Special Circumstances

Executive Summary

The personal easy highlights cultural issues on Hindu marriage, religion and occupation. These cultural issues are directed to people who are in charge of admission. It is evident that my love for biology will shape my career path towards health sciences, such as bioinformatics and clinical attendance. Moreover, Hindu culture permits parents to make marriage arrangements to their daughters. To this end, religion plays a major role in defining gender roles. For instance, it is not easy for a traditional Hindu wife to advance her education and choose more suitable career path. However, personal determination and lecturer’s support facilitate one’s success in education and chosen career path.

Discussion

I am a married woman aged 29 years, and born in a conservative South Indian Hindu family. I have an affinity to biology since middle school. Besides loving biology, travelling fascinates me. Recently I have developed an interest in running, because it helps in maintaining both healthy body and mind. After graduating from high school, I got trained in programming languages and operating systems like Unix with C, Perl, C++ and Java. The training enabled me to work as a programmer at a small BPO for couple of years. Besides, I managed to teach classical music to children. Later, I enrolled in IASE University in fall 2004 and pursued bachelor degree in Bioinformatics. In India, I pursued a bachelor’s degree is for three years and I was expected to graduate with honors in summer 2007.

I was in a relationship with a senior who was a Jain. However, we did not tell our families about our relationship and decided to keep it secret until graduation. I had some educational goals after graduating and dreamed of pursuing my master’s and then Phd degrees from Indian Institute of science Bangalore. I actively participated in scientific debates and I was selected for a competitive internship program at Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals. My family wanted me to get married after I graduated and started looking for a suitable boy friend. I eventually told them about my boyfriend to avoid an arranged marriage, which could only result in a family feud and a painful breakup. My marriage was arranged by my parents and I got married in November 2006. After the marriage arrangements were finalized, I moved to the United States in December without graduating. My husband and his family assured how they would let me continue my education in America. I thought I was ready to start a new life and let go of the past. However, I failed to realize how deeply this would affect me. I strained to fit in a role of a traditional Indian wife, which resulted in self-doubt, poor self-esteem and loneliness. I did not know what to do with my future and took classes at Austin Community College to keep myself occupied. Moreover, I got my work permit in July 2008 and started working for an autism clinic as a research assistant. This job helped me earn some money and allowed me to do some travelling. In this regard, I managed to plan a trip to Peru, and this travel changed my life. I stayed a mobile medical camp in Puno and volunteered as an administrative assistant. The doctors and nurses I worked for inspired me to make positive changes in my life. Besides, I went to Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula for few weeks. I learned so much from my travels and developed a love for Latin American Culture. After coming back from Mexico, I started retaking the classes to improve my grades. I want to work for a mobile healthcare clinic in the future and also dream of pursuing Latin American studies in my undergraduate studies. The best choice of major for me is Public health and Latin American studies. I felt even more encouraged to pursue two completely different majors after meeting my Biology professor Dr Steve Bostic. The professor has majored in both Religion and Biology. I strongly believe that University of Texas can help me realize my career goals and also live life full purpose and meaning.