Lankans blossom at Augustana

Wednesday, 29 January 2014 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Nashaya Ali and Savi Jayawardana were seniors at the British School Colombo looking at millions of options in their search for the perfect university when they came across Scholarships for USA Ltd – a dedicated and very personalised guidance service with a proven track record in helping hundreds of students over a decade finding the most affordable and best fitting schools in the US. For Tharaki Pahathkumbura from Gateway College Colombo it was a familiar path as four years ago her elder sister was guided by SUSA to enter an excellent school in Ohio with an amazing scholarship.

Having considered many offers from excellent schools across US (who partner with SUSA) they all decided on Augustana College in Illinois last fall which was a recent addition to SUSA’s constellation of US Colleges and Universities. “Augustana is a great university with the most beautiful campus. The faculty and students are extremely nice and helpful. They definitely make you feel at home. There is a great variety of majors and minors to choose from. The academic program is designed such that, you are really given the chance to identify your real interests before committing to a particular major. Your professors and advisors play a key role in helping you determine a career for yourself,” commented Nashaya who plans to major in Business Administration-Marketing and minor in Psychology. The primary reason for selecting US, according to Nashaya, is the flexibility and the widest choice offered in the US higher education. “The subjects offered are highly diverse and one has the total freedom to mix and match subjects where one can choose to do Business with Biology whereas another may select French with Chemistry. This freedom of choice and the access to a broad range of courses is what I find most appealing in the liberal arts education in US,” she added. She has already tried out a variety of different courses ranging from History of Traditional East Asia to Greek Philosophy. Turning towards her social life she added that so far she has been having an amazing time. “I have met so many great people from all parts of the world. The campus itself is so beautiful and peaceful. The people are extremely friendly and helped me in every way settling into a new environment. I definitely enjoy the independence where we have the freedom to make decisions regarding everything. The professors are supportive and patient and their lectures are interactive and interesting. They really put in a 100% into all their classes. My best memory so far is the International Student Orientation. It was obviously a stressful week where there were millions of things happening but was a lot of fun at the end of each day. I made lots of great friends from all corners of the globe. The Global Ambassadors were wonderful and they really made sure that we enjoyed our first week in the US,” she added.