Why I wanted to do this internshipSince the day I saw Ashoka’s website, I knew I wanted to study here. Since the day I gave my interview at the sprawling Vasant Kunj office, I knew I wanted to work here. Seeing Dhruv and Chakshu get the opportunity to interact with the entire batch before they joined, I dreamt of doing the same one day. I would talk about the college to all my friends and family anyway, so I felt that interning here officially would be great because it would just be natural.

Marketing something I truly believe inEarning a good amountUnderstanding the functioning of the admin of my own collegeInteract with young people and parents

What I learnt about myselfGrowing up in a CBSE school, I always felt that my creative and intellectual needs weren’t met. Talking to students who went through a similar experience and informing them about this new ray of hope, I felt very content.I got convinced that I want to pursue educational and industrial psychology further. Promoting institutions that practice holistic pedagogy is my passion. I enjoy marketing things that I truly believe in and institutions like Ashoka is one of them.

I can make a good marketing personI can be a good career counselorI want to work in education

What our department can work on- in terms of outreach1. Lets find a way to reach out to tap into Asian markets. Singapore and HK

universities right now are top quality for which people come to Asia to study. However, they are only for STEM. We can be the best liberal arts and humanities university in Asia as we don’t have too much competition for that. We need to compete with these for a more global student body. So lets market ourselves in such a way that the way HKU and NUS are highly looked up for tech courses, we are highly up for humanities and liberal arts courses. Lets market and look at ourselves as the best college for liberal studies in Asia. Aiming for U.S is perhaps too high right now, lets prove ourselves in this region first. Could be risky but lets do a lot of outreach in the Middle east as well. Also go into Andaman& Nicobar islands, Lakshadweep, Maldives, China.

2. Make a snapchat account of Ashoka- putting photos/videos of whatever is happening on a daily basis. Like NYU Stern

3. We can have student reps in every city. Parents and families can talk to these few students about their concerns.

4. Have more frequent campus tours during the holidays and weekends. Ask for student volunteers who will be available on those days. For most working people, weekdays are a menace.5. Allow us interns to work between 7 and 11pm. This is the time when parents are back from work and can comfortably listen and children have already had their tuition.

What our department can work on- in terms of website

1. Put pictures of the dorm rooms and washrooms, mess, common room etc.

2. Don’t have the YIF website so isolated from our program. They’re a part of Ashoka too.

3. Ashoka’s course and grading system should be explained more in detail: 100 credits to graduate, 2 credits for each FC, x credits for each major course etc etc.

4. Events update- guest lectures, attach the YouTube link along with guest lecture information. Update Youtubes with ALL talks possible.

Things that confused me1. Predictive scores being given by the students being an okay thing- why so?2. Why should people who don’t need any financial aid still apply? If the reason is that we have

plenty, then why not save that money for other things? Like summer school, where we are severely deprived of aid.

3. The problem of integrity- when we did a presentation in Vasant valley school, I was dying to talk extensively about Q2C, CSGS and the fact that the first book we studied in our great books class with Proff Menon was Kama Sutra. But I couldn’t, because there were “counselors” and teachers sitting in the same auditorium. I don’t want to euphemize what we learn because that will go contrary to what we do learn here. I want to be proud of what I learn and be brutally honest about our holistic and liberal approach.

4. The problem of elitism- Will write in more detail once I myself gain more clarity on this.

My personal greatest achievement in the internship

I managed to convince 2 people who are already in college to apply to Ashoka. One of them is studying in our biggest competitor for liberal arts in Bangalore- Christ University.

Bangalore team’s success

Our region includes: Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry Total Applications in Process: 2086Total Applications in Process from our Region: 279 (13.4%) Total Applications submitted: 273Total Applications submitted in our region: 47 (17.2%) Conversion Rate of the team: 273/2086 = 13%Conversion Rate in our region: 47/279 = 16.8%

Funny experiences1. A mother told me on the phone that her daughter won’t be applying

because the form asked for their assets, number of cars and salary etc and she found this to be offensive and a way of the university discriminating on the basis of economic background of a student. She told me she’s in the process of writing a letter to Smriti Irani. I made Akshai sir talk to her and he was able to convince her to have her daughter apply.

2. A girl called and talked extensively about her IB scores that I didn’t quite understand so I passed on the phone to Phurbu. She wanted to know if she could get in with the IB certificate by skipping science and math which she just wasn’t good at. we looked at the form and saw that under IB, there is option of either certificate or diploma so we told her she could. She got very mad and said that she paid 5 Lakh extra just to get the diploma so she could get into Ashoka and Dimple told her and her school counselor that she needed to have diploma. We thought something was definitely odd and it turned out that she did in fact have to have diploma to apply.

Ode of thanks to my TM I never expected to get a T.M who’ll speak my language, break

corporate norms and say something like “Don’t worry about the numbers (number of calls you make in a day), focus on the personal connect you build with the applicants and having a meaningful interaction” (paraphrased). She not only made sure that I look beyond the “target numbers”, but encouraged me to also share my personal experiences with applicants. I took her advice and talked to applicants and their parents on whatsapp later. I sent them pictures of the hostel and shared interesting experiences. Dimple also gave me positive reinforcement when I was able to convince certain tough clients to apply to the college and she assisted me throughout my internship. She kept it fun and simple. She was never a tough boss I was afraid to talk to. Even when I made mistakes, she told me to not be hard on myself and had me laugh over it later. This internship would not have been as enjoyable and deep without her assistance.

Concluding comment I used my cell phone to make calls and connecting with

people and hence I will continue my interaction with them as and when they need help! Not only interact on the phone but I honestly wont mind meeting families in person at a café or something if they have a lot of questions about the application, college life etc.

Ill write to the department for further feedback often and stay in touch with all the new people I met during the course of the internship. I am very passionate about the Ashoka outreach cause and will extend my involvement beyond the internship tenure.

Why this internship was great fun Helped me realize my passions & strengths Brought me closer to my friends. Without any planning

whatsoever, people I’m closest to in my batch ended up working with me here absolutely co-incidentally! And hence this was a great time for me to bond with them

Work environment: not just great people to work with, but a beautiful natural environment too. We worked in the gardens, with amla trees, tangerine trees, spinach and raddish plantations, birds and grass. I connected to nature after a very long time at the Vasant Kunj office.