Andhra Pradesh   

... and Rs. 50 lakhs was waiting for her

S. Sandeep Kumar

Hyderabad girl fulfils her dream to study transport engineering at the best of universities

They say fortune favours only the brave, but if one is willing to work hard and persevere towards the goal, then it comes knocking on your doors. This is what exactly happened with a city student, Aishwarya Vijaykumar, who bagged a fellowship of $19,760 for 12 months (approximately Rs 10 lakhs) and a waiver of full tuition fee of $ 24,000 per year (approximately Rs12 lakhs) from University of Minnesota, United States. Interestingly, she wants to join the civil services, after completing her education in the US.

Aishwarya, a student pursuing Civil Engineering at VNR Vignan Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, secured admission for Masters in Science in Civil Engineering with 2006-07 Sommerfeld Fellowship funded by a departmental endowment, which is awarded for best applicants each year by the Minnesota University.

"The fellowship provides a stipend, full tuition for up to 14 credits per semester and health insurance under the Graduate Assistant Health Insurance Plan. All this put together would be around Rs. 25 lakhs per year," says Aishwarya.

Support for the second year will be provided by a research assistantship, teaching assistantship, or a combination of the two, at a similar level as the fellowship.

Continuation of the award for second year is contingent upon satisfactory academic progress and a passing score on the `SPEAK' Test, which measures proficiency in spoken English.

"It was my ambition to study Transportation Engineering at the best universities and after getting advice from my professors, I applied and now I am happy to get admission in a top university. It's a dream come true," says Aishwarya, who was one of the seven students selected from across the country for the summer fellowship at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, last year.

It was here, that she came to know about the career prospects and the universities offering her desired course.

After scoring 1480 and 297 in GRE and TOEFL exams respectively, she formed a member of I-20 Fever Hyderabad group, run by her seniors working in Unites States, where she was guided about the admissions procedure, best universities in the fray, scores required, preparation techniques. She says her stint at IIT Madras as a summer fellow contributed to the achievement.

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