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MORE ABOUT ASHWIN

Graduation Date:
June 2011

Hometown:
The world - literally

High School:
Bahrain American DoDDS High School

Awards & Achievements:

• Created the New International Students Organization
• Participated in The Next Big Thing at Commerce competition
• Director in DePaul Investment Club

Campus Involvement:

• DePaul Investment Club
• DePaul Ambassadors
• New International Students Organization
• Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization

 

Ashwin Anandani

International Student

Area of Study:
Finance and Computer Science

I chose my major because... of the overwhelming use and infinitely growing potential of computers in the modern business world. We are moving forward as a civilization through the usage of computers, especially in the financial world; it will be an advantage in the job market to have a degree of this nature – especially since DePaul has such strong schools in both programs. By combining the curricula, I’m basically getting a degree in computational finance.

My favorite thing to do on campus is... spending hours slaving away at the Ray and finishing it off with one of their delicious protein shakes! I am notorious for “living at the Ray”; I frequently take others with me, and we simply can’t believe how incredible the facility really is.

I decided to attend DePaul because... it has a top-tier business program that focuses on learning by doing. You’ll hear about the ‘DePaul Mafia,’ in reference to the immense amount of extremely helpful alums that now operate in the Chicagoland area. No other school here has that same influence combined with the personality that the school possesses. Chicago’s a great big beautiful city with more potential than other media-saturated big cities, so there’s a chance here to do extremely well and be noticed.

The learning environment here at DePaul is... very personal - the professors here aren’t obsessed with getting research done and teaching to large sums of people – they’re obsessed with you, and they want to make sure you get things done. 

The class I most enjoyed here was... my current English class: English 103. While I have taken the excruciating International Baccalaureate program in English, this is still a tough course. The professor fully engages us by assigning a project on composing and culture, as opposed to a typical scholarly writing. The workload is huge, but the learning process I am going through here is immeasurably useful and eases my transition.

One thing I didn’t know about DePaul before coming was... the difference between education and knowledge. You can get an education, but it doesn’t mean anything unless you can apply it, unless you have knowledge to compliment it. Here I’ve discovered wisdom; it makes you knowledgeable – even after a month! You’ll begin to know all varieties of random facts, and you’ll begin to be able to make real connections with life and analyze anything in it, and at the same time you’ll have fun knowing everything you need to.

Here, the diversity of students, faculty and staff... creates a spectrum wider than that of a full rainbow – they say that Times Square in Manhattan contains every kind of person possible. In that case, DePaul is the Times Square of universities. I’ve heard the janitor’s mix Russian and Spanish to communicate, and this was alongside another dialect of Spanish between the RA’s. The faculty consists of probably the widest range of accents possible; some are simply a combination of several. I’ve met students here that range from all experiences: one who worked at an NPO for a year before coming here, a student who used to sing with the San Francisco Symphony, and even one who worked construction in the richest county in America for 4 months, living in a trailer park with seven other Mexicans – this, is real diversity.

The greatest thing about going to school in Chicago is... the “L”. This is a student’s best friend; it’ll take you anywhere, at any time, do anything you like – and you never have to worry about having cash on you. The best part is it’s free sightseeing; taking the brown line and overlooking the Chicago River surrounded by buildings of incredible architectural nature every morning to get to class is an excellent wake-up call!

At DePaul, service learning is... hardcore. Never before in my years of award-winning service have I toiled so hard as I did in the incredibly rewarding 4 hours of New Student Service Day. There’s something about sweeping and raking a Southwest-side block in 95-degree heat on a Tuesday morning, and then receiving a heartfelt ‘Thank You’ from a passing drug-peddler that can really change you – DePaul gives you that opportunity, along with the opportunity to reflect on it and to think about what we need to about it.

DePaul is the ideal place for international students to pursue your degree because... the affordability of DePaul combined with its opportunities and education quality made it unbeatable. There’s no wonder this is a best value college; it’s a package deal, where so many things are included in your tuition – all sorts of software and deals, a U-pass, the Ray membership, and some ridiculous number of other things I’m yet to discover. If you compare it to other private schools in large cities like I did, you’ll see that this is the best value for money you’ll get – especially in a city this big full of opportunities. All of this is a big deal for international students!

International students considering attending DePaul should know that... this university is the most diverse you’ll get – and that still only translates to one percent of the population! When you come here, you won’t need to forget your roots or anything (everyone here actually embraces it wholly), but you will need to immerse yourself in the culture many times. In terms of legal difficulties, DePaul is extremely useful and compassionate in helping us with the overwhelming legalities and paperwork so make sure you take advantage of things like this.

After graduation, I plan to... stay in the Chicagoland area and hopefully solidify a running internship into a job. I hope to keep that job for a couple of years before attempting a masters degree somewhere in Chicago.

The one thing I’d like to say to students considering DePaul... be open-minded. This is a great school, but it’s still college – you’re going to meet people who are very different from you, and many who probably won’t agree with you. You’ll even meet people that you simply don’t get along with, but you can’t be discouraged, you can only be open and accept everybody in order to succeed here.