Indian student fluent in English wants to be a CEO one day
Vineet Lakhlani, sophomore, accounting and marketing
Western India, about 100 miles north of Bombay.
Utah Statesman: How many years have you been attending USU?
Vineet Lakhlani: Three years now. Spring of ’05 was my freshman year.
US: Why USU?
VL: I was an aerospace engineer, and Utah State is one of the top 10 schools as far as aerospace engineering is concerned, and it is the cheapest – you get the most out of your dollar. That’s why I picked Utah State.
US: Are there good aerospace schools in India?
VL: Aerospace as a bachelor’s is not really a big thing because India is still a developing and the aerospace industry is still not that developed. But for master’s program and PhD level research, R and D, it’s really good. I wanted to do a bachelor’s in aerospace, and that’s why I came here to get a bachelor’s.
US: What was your original plan to do with that degree?
VL: I wanted to work in research and development mostly in satellite and spacecraft technology, mostly on the propulsion systems. Engineering is tough, and I still like it. Right now I don’t know if I want to get a bachelor’s in it or not. I was three semesters away from graduation, and I changed my major. I probably will come back and finish it at some point, but not right now.
US: Is it particularly expensive as an international student to come to the United States and go to school?
VL: Yes it is. I was in a government college in India in mechanical engineering, and my annual tuition, including all the fees and everything, was $30. Annual. Right now in just tuition and fees, I pay about $6,500. And being an international student, I don’t qualify for any financial aid. My parents helped me, and I have a loan from my home country. They’re about 12 percent, not that bad.
US: What do your parents do?
VL: My parents own a pharmacy shop in India. My mom’s a pharmacist.
US: How does the school system before college work in India?
VL: Kindergarten is the same. Then grade 1 through 7, that’s the primary school. Then grades 8 through 10, that’s the secondary school. Then 11 and 12, that’s the higher secondary school. And then it’s college. Just like here, engineering is four years, then a master’s is a few years. PhD varies from 3½ to 5 years, but it’s more or less the same.
US: Is there some sort of test you have to take to get into college?
VL: Yes. There are certain schools – India Institute of Technology, which is one of the top technology schools in the world – they have their own test, the Joint Entrance Examination. Then medical school has their own set of examination. Some of the management schools have their own examinations. Grade 12 is one of the most important grades in the schools. Some of the states, they have to take tests after they graduate. But when I graduated in my state, grades from my 12th grade were all that counted. The tests were optional for me. If you want to get into medical school, there is a premedical test. India doesn’t have a GPA system, it’s all percentage-wise.
US: Your English is flawless. How did you get so good at English?
VL: I studied in an English school since kindergarten. College level is entirely in English. You can’t do it in any other languages, especially science fields. High school level English is not mandatory. There are regional languages, national language schools and English. I learned English as a primary language, and all the other languages were secondary.
US: Why are there so many Indian students studying medicine or engineering?
VL: Coming to the U.S., it’s not an easy thing. Because every year there is literally thousands of people who apply to study or work in the U.S. The U.S. government tries to hire people who are qualified, not blue collar but white collar jobs – doctors and engineers – those are the ones that are in dire need. That’s why the people that you see here are top-level professionals.
US: Do most people want to stay in the U.S. or go back to India with their knowledge and help develop?
VL: There’s both. There are some people who go back after they graduate, but there’s a mix of both.
US: Do you think with so many doctors and engineers returning to India, it will improve the quality of life in India?
VL: Oh yes, definitely. In my state, every year, about 300,000 engineers and doctors graduate. Every year. There’s about 10 applicants for one job. There are a lot of professionals that are trying to get jobs in other countries because of the job saturation. The working class is increasing. It’s about 600 million people. There a majority of the people in India right now that are the working class. It’s more than the entire population of the U.S. They’re fluent in English. That’s the biggest English-speaking population in the world. People all over the world want to invest in India for several reasons: stable economy, stable government – it’s a democracy – it’s got good ties with the world. It is developing at a faster rate.
US: Do you think the media portray India in a less-than-glamorous light?
