worked as an elected senator in her university student government. However, during all this she also ensured to explore the creative industry through her renewed interest in film, theatre and writing. Ultimately, her college accomplishments ranged from interning at Vogue Conde Nast to working for Save the Children.

Nirvik finished high school in Singapore where he was able to complete as many college prerequisites as he could and participated in rigorous extra curricular activities related to his interest in computer science. He is currently completing his double degree in Computer Science and Classical Languages from Stanford University. His high school experiences allowed him to get placed into advanced sequence classes freshman year. Continuing on, he was also able to work as a teaching assistant for beginner comp sci classes. He is currently working as a researcher for TockOS. Additionally, he is also a research assistant for the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign where he is creating an advanced care planning platform for the Stanford Hospital system. He hopes to continue on to academia in the future.

Saurabh graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute after completing a double degree in Business Management and Biomedical Engineering. Although he initially started as a mechanical engineer, he moved to biomedical engineering to have an impact on society. He used his experience as an undergraduate researcher at a renowned surgical robotics lab to progress on to complete his doctoral research project in the same field. Eventually, he moved away from pure sciences and into the interdisciplinary space of science and business. He worked for several years in the management consultancy field until he transitioned on to his current role at Pfizer. Saurabh also gives advice about different subspecialties and career tracks in biotech and emphasizes the importance of having a solid fundamental education. Ultimately, he reflects on the future of biotech and its role in society.

Prateek started on a predetermined path to be around his family in Houston. Initially, he attended Austin Community College for a few semesters and maintained a good GPA but transferred to Texas A&M University and majored in Economics after. He fulfilled his general electives at Austin Community college taking advantage of the cheaper and smaller classes. Ultimately after completing his degree he joined the family hospitality business.He has now transitioned into being the Director of Operations and is in-charge of heading a chain of franchise hotels. He works closely with General Managers to supervise daily operations for all the active hotels. He fondly recalls how he started his journey at the bottom as a fresh graduate and worked his way to the top through training, learning, networking and hard work.

Aneesh progressed from DPS R.K. Puram to Furman University, a liberal arts college and graduated with three separate majors; IT, Studio Art and Design and Asian Studies, which helped him step out of the traditional design process and approach problem-solving in a different way. He recalls his journey where he switched to IT from Computer Science and completed a study abroad in Japan as well. After graduating, Aneesh worked in print design at Penguin Random House on well known brands like Marvel and Disney. He is currently working at Pega in Boston where he is a UX/UI graphic designer as part of a team working towards Pega academy. In the future, he hopes to work as an independent designer without having concerns for immigration policies and plans to teach design through his videos and share his experiences with a larger crowd.

Ishaan started his undergraduate studies in Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois, which involves topics such as Structure Designing, Engineering Drawing. However, he wasn't interested in these subjects so he decided to major in Electrical and CS engineering instead. He transferred to Cornell University to pursue these interests.At Cornell , Ishaan took part in various extracurricular activities and clubs. He was a part of Robotics club and made a project for the visually impaired by designing a cap which detects surrounding objects and helps people cross the road. Cornell University also gave him the opportunity to reach out to professors and work on more projects of his interest.

Naima is pursuing Sociology from Glendon Campus of York University, Canada. The main advantage of having two campuses, Glendon College and Keele College, is that students can choose any course or subject offered on either campus. . It provided her with the flexibility to change majors and pick up minors at any of the campuses. The transit in between the campuses is also well thought and regulated.There are many volunteering opportunities at different clubs and research opportunities with Professors. At York, Naima felt encouraged to get involved in various extracurricular activities. Naima has also been part of the International Relations Student Association at York University.

Dhrupad graduated with a Computer Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Initially he chose Mechanical Engineering, as it was a subject that fascinated him. He used to dislike Computer Science in highschool as the learning was all theoretical, without any practical application. However in College, he got acquainted with programming languages and solving problems using logical abilities. His CS Professor inspired him to switch to CS.Due to the flexibility in University, Dhrupad was able to make this change in majors and was also able to study Computational Biology. What really helps him thrive in this field is knowing that Maths can help solve even the most minuscule problems.

Srijan originally pursued Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. During his first internship, he realized that he was more interested in hardware and embedded systems. To get a break from Electrical subjects, Srijan wanted to learn more about CS and so changed Majors. He learnt new subjects from his seniors and also used his experience to guide junior students.Srijan’s curiosity about Artificial Intelligence grew more after his Machine Learning internship where he worked as a Data Scientist for a startup to implement a project from start to finish. Later he started research at Georgia Tech in Reinforcement Learning.

