Meet Ms. Arushi Agarwal, a recent graduate of B.A. (Hons.) Liberal Arts & Humanities from Jindal School of Liberal Arts & Humanities, O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU).
Now a self-assured individual, Arushi describes herself as being very different before entering JGU. “Before joining JGU, I remember myself to be shy and an underconfident individual because I was unaware of my own capabilities and was confined to the typical Indian mode of teaching which did not match my learning style.”
However, things changed for Arushi once she joined the Liberal Arts & Humanities programme at JGU. “Having studied under the guidance of the JSLH department made me recognize my strength in writing comprehensive research papers. I also wrote a psychology thesis. The key aim of JSLH is to provide students with a holistic approach to learning about foundations of numerous subjects, some which I had not explored during my school years. When I opted to study Psychology during my final two years in school, I was certain to pursue it further and JGU provided me with immense opportunities to understand where exactly my interests lie.”
“By the time my third year, fifth semester arrived, I was rather unsure about my future career path. Having studied different core courses and electives, as interesting as they were, I was able to eliminate what I did not want to choose as my career. While courses such as Counselling Psychology and Criminal Psychology would grasp my attention and excite me, upon contemplation, I realised that I like learning about them but would not have the mental and emotional strength to deal with the consequences on field. In my fifth semester, I was looking forward to the elective Consumer Psychology offered by JIBS (Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences) and after a few classes, I noticed a change in myself. I believe this is the class where I participated the most, maybe because the professors interactive style of teaching, my passion for learning as applied the knowledge I had learnt in class in my daily routine. One of the assignments was a group presentation where we had to come up with a marketing strategy for a shoe brand which helped me realise how the concepts studied during class can be administered in practice. Therefore, I have chosen marketing as my career. I believed marketing was primarily a business course but I have now realised the role of psychology in marketing and advertising products to consumers” shares Arushi when asked about how she came to choose marketing as her final choice of career.
Sharing her personal experience as a student of JGU, Arushi feels that JGU as a university puts great importance on students’ theoretical and practical knowledge and students are given access to various resources to bring out the best in them. “As a student of JSLH, I was required to complete a minimum of four internships/summer or winter programmes/online courses to acquire a specific number of credits to graduate. Before beginning my journey at JGU, I was concerned how I, a freshman with no previous job experience, would be accepted by respected organisations to intern and learn; however, the Office of Career Services was very helpful and quickly put my mind at ease. As the first semester began, we had workshops on how to produce different documents such as a resume or cover letter and discussed the specifics in detail such as the template that needs to be followed, how to compressively showcase the information. They would further host internship fairs for students to participate as they share their resumes with esteemed companies who were looking to hire students with various qualities.”
When asked about her favourite internship experience, Arushi fondly talks about her time at Dentsu Impact. “One of the companies that I applied to through these internship fairs was Dentsu Impact, which is a branch of the Japanese advertising and public relations company Dentsu. I worked there for three months under the guidance of an account manager where I learned the process of social media and email marketing of acclaimed brands and how to compute the monthly progress regarding audience interaction. The company was very welcoming and helped me become more confident in myself, especially for the future.”
For Arushi, being at JGU has greatly helped her overcome challenges in her life and career. “JGU helps students explore their identity through numerous academic, extra-curricular, and leadership opportunities. I acted as the Director of Design for the Rotaract Club (Feb 2021 – June 2021), a member of the SGRC (Student Grievances Redressal Cell) (Jul 2020 – May 2021) to work with the JSLH student council on their social media page, peer tutored Spanish to my fellow juniors in JSLH (Feb 2021 – Jul 2021) and participated in many more such ways. JGU prepares its students for the real world and provide the essential knowledge for their future endeavours. One of the most important things I have learned through JSLH are citations and research papers. No matter a student’s future plan, JGU helps them ease the academic and professional aspects of their aspirations.”
Arushi plans to pursue her interest in marketing by studying for her masters degree. Owing to her hard work, dedication and constant effort to reach new heights she has made JGU proud by securing an offer at The University of Warwick UK for MSc Business with Marketing. We wish her the very best and are excited to see her carve her mark!
