You’re reading an excerpt of Admitted by Soundarya Balasubramani. Written by an Ivy League graduate from India, this is the proven guide for students worldwide looking to pursue undergraduate or graduate study abroad in the U.S., Canada, or Europe. Purchase for instant access to the guide and other exclusive resources—including sample SOPs, sample resumes, scholarship lists, and a private community with other readers.
One day, while we were on a call, Rishabh asked, “Why don’t you add a section at the end to give the readers a glimpse into your experience?”
So, here you go.
Fortunately, I love documenting my life through timeless entities, such as photographs, videos, and articles. I went through more than a thousand images to hand-pick these. While reviewing them, it felt like I was looking at a doppelgänger. Someone who looks like me and even acts like me in some images, but it isn’t me. Not who I am today.
The past three years had a profound impact on my life, for the better.
Graduate school in a new country will change you. It will help you shed many of the stereotypes you currently hold, make you unlearn and relearn cultural etiquettes. At times, it might feel disingenuous to change yourself so much. But, if there is anything we learned from our own history, it is that evolution is good, and it’s inevitable.
Embrace the change.
And, make sure to document it, so you can retell the story to those who come after you someday.