Bikramjit pivoted to Computer Science at UC Berkeley. He enjoyed the Introduction to Machine Learning Course because of the unique approach of the Professor. He mentions that Probability was the difficult course he took. A few non STEM courses were also mentioned which helped Bikramjit to know more about India’s Culture.Bikramjit explains his key responsibilities as a software engineer in Microsoft. He reflects back on how the college has helped him shape his career. Also, he talks about his internship at Rakuten and different responsibilities there.

Bikramjit pivoted to Computer Science at UC Berkeley. He enjoyed the Introduction to Machine Learning Course because of the unique approach of the Professor. He mentions that Probability was the difficult course he took. A few non STEM courses were also mentioned which helped Bikramjit to know more about India’s Culture.Bikramjit explains his key responsibilities as a software engineer in Microsoft. He reflects back on how the college has helped him shape his career. Also, he talks about his internship at Rakuten and different responsibilities there.

Simran started her journey from CBSE school in India, moved to America to pursue her Bachelors in Psychology majors, taught students in Denmark, Indonesia and now working with Non Profit Organizations in India. Her enthusiasm towards working with children from all over the world can easily be gauged through her podcast.Simran explains different phases of her life with a lot of enthusiasm. She discloses how she overcame some of the obstacles at college. CMC being a small liberal arts college, gave her more attention where she could form close bonds with professors, faculties and friends.

Dhruv’s passion for working at the intersection of Economics and technology met at UCB. While exploring different opportunities and his motivation of putting himself into uncomfortable positions, Dhruv has taken two majors in Economics and Data Science. His higher aim is to complete his degree in 3.5 years.Being elected as senator of the student government body club at UCB, Dhruv got acquainted with the flavor of Leadership. He mentions how he got evolved by reflecting back at incidents and trying to get better each time. He wants to create an impact at the community by helping them and enjoys his role.

Dhwaanii shares her journey from Ashoka University to working in a University. An enthusiastic approach towards shaping her own life, she has explored every possible opportunity from taking up Political science to initiating her own start-up, working in International Relations and now managing and curating the modern learning process for young technological minds.Dhwaanii explains the course at Plaksha. She reflects back on how she entered this profile. She acknowledges the dynamic course her responsibilities have taken at work. Listen to her to know more about her future aims and her driving spirit.

Guntas started his journey pursuing electrical engineering at RICE University. During his internship, he realized that his interests lie in Economics and he didn’t really need the engineering degree. Due to flexibility at RICE, he was able to pursue Economics later.Guntas enjoys his work regarding private and public equity at an investment bank, HarbourVest Partners. He considers the covid era as a perfect time to make ourselves resilient and self sufficient in life.

Vedika completed her first year foundation course in NTU. She talks about the wide scope of Statistics and Analysis in every field and in every company. She stresses on the importance of learning a coding language even in a field like business. Vedika appreciates the supportive community at NTU. She explains how various opportunities helped her to understand the real time implementation of business ideas and their scope. She mentions some pros and cons of the University and life in Singapore.

Reflecting back on days at RICE University, Shlok started his journey with a group of students. He appreciates the community at RICE because of which his ideas and opinions have been shaped about learning throughout 4 years. He embraces the support system at RICE which is always for the students and never against themShlok has transitioned from Mechanical engineering to CS PHD under the guidance of his Mentor. He has published a research paper on Human Robot Interaction. He quotes a few examples of Computational power in the field of Biology and medicine. Shlok is geared up for his research journey, know more about it in the podcast.

Moved to New York in 2007, Divij experienced various transitions in his life. Not only college life, but the tough times of financial crisis affected Divij plans in several ways. After learning finances and art history from Baruch University, Divij struggled his way to get a job. Eventually, he decided to opt for a Masters program at London School of Economics.Divij believes that the entire skill learning system will be digitized very soon. He sees this as the most accessible opportunity and recommends every individual to stay updated with their technical skills. Upscaling one's skills with time is the need of the hour.

Growing up Ishaan knew he wanted to pursue Information technology, but he never wanted to code. Hence chose the path of Applied Information Management Systems which is a combination of Management and Information technology. Ishaan describes how is schooling in IB Board helped him adjust better at LMU While Ishaan gives many advice and suggestions to young students, he also explains his life struggles while initiating a start up and then interning at Cloud Access Company. Ishaan took inspiration from everyone he has ever worked with and developed his way forward.

Trisha acknowledges her evolution from a high schooler to a Grad student to an employee and now as Masters Student at Stanford. She cherishes her learnings and memories from Middlebury College. Connecting with friends and Professors she not only did well in academics but also explored different opportunities at campus such as Research Assistant and Teacher Assistant. She appreciates the different cultures at both Stanford and Middlebury College. She enjoys exploring things while connecting with people. She looks forward to working in the field of Data Science as it has the potential to give solutions to various problems..

