Advice for Loyolean Aug 2013

8/12/2019 Advice for Loyolean Aug 2013

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Reflections from a Recent Graduate

As a teenager, I was always rich with unrequited advice. Every older person aroundme seemed compelled to indulge in paternal instinct and impart pearls of wisdom. Ididnt like that and so will be careful not to do thesame in this article, especially

since I graduated from Loyola only three years ago. Instead, Id like to share a fewobservations Ive made over the past five years and how I came to believe in them.

My purpose is not to give you any advice but simply share how I interpreted a fewsituations I came across to encourage you to develop your own rules of thumb. Afterall, we have perfect vision in hindsight:

Its okay to not know. Itmight even be better than thinking you do.When I first came across the term liberal arts as a sixteen year old, it soundeddecidedly non-professional. I didnt think it would help me much as I tried to makewhat seemed like one of the most crucial decisions about my education and career

Arts, Science or Commerce. In Antiquity (think ancient Greece) the liberal artswere those subjects or skills that were considered essential for a free citizen toknow in order to take part in public life. The goal was not to achieve expertise in aparticular subject or discipline but to craft a virtuous, knowledgeable, and articulateperson to be able to think rather than know. The Triviumor core liberal arts weresimply grammar, logic, and rhetoric I closed the Wikipedia page.

I picked Commerce. I had two reasons. While I enjoyed the sciences, and developedan early interest in technology, the daily classwork seemed tedious and didnt speakto my most recognized skills. The second was something like this: in my family offour, there were already three doctors. Medicine was one of my most seductive

intellectual interests and had I picked the Sciences, Id really be picking a career inmedicine. But if I wanted to use my education to improve the experience of life foras many individuals as I could, why should I limit my capacity to only those who areunwell in precisely particular ways, one patient at a time? It was nave but it seemedlogical. Thus, Commerce was the default, value neutral option. I wish I hadconsidered the Arts. But anyway Commerce afforded me time to continue pursuingextracurriculars (which were my favorite part of school anyway) while also keepingup decent grades.

So while my friends and I grew existential towards the end of the ninth standardtrying to do a 20 year forecast on our lives, I hoped that as long as I worked hard on

things I liked, I wouldnt have to regret choices a sixteen year old had to make basedon very little information and self-awareness.

I didnthave to. In fact, by the time I had to leave for college, I had picked a liberalarts education for myself and believed whole-heartedly in a system I had previouslyrejected.


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Grow your bubbleBy the time I had to think about what I wanted to do for college, I realized I onlyknew enough about myself and the many possible subjects I could study to havemerely one preference I wanted the best education I could get. Thinking

geographically, I explored many options in India, Singapore, the UK, and the UnitedStates. Thinking strategically, I knew that Id fare better in an admissions system

that relied on qualitative data rather than on one opaque national exam. I took theSAT, wrote a dozen application essays, garnered recommendations from teacherswhod known me for years, mailed a bag of application packets to America, and

prayed to get in. When rejections came in from colleges that I thought were safebets, I felt very small. I realized that even though I had presided over multiple clubs,edited this magazine, organized and won at national level events, regularly spoke toa thousand people from on stage, and served as President: I lived in a very, verysmall world, almost unknown to the outside. Ego isnt a good measure of ambitionor preparation.

But the things that you know are. What worked for me in the end was that I reallywanted to go to this one university. And with that desire, I befriended the Internet. Ihad spent hours everyday learning about application processes and what makes agood application, listened to podcasts from admissions officers, learnt aboutprograms within universities, what the SAT is, how to do well on it and where Icould find free practice tests. I had a lot of luck but in the end, I only got into theuniversities I had worked the hardest for and already knew a lot about. The processisnt one way either such research also gives you a realistic picture of where youstand in preparation for your ambitions and how unique you are, as is everybodyelse. I learnt to prioritize validated information over inter-personal emotions.

Connecting with people and information beyond my immediate bubble served mebetter than simply believing I go to a great school and that, along with a little helpfrom those around me, was all I needed.

