On the 21st of December, Grades 9 to 12 were treated to an alumni talk on American university life by last year’s graduates – Harshit and Teja. Harshit is currently enrolled in the University of Drexel, taking software engineering while Teja is in Embry Riddle, taking computer engineering. Harsh and Teja shared their first impressions of university life. Harsh finds Philadelphia as a city full of enthusiasm, and if you don’t love American football, you’ll end up liking it soon enough. While Teja is enjoying the small town feel of Daytona Beach, discovering the area by bike and making friends along the way.
They shared some practical tips like learning how to be more organized so that could have the time to prepare healthy and balanced meals, as well as exercise to avoid the infamous Freshman 15. They talked about being prepared to do more work that their teachers (in college, it’s 80% student effort and 20% teacher effort). They shared ways to make connections with professors outside lectures; and balancing academics with extra-curricular activities.
Harshit and Teja both agree that ABIS had prepared them effectively for university life. Their maths and physics classes had the rigor to prepare them for the expectations of engineering courses; the IB research and writing requirements prepared them for the academic writing in the university; learning different languages helped them transitioned into bigger multi-cultural communities; running ASAs gave them opportunities to practice leadership skills; and CAS helped them engage in various types of activities. Harshit and Teja emphasized the importance of using one’s independence wisely in terms of class attendance and expenses, and ended their presentation with a quote from Bill Copeland: “The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.”
It was a pleasure to see Harshit and Teja, and we hope that they continue to keep in touch with the ABIS community.