VL: At a certain level yes. There’s still problems of poverty and illiteracy in India, but it’s decreasing at a very fast rate. Right now, the literacy in India compared to 10 years ago is about 60 percent. They have at least to a 10th-grade education. They can read and write. The way poverty is defined here and the way it’s defined in India are totally different. If you’re not working full time here and if you have a family, that’s considered poor in the U.S. But in India, if you don’t get two meals a day, that’s considered poor, if you don’t have a house, or whatever. The government is helping the poor. Because of the population, it’s not as fast as it should be. But it is definitely becoming better and better. Call centers like Microsoft and Dell are all in India. A couple of my high school friends are working in call centers. I wouldn’t say the media is lagging behind, but there are some aspects that are overlooked. If you look in papers, the economies are doing better. The GDP growth rate and unemployment rates are going down. Of the top 10 richest people in the world, four of them are Indians actually. Three of them are still Indian nationals, I’m not sure about one of them.
US: What is your favorite sport to play?
VL: I’m going to have to go with tennis. I used to like cricket but then I had too many injuries and I just kind of isolated myself from that sport. I still watch it sometimes, but I just don’t follow it as much.
US: What’s your favorite sport to watch at USU?
VL: Basketball. I wish they had soccer games more popularized. I love soccer. That’s like the game to watch.
US: What other countries have you been to?
VL: None. I’ve been to airports in Germany, but that’s about it.
US: Do you like the snow in Logan?
VL: Yeah, more or less. I’m of the opinion precipitation is inconvenient if you’re in college or in school. I don’t want to walk and be wet or cold when I go into class. I’m more or less indifferent toward school, but I don’t hate it.
US: Does your country have a national anthem? What are the words to your country’s national anthem if you translated them into English?
VL: The national anthem in India is in Sanskrit. I’ve heard the U.S. national anthem that talks about the fight for independence and how you got independence and all. The Indian national anthem, despite of the fights and all, it talks more about the prosperity, like how prosperous the land is and fertile the land is. It names all the major rivers and mountains. It’s an agricultural land. It talks more about the populace than how it got independence. It’s very different. Over here I would see national flags in every house. In India, that’s not the case. That doesn’t mean they’re not patriotic or anything, that’s just not the way they do it. On the in
dependence day there are parades.
US: Do you think Logan is a good representation of the rest of the United States?
VL: No. No. It’s a beautiful place, but it’s not the best representation of the rest of the U.S. The roads are wide. In California they could probably fit four lanes in our two-lane roads. The lifestyle is a little bit low key than the rest of the U.S. It’s a beautiful place.
US: In general, do you think USU students are pretty accepting of you and other international students?
VL: Oh yeah. I lived in the dorms for one semester, and that was the first time people from smaller towns in Southern Utah, that was the first time they actually saw someone who is not American or didn’t look like them. So they were curious as to what the culture was like. I’ve never had any problems regarding not being accepted or being disrespectful.
US: What could help all students be more accepting of each other at USU?
VL: I think more programs or events that promote diversity, that make students aware of the campus diversity. Showcases and things like that would help drastically to bring all the students at USU to come together.
US: What is your favorite television show?
VL: That’s a tough one. I’m going to have to go with “The Simpsons.” I like Apu too, but Homer is something else. He’s from a different dimension.
US: What are your plans after you graduate?
VL: I want to work in some company in the EU, and then after getting a little bit of experience, I want to get an MBA from Australia or New Zealand or some other country and then eventually go back to India and become CEO of my own company.
US: What’s the best book you’ve ever read?
VL: “My experiments with Truth.” That’s an autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi.
US: What’s your favorite genre of music?
VL: Jazz or Indian classical. I like jazz just because of the trumpet.
US: If you were given three wishes, what would they be?
VL: One is enough for me. Give me the ability to do whatever I want.
US: What’s your greatest fear?
VL: I’m scared of deep water. That’s about it.
US: Who’s your role model?
VL: It has to be my mom. She had to face a lot of self-hardships in her life. I think hardships are necessary in anyone’s life. It just helps build character and appreciate what they have and start valuing it more and more. That’s why I think my mom is my role model.