Desire for freedom of speech lead her to studying History and Law at University of Chicago

Moving from Kolkata to Chicago

The University of Chicago takes in 1500-1700 students each year. Settling in can be an issue, as she had been in the same all- girls school and with the same set of people for 14 years. It takes time to familarise with the surrounding, finding people with similar interests. Shivani, being a city person preferred, going to this campus as it was in close proximity to Chicago. It is important to understand that in a US university, a person is expected to be more like an adult, meaning that you have to be proactive in reaching out to Professors and establishing a relationship with them. 

Life on Campus

Shivani being a very bubbly and outgoing person, found the campus life a little less buzzing as it is cold all around the year, unlike other campuses in warmer climates. The feeling she felt in the US was to generally be by oneself than, than in a group. 

Reflecting on Academics and how she enjoyed History

She quite enjoyed her time studying History as a Major at University of Chicago. She is currently pursuing Law from the University of Chicago. Most students who join UC are known to take up Economics or Law as their major. Though she chose Law, most of the people around her were taking Economics classes. Her history professors were quite old and the experience she got with them gave her new perspectives which she feels she would not have got anywhere else. The old professors push the students to think for themselves and find topics that they would like to present. This made her classes and the projects quite rigorous. This, she felt, made her better at analysing and skimming information. 

Flow of learning over the years at UChicago

Initially, she took several different classes and slowly realized that history is what she was inclined towards, then took on more classes in that area. Out of 14 classes offered, she was to take 6 to 8 classes with a common theme. Like Europe in the 1900s, history of science or history of pandemics, world war etc. In the final year at UChicago, she was required to do a thesis. The topic she chose was “how the media portrayed Kashmir”, so picking something she was passionate about helped her improve and present a better thesis, as it is something that one does for a whole year, so suggests choosing wisely. 

Studying Law at UChicago and securing a good job

She decided to pursue law after she felt she had the skills to analyse and process information quickly, along with writing a lot of research papers, while doing her history major. Since her early days, she was always keen to one day do public interest litigation in the Supreme court. So she wanted to be a lawyer. Doing graduate school is very different from undergraduation, as people are more focused. At the top six law schools, they set you up very well and one has more job offers per student than the number of students. If you are good and consistent with your grades throughout your time at the college, you are bound to get 5-7 offers at the end of campus interviews.