Umang Chaudhary portrays inter-disciplinary interest through multiple projects. After doing Earth and Environmental Science, Communication of Science and Technology from Vanderbilt University, he chose to do Masters in Data Science. His vision is to work at the intersection of Environment and Technology.Umang shows his enthusiasm in his project, where he is analyzing the Public Transit in Nashville. Struggling in his graduation course for learning and building proficiency in R and Python, Umang wants to expand his skills and wants to work in the field of Data Science.

Ayushman pursuing Majors in Economics and Minors in Computer Science and Maths narrates how he chose these subjects and explains multiple opportunities that will come up in near future. He explains the course structure and the difficulties he tackled while studying.During Covid, Ayushman is passionately working towards expanding his horizon in different fields. He wants to explore all the things he couldn't in these years. Lastly, he anchored his thoughts on 'Learning from who you are'.

A recent graduate from Parsons School of Design, New York, specializes in digital design. This includes user experience and interface design, graphic design, illustration and photography. Currently based in New York City. She has previously resided in India, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, London and San Francisco. During Covid, she is motivated to work towards being more productive in any place which may or may not be a workplace. She lives by the fact that everything is temporary and exhibits great candor throughout the conversation.

Ananya shares her experience in a Sports management course in Columbia University. She elucidates different opportunities to network with C-Suite executives and to network with them. She stresses on how these conversations helped her have a better perspective in Sports.Now being a part of Global level company, Rakuten, she explains her journey and why she decided to move from the US to Japan. She also describes the obstacles she had to overcome to land a job and hence encourages young students to follow the path of expanding their strengths.

Amiteshwar from University of California, Davis reflects on different opportunities other than Academic in the university. He explains the importance of literature and humanities subjects in Computer Science.He shows his inclination towards E-Sports and implementation of AI. He talks about E-coaches (online coaching experience) for different Sports.

Shabad Graduated from University of Virginia, now working as engineering consultant at Levvel.io. He describes his journey from pursuing Economic to shifting into CS and then landing as Engineering Consultant. He retrospect on what went great and what could have been done better.

Mamta pursuing her Liberal Arts from Bates college and Philosophy Majors from Kings College. With her involvement in two different colleges she was able to nurture her experience and cherish the times at both colleges.She also talks about how her determination helped her achieve her goals through out these years. She felt happy to connect with people from diverse background expresses the same while the talk.

Pranati Kohli talks about what caught her interest in economics and how she took advantage of being familiar with Political Science and Maths. All these things helped her land in a company of her choice 'Invest India'. She mentions her interest in coming back to India and working for the country.She talks about how the responsibilities changed in her company due to the pandemic and how she handled the work load.

Raaghav enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley undeclared but with a passion for engineering.Through his time there, he found out that his interest lay in between technology and non-technology related subjects, eventually finding his career in Product Management.

Mrinalini loved the environment at CMC and dove right into orientation by getting involved in everything and signing up for as many activities as possible. CMC’s core curriculum has also allowed her to take classes in philosophy and literature and explore other such areas of interest outside of her majors. She has also applied her learnings in the classroom to her research work and internships.Mrinalini conducts interviews for prospective students and says that CMC values qualities like leadership and passion. She advises students to be themselves and have an honest conversation during the interview.Abeer shares his journey through UVA and beyond with Arjun, describing the transition between fields, and even diving into his personal journey with yoga and spiritual practice.

She was drawn to psychology in school. She decided to pursue her masters in clinical psychology. Her pursuit is about how to integrate thoughts, feelings and cognition with the body.She was working in rehab centers and realized the human element was missing. That's why she went into expressive arts therapy. She initiated 'Center for Self' to allow exploration of mind and body.

Megha enrolled at Lady Shri Ram College after graduating from Sanskriti School with the intention of pursuing a career in communication design and marketing.After college and two years of work experience, she wanted to explore the fundamentals of marketing and strategic communication, which led her to the Indian School of Business to pursue a MBA. Today, she heads Marketing and Business Strategy at Treemouse.Find out more at edbridge.space/fotbgrid!

Graduating from Modern Barakhamba School in Delhi, Raghav started his journey as a Business major at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Here, he has had opportunities that have allowed him to discover his talents as an entrepreneur who is able to identify the best way to help people around him make the best of their abilities.Raghav tells Arjun about his experience so far at Emory and the advantages that being in a Business school like Goizueta can provide, especially in terms of personal connections.Find out more at edbridge.space/fotbgrid!

Abeer enrolled at The University of Virginia with a focus on Mechanical Engineering. However, after graduation, he realised that his heart wasn’t really in it. This prompted him to make the switch to studying Environmental History. He is currently completing his PhD and working as a curator at the Smithsonian.Abeer shares his journey through UVA and beyond with Arjun, describing the transition between fields, and even diving into his personal journey with yoga and spiritual practice.Find out more at edbridge.space/fotbgrid!

