Coming to Rutgers all the way from India was worth it

I come from India, a country that has one of the most diverse cultures. Every state has its own customs, culture, language, traditions and way of life. The diversity is so huge that each state can be distinguished as a separate nation. It is a secular country with a Hindu majority. Almost every religion is prevalent in India including Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism and the second-largest Muslim community in the world. Even with such heterogeneity, it is a comparatively peaceful country. If you go through the pages of history, you will not find aggressive conquerors or dictators. India believes in defending itself and does not support any kind of expansionist attitudes. It was the largest economy and was a very rich area in terms of diversity, knowledge and resources; but divided into infinite small and large kingdoms. It was known to be a “Land of Golden Birds” before the British invaded it.

I was born in Vadodara, a major city in the western province of Gujarat. I grew up in India and never left the country before arriving in the United States. Life in India, as a student, is easier when compared to the United States. I did my undergrad in Chemical Engineering at the GTU (Gujarat Technological University), a state university. It is an Engineering and Technology powerhouse with multiple affiliate campuses in each district (county) of the state. Just like Rutgers, it is a huge state university. Education in India is comparatively cheaper than the United States. My per semester tuition and other fees would sum up to less than $500 per semester! If you are living in the dorms, the cost is less than 100 dollars. The focus was more on developing candidates that are suitable for working in the industry rather than research. The exams would be unified across the state with thousands of students taking the same exam at the same time. Everything being centralized, the exams then would be sent to different campus locations for grading and you never know where it was graded or who graded it. The only grading your own professors did was viva.

Only a few can afford fancy cars and motorbikes in India. And when I say fancy, Camry and Passat also come under that criteria. Forget about the Ford Mustang or Jeep Wrangler. Life was pretty simple though. The labor is immensely cheap compared to how much it is here. Hiring a housemaid is really inexpensive in small cities, often at less than $30 a month. We had housemaids who did all the household chores including cleaning, dishes and laundry. I never did my own dishes or laundry. Believe it or not, I had not once ironed my shirt before I came to the states. I never had to take a walk to get somewhere. I just took my motorbike for a ride whenever I needed to. Parking was never an issue. Eating out was also comparatively cheaper. No prior planning of finances was essential before taking a badass vacation. It was always affordable and since India is a huge country, there were lots of places to go to in the country itself if you were looking for a cheap vacation. All in all, we couldn’t afford fancy toys, but our life seems a bit more princely now that I am here. Some people literally ask me if I am from a royal family or have a huge family business after hearing about my seemingly lavish lifestyle back in India.

The toughest decision of my life up until this moment was to leave India and come to this beautiful country for my graduate studies. After a lot of thought and discussion with my parents, I decided to pursue my Master’s Degree in the United States as it is a technology hub with great universities and is truly said to be the land of opportunities. Add the illusion of the great ‘American Dream’ and I was adamant about choosing the US over my parents wish of me going to Canada where life would have been simpler for me due to presence of relatives and friends all over the country.

I am currently pursuing an MBS (Master of Business & Science) in Chemical & Biochemical Engineering. With the state of the art facilities and infrastructure coupled with the distinguished faculties that Rutgers has, it was natural for me to select it for my Master’s. One of the things about Rutgers that makes me feel proud is that it is a world-renowned research university. It is also a 250-year-old university making it one of the nine colonial era universities.

The education here is of a totally different style than my undergrad university; a lot of focus is on research. The infrastructure is beautiful and world class. The transportation from one campus to the another is great most of the time, unless you’re on an LX. Livingston Express you say? More like Zombieston local. It is more crowded than Mumbai locals. The faculties are great at teaching and are more interactive. In a Pharma class, one of my professors literally picks on people to engage in class. That was totally new and shocking, but fun for me. The interactive education provided here is better. The computer labs and laboratories have up-to-date equipment, a rarity in my university as the funding was very low in comparison to an average American university. There are multiple huge sports and recreation facilities that serve lots of students. We didn’t even had a quarter of these facilities. Very little emphasis was placed on sports at my school in India. Even though the Football team takes a huge beating most of the times, just the fact of being the origin of the College Football fills the chest with pride.

Rutgers also has its own police department dedicated to the safety of the students which is actually amazing. We just had some unarmed security guards at the gates. Additionally, the diversity here is incredible. I meet people of various nationalities, religions, race and ethnicity. It was an amazing experience that molded me into a more tolerant and positive person with an admiration for everyone irrespective of their origin. All that came at a huge price though with nearly a $30,000 a year in tuition and fees compared to $1,000 in India.

Gujarat, India is a sunny province with warm and pleasant weather most of the time. It is cold as hell here. I did enjoy one of the worst snow blizzards NJ had in almost 20 years as it was my first snow experience. What surprised me more was the heat of summer. Even though the temperature doesn’t rise as high as India, the humidity coupled with direct inclination of sunrays burned me up. The mere size and the taste of the vegetables is better. The rent though, is steep. I feel like paying for a presidential suite at a 7-star hotel but receiving a prison cell in hell in return. Add the misery of doing my own laundry, dishes and cooking, sometimes I wish I never left India in the first place.

All-in-all, I am undoubtedly glad I took the opportunity to pursue my graduate studies at Rutgers. Life might be a bit hard right now, but it is totally worth it. If someone magically takes me back in time and asks me to reconsider my decision, I would gladly choose to make the same decision again without blinking an eye.