Who says hard work isn’t rewarded? Lately I have become an
example in my college for all those students who work laboriously hard to score
high. My reward – my 100% scholarship.

How did this happen? Before I answer that, my scholarship was
as an answer to all those who thought I was a misfit. How can a student with
just 64% marks in 10+2 coming from an EWS family become successful? Many would
say that. Well with dreams in my eyes and zeal in my efforts, I proved them
wrong.

Now here’s how. One thing I learned from my family was to never
shy away from hard work. I drew my inspiration from my father who works really
hard to make ends meet – selling vegetables on a cart in Delhi is no easy job!
I was a hard working student right from the beginning. Seeing my dedication
towards studies I got support from family and school and chose science with a dream
of becoming an engineer. But soon I realized it was a such a common dream. An
uncommon student like me needed an uncommon dream. I chose RICS SBE – that promised
me success, fame and money – everything that I could ever dream of!

Dreams are made of stardust, they say. You become a star,
when you face the dust. I fought so many battles both inside and outside (some
I won, some I lose) that made me face the dust, those battles also made me stronger.
My shield were my mentors at RICS SBE.

Being a science student, I was scared of economics! But thanks to my
professors, I got over it. Not only got over it, I did extremely well. Unlike
other institutes, here students are encouraged to make mistakes and correct them.
Weak students get special attention and faculty makes teaching fun! The
professors at RICS SBE take special pains to bring out the best of every student.
A shy guy earlier, here I started asking questions and clearing doubts in
class. However stupid my question was, I wasn’t mocked at and this gave me confidence
to ask more. This is how I learnt. Faculties were available to help me round
the clock – over phone, on mail or in class.

One of my faculties also helped me to
intern in an investment bank in my first year. That exposure was an eye opener
for me. It helped me understand that real estate is a rewarding career. Gone
are the days of doctors, engineers and lawyers. Now is the time to break the
traditional barriers of career and explore new options. Sky is the limit for
hard workers in this industry. Real estate has come a long way, it is no more
lala ji – muneem dhandha. It has become much more organized and a promising
career for many young, aspiring individuals. But this is another side of my
story.

The main side is how I got 100% scholarship
on merit basis. Moving from 64% to 9.50 CGPA in 1st year was not an
easy job. I won’t say somebody played a magic wand and I scored well. It was
sheer hard work, passion and patience. As I said earlier, talent is recognized
at SBE. Let me tell you, I owe a lot to the school and the faculty. It was
their continuous help and support which enabled me to perform better. Now I am
in my 2nd year and seeing my consistently high CGPA (above 9) its
likely my scholarship will extend into another year.

And I really needed this scholarship
to continue learning. Banks refused to lend me, seeing my family background. My
only hope was from SBE, and they didn’t disappoint me. After my first year results
were out, I got in touch with the Chief Student Mentor, Brig (retd.) V Nakra
and my father figure, who are also our dean, Prof K T Ravindran. They helped me
to first write down the application and then the next time they called was to
inform me about the sanctioning of my scholarship. Where else do you find such
helping people? In fact, it was my dean, Prof Ravindran, who personally called
me to inform me about the sanction. If you have faith in yourself, money would
never become a problem at RICS SBE.

Believe in your dreams – they make
you a star!

If I can do it, so can you!

Sunny Pandey

BBA in Real Estate and Urban Infrastructure
(REUI), 2013 – 16 batch

RICS School of Built Environment
(RICS SBE)