AIS Student Headed to Ivy League University of Pennsylvania

Rohan is attending The University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League University in the United States, after graduation from AIS. This self-determined student has been selected for study in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Penn. Rohan’s admission letter said in part, “Your application reflected your extraordinary potential, and you are now poised to magnify that potential at Penn.” Here’s Rohan in his own words. 

“I started at AIS in Grade 4. My brother Raj also went to AIS and graduated in the Class of 2019. He’s in Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh right now. The process of getting into Penn was quite difficult. In U.S. applications, there are a lot of essays to write and so there was a long process in figuring out how to structure my essays. How to present myself really well. In that sense, the process was quite difficult. But also, I enjoyed it a lot because I got to open up and talk about myself in a way. It was a nice way to kind of learn about myself but also be able to present myself to someone else. Obviously, I don’t have a connection with the admission reader so it’s always nice to be able to communicate as much as you can. It was a difficult process, but I quite enjoyed it.

I started looking at making a university list in about April of 2020. Over time, it progressed. I had to submit my application in November. It took a while to finalise and perfect my essays, so it was quite a long process. 

When I found out about getting into Penn, I had just landed in India. I knew the admissions portal would have the notification, so I was ready to open it immediately. But I had to wait two hours before I could log in. I fell asleep because I was super tired from travelling, and I just randomly woke up at 5 o’clock and I was like, ‘Oh God! It’s out!’. So in the dark room, my dad was there, and we opened it and freaked out because I was not expecting it. I was really happy obviously, but it was very surprising as well. It was just a nice experience. Obviously, I called my mom, called my grandparents, called my family. So, yes it was a crazy experience. 

At the University of Pennsylvania, I’m going to be studying engineering. I got admitted to the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Once I get to campus, I’m going to try to enroll in a dual degree program and work with the Wharton School of Business as well. I want a dual degree in Engineering and Business. I’m thinking about going into entrepreneurship and starting my own business and seeing where that can take me.

AIS shaped me into who I am now. It really helped how they structured programs throughout the school experience and having projects throughout the way. Whether it be the MYP Personal Project or be the IBDP Extended Essay, we’ve had projects throughout where you can take your own initiative and lead your own way. It was really good to become self-determined, but also to find your own passions and find what you’re interested in. I really liked how AIS was able to create all of these different projects throughout my experience to really bring out my interests and make me learn more about myself. 

I’m going to miss my friends a lot, but also the experience we get through being able to have so many different activities that happen. We have our arts, we have our sports, I’m going to miss the NECIS Tournaments. During those, we meet our friends and we go all the way with our friends to new countries to compete with them. It’s an experience that’s going to be missed a lot.   

I’ve been competing for the school’s swim team since I started in Grade 4. I began cross country and track towards high school. I do hold a couple of school records in swimming and in track and was also able to reach multiple podium finishes throughout the years, especially in the long-distance track events. I feel very fortunate to have been able to represent AIS at all the competitions and I am going to miss being a Griffin. 

I’ll also miss the school field trips as well. It’s many of these trips where we get to go outside and where the school takes us to new places that I’ll miss so much. One of my favourite field trips was in Grade 8 when we went camping – I think it was in the Ardennes. It was fun because we had to take on our own responsibilities, so before going into high school the school prepared us to be responsible young adults. I really enjoyed how they gave us responsibility to cook our own food, and figure out our own tent arrangement. That was one of my favourite field trip experiences. 

I’m going to miss coming to campus a lot. I’ve come here since Grade 4 and it’s the one place that I go every day. It’s one thing I’m surely going to miss. I’m going to a new campus. I know it’s going to be brilliant there as well.”