Anushka studied at Mayo College, and then completed an Economics and Political Science double major at Emory University. She is currently an associate at the PR Firm, Weber Shandwick in Bombay.Arjun and Anushka discuss her trajectory from studying Business to Economics and Political Science, and why she chose to move back to India at the start of her career.Head to edbridge.space/fotbgrid for more!

Lipika did her undergrad at Bryn Mawr, an all-women’s college where she found the confidence and community that helped her succeed in her STEM career. She then did her Master’s in Data Science from Harvard and is now working at a LeapYear, an organisation that works on data privacy protection.Arjun and Lipika talk about her experience at Bryn Mawr, her inspiring grit, and how maintaining a sense of community keeps her grounded.Head to edbridge.space/fotbgrid for more!

Harshita graduated from NYU, majoring in Math, along with minors in Chemistry, CS and Business Studies! With her goals set, she moved on to a year of work experience before starting her Ph.D at Cambridge.Arjun and Harshita talk about striking a balance between academic ambition and other priorities and her experience studying at NYU.Head to edbridge.space/fotbgrid for more!

Bharat Chopra graduated from St. Columba’s School in Delhi before heading off to UMich to study Business. He is now about to start a job as an investment banking analyst at RBC Capital Markets.Arjun and Bharat talk about how beneficial it was for Bharat to have been exposed to a liberal arts curriculum in his first year, and how important it is to make connections and strike an appropriate balance between academics and social life at Business school.Find out more at edbridge.space/fotbgrid!

Ashir Borah graduated from DPS RK Puram in Delhi and then completed his undergrad at Dickinson College. While there, Ashir used the liberal arts curriculum to push his boundaries. He is currently working as a computational associate at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.Arjun and Ashir discuss what it was like to study CS and math at a liberal arts college and how important it is to go beyond your comfort zone to discover your true capabilities.Find out more at edbridge.space/fotbgrid!

Saloni Dhir is a Shri Ram Moulsari graduate who went on to Claremont McKenna to study organisational psychology. She is currently working at an Executive Search company called Schaffer & Combs.Arjun and Saloni discuss her early days at CMC, how she got interested in the field of leadership and organisational psychology and the future of education in these times.Find out more at edbridge.space/fotbgrid!

Graduating from DPS RK Puram in Delhi, Arjun Kakkar had a valuable undergraduate experience at Williams College. Studying at a liberal arts college such as Williams allowed him to stay open to possibilities and make decisions that best suited his personal and professional growth.Arjun and his namesake talk about the experience of transitioning from a small liberal arts college to a large university, and how important it is to introspect as you make big decisions for your career.Head to edbridge.space/fotbgrid for more!

From The Shri Ram School in Gurgaon, to Columbia, Kanishk has always been a go-getter who seeks out experience wherever he can. Kanishk was one of a select group of students faced with the unique circumstance of graduating online, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, Kanishk will be joining Agora Systems, a startup where he can apply his knowledge of machine learning and AI. Arjun and Kanishk discuss the experience of an online graduation, his time as a Columbia CS major, and the future of education in the face of the pandemic.

Nachiket graduated from Mount Allison University in Canada, concentrating in Economics, Business and Anthropology. He knew from the get go that he wanted to get into the financial healthcare industry. After exploring different opportunities, Nachiket is now working at Sterling Capital, a cutting edge healthcare tech firm that espouses everything he was working towards. Nachiket and Arjun discuss the differences between Canadian and US higher education, the opportunities that are available to a student in Canada, and Nachiket’s own journey in going after the job he wanted.

Devishi Seth graduated from The International School Bangalore and is now studying Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Arjun and Devishi discuss her transition from IB to a fine arts college, her adjustment process and her experience at college. They also talk about the importance of Art in these times and how to make the most of the lockdown.

Tanushree graduated from high school in Gurgaon in 2018 and then went to Oxford College, Emory University, an hour from Atlanta. The two-year, small residential campus fostered in her a love of human connection and learning. Having chosen to do a double major in Economics and Psychology, she will be continuing her studies this fall (2020), at the larger Emory University campus in Atlanta. Arjun and Tanushree discuss her early days at such a small campus, how her academic journey and the guidance of incredible professors led her to choose her major, and what she thinks of the future of online education during these times.

Toya Singh graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2016. Since then, she carefully sought out the jobs that she felt would enrich her growth and help her reach her goals. From a coveted internship at NPR, to a News Anchor position at CNN-News18, Toya settled only for the best. Now, after two years at News18, she is taking another courageous plunge to explore the various ways in which news media can be made more engaging to a whole new generation through a venture of her own. Arjun and Toya discuss just how invaluable her liberal arts education at Sarah Lawrence was and how it shaped her into the confident, empowered woman she is today. During this episode, you’ll learn that it’s not always the things you expect that define a successful college experience.