The Internet is my friend. And my greatest teacher.Everyone might encourage us to workhard or follow your dreams whenthinking about higher education. Few remind us that what makes our generationunique in the history of the world is that knowledge has been democratized thesum of human knowing is out there for you to access at home for free. So the schoolor college you go to has little relevance in what you can learn and are capable of

doing. For example, you can:

Learn any language you want to speak (www.busuu.com) Try to code and build something whether or not you take Computer Science

in school (www.codeacademy.com) Watch fascinating people present the newest ideas and their applications in

any field (www.ted.com)
http://www.busuu.com/http://www.busuu.com/http://www.busuu.com/http://www.codeacademy.com/http://www.codeacademy.com/http://www.codeacademy.com/http://www.ted.com/http://www.ted.com/http://www.ted.com/http://www.ted.com/http://www.codeacademy.com/http://www.busuu.com/


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Take a Yale University class on Game Theory and many others (oyc.yale.edu)or learn what Engineering classes actually feel like - at MIT (ocw.mit.edu)

Immediately look up or browse even the most esoteric information(www.wikipedia.com)

Read almost any publication in the world be it world news on Al Jazeera,fiction from the New Yorker Magazine, reviews from TechCrunch, or featurereporting from Tehelka just add them to your daily feed.(www.feedly.com)

People are quite accurate when they say most learning happens outside theclassroom but they dont just mean extracurricular activities within school. Ispend most of my waking hours connected to the Internet. Its where all mywork and learning takes place. Sure, it can be hard to stay off Facebook or cutepictures of puppies at first but were old enough to practice control and eveneducate ourselves. Even if you take nothing from this article at leastexplore each of these websites if you dont already.

Habits of the mind: Value questions over answersWhen I walked through the gates of my University for the first time, I waspredictably ecstatic. I was on the other side of the world joining a community ofthe best scholars and a society of friends that came from 118 countries. I felt likeI belonged.

The next three months were the hardest Ive ever had. My classmates had more

knowledge, experience, and talent than I did. Having to select 4 out of 3000courses each semester and one out of 78 possible majors in subjects I had

never even come across, paralyzed me. But starting with a little intuition andexperimentation I gained more self-awareness. Asking the right questions,tracing an idea and its arguments closely, I learnt how to read for the first time.Keep asking the right questions, and one learns how to think how to ensurethat your modest paper adds to our body of knowledge instead of imperfectlyreproducing it. Of all the skills and knowledge to be gained in a classroom, I findthat critical thinking and effective writing are the most important. You can learnalmost everything else by yourself but these two are habits of the mind itself.

I discovered a love for political philosophy and eventually declared myself as aPhilosophy, Politics & Economics major. Well-considered thinking also leads toself-reflection and makes you challenge every personal belief you hold aboutyour talents, friends and family, culture and identity, what you learn fromrelationships, the point of doing anything, and even the purpose of yourexistence. Its easy to get existential in college. But clear, logical thoughtprocesses and independent reading guided me through them. And once I arrivedat conclusions, I didnt just believe these opinions like I had for 18 years. I now
http://www.wikipedia.com/http://www.wikipedia.com/http://www.feedly.com/http://www.feedly.com/http://www.feedly.com/http://www.feedly.com/http://www.wikipedia.com/


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knewthem to be true (at least for myself). This creates a path of independenceand discovery like no other.

Surround yourself with the most interesting and passionate peopleI applied to college thinking I wanted to be a business major and work in finance.By the middle of my second year, I wanted to do something else but didnt knowwhat. I took a years leavefrom college. I had managed to write a short researchpaper while interning at the Center for Policy Research in Delhi and doingsurveys in rural Bihar so I tried and got University funds to present it in Spainand travelled (which is also a great habit not only for exotic destinations orfamily vacations: I had a tiny budget).

I moved to Mumbai and worked at a firm called Dalberg that works as aconsulting firm for socioeconomic development. In that time, I was able to join ateam to build strategies to identify and invest over $50 million in primary

education programs in Bangladesh that will educate 250,000 children thatwould have otherwise stayed out of school. I helped analyze hospital models thatdeliver high quality health care at very low costs and co-wrote a World Bank/IFCreport on off-grid lighting in Africa. I came back to University with a wealth ofprofessional experiences that were made possible only because I was able tosurround myself with very smart people, doing interesting, meaningful thingspassionately. I write to you now from Brazil where Im helping build a start-upthat that uses online crowd funding and fruit delivery systems to reinvigoratesmall farms and increase farmer incomes.

My point in writing this rather long article has not been to advise, inspire, or

motivate you. My observations are exactly that theyre mineand I encourageyou to make your own. I also did not tell you about my course of study or careerpreferences to set an example mine is one of countless divergent choices youcould and perhaps should make.

What I do want to convey is an insight to choices or challenges you might face inthe next few years. When you do, consider these observations or habits of mindand how they might prove useful. Are the academic choices you face today asall-important as they seem? Are you expanding your reach, connecting with theworld beyond your immediate bubble? Are you using the new tools that yourparents didnt have? Are you making time for yourself or being in situations that

make you think and grow? Are you learning from those around you?

As I said, asking meaningful questions might be more important than findingquick answers. Thanks for reading!

Abhinav NayarClass of 2010

Loyola School

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Advice for Loyolean Aug 2013