Harvard's early action decisions go out today. One interesting reflection is how different my interviews have been in Long Island versus here in India. It's impossible not to feel like you're in a bubble in Long Island -- everybody on the same track, trying to get into the same schools, with very similar extracurricular activities.
I'm not sure if times have changed, or just my geography (or clearly both), but I've found my Harvard undergrad interviews here in India nothing short of inspiring. There's the high school senior living in a rural area, who drives two hours each way to take classes to improve his English. There's another, living in the outskirts of a jungle, who is so passionate about saving tigers that he invented a contraption to find traps that hunters have set. They have experiences that I can't imagine having had back when I was in high school. For instance, one American who has been living in India told me about giving left-over food away to a street child, whose mother then asked him to keep her daughter: "If you can feed her, you can keep her."
Whether or not they get into Harvard, these kids are among the most inspiring young people I've met. Next month, Harvard's President, Drew Gilpin Faust, will visit India, to "highlight the increasingly vital role of India and South Asia at Harvard." There's still a long way to go. Last year, Harvard only accepted four students from India, into a freshman undergraduate class of 1600.
I'm still in touch with my two interviewees who got into Harvard last year. Among the biggest culture shocks? Primal scream, which they experienced earlier this week, wherein undergrads streak around Harvard Yard butt-naked, in freezing weather, the night before exams start. I can only imagine what their mothers back in India must be thinking...
I'm not sure if times have changed, or just my geography (or clearly both), but I've found my Harvard undergrad interviews here in India nothing short of inspiring. There's the high school senior living in a rural area, who drives two hours each way to take classes to improve his English. There's another, living in the outskirts of a jungle, who is so passionate about saving tigers that he invented a contraption to find traps that hunters have set. They have experiences that I can't imagine having had back when I was in high school. For instance, one American who has been living in India told me about giving left-over food away to a street child, whose mother then asked him to keep her daughter: "If you can feed her, you can keep her."
Whether or not they get into Harvard, these kids are among the most inspiring young people I've met. Next month, Harvard's President, Drew Gilpin Faust, will visit India, to "highlight the increasingly vital role of India and South Asia at Harvard." There's still a long way to go. Last year, Harvard only accepted four students from India, into a freshman undergraduate class of 1600.
I'm still in touch with my two interviewees who got into Harvard last year. Among the biggest culture shocks? Primal scream, which they experienced earlier this week, wherein undergrads streak around Harvard Yard butt-naked, in freezing weather, the night before exams start. I can only imagine what their mothers back in India must be thinking...
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