'Fall' into place at foreign varsities

Are you one of those for whom the word ‘fall’ summoned images of leaf-laced landscapes you had only read about in books? Now, as you take the big leap into the 2015 ‘Fall Term’ (roughly August end/September), you find yourself loaded with woolens and other hand-me-down strategies to survive the semester. This means adjusting to new class norms, syllabi, social circles, weather, campus culture in a whole new country—all the thrills and chills of a giant academic and cultural shift, which can be fairly overwhelming. 

Kolkata-born Senhaswini Saha, who joined the University of Glasgow (UK), in September 2012 for a year-long Master’s degree in Sociology, shares, “I won a scholarship of 5,000 GBP (Great Britain Pounds). The course fee was 12,500 GBP. I had to spend a total of around      `25 lakh, including other expenses. While a student loan of `6 lakh helped me out, the rest was funded by my father”. Snehaswini adds that she lived in a single-occupancy varsity accommodation, which cost 400 GBP, and her monthly pocket-burn due to food, travel and domestic necessities was 
300-350 GBP.

Of negotiating the possible curves ahead, Pooja Mehta, who did her Masters in New Media and Journalism from UK’s Newcastle University, says, “Try not to spend too much on food and alcohol. Budget well and travel around. See new places, meet people outside your academic circle, do odd jobs—perhaps even learn a new language.” 
Pooja adds that active participation in student union activities enhances knowledge of the alien social set-up.

For Preeti Bhattacharjee, from Johns Hopkins University (US), opting for Chemistry-Biology Interface, “one of the best programmes” in her field, translated into a vibrant life experience, where she learnt how to do everything herself, from packing and moving to renting a truck and driving it. Of her syllabus, Preeti says, “The academic structure is much more flexible here. There are a large number of courses offered. Graduate-level courses are taught using the latest developments in the field, involving discussions of current literature.”

Part of a four-year PhD programme (Computer Science and Geoinformatics) at Canada’s McGill University, Dipto Sarkar has a few tricks to offer when it comes to settling in. “Be social. People are willing to help you, but you have to ask,” he says, whilst recommending being interactive in the classroom. Dipto admits that it is difficult to get used to a whole new country and academic system, but “once you’ve managed to do it, you feel like you can do anything”.

Sneha Pradhan, from Cardiff University, UK, echoes Dipto’s sentiments. “Always be open to discussions, because you get to know a lot about other cultures. People from across the globe come to study here, so it becomes a good platform to exchange ideas,”  she says. “Exams weren’t a part of my course, which  involved writing assignments and  independent research, analysing media reports and newspapers articles, and managing online news production.” 

Archi Dasgupta, former Pennsylvania State University (US) student reveals. “Racism and/or xenophobia still exist in certain places in USA, including central Pennsylvania, especially in the university programmes that do not have a lot of students of colour,” she says. “I remember being made to feel completely invisible by the white American students during orientation week. That was an intellectually demotivating experience, but I got used to it and blended into the ‘group of colour’. Things certainly improved with time,” Archi adds reassuringly.

Whatever your chosen destination, one way to contain the inevitable chaos that accompanies changing continents on a student budget is to fall back on survival tips from those who’ve already been there.