SL2College

By Sahan T.M Dissanayake*

(1) Education & Work Background

I grew up in an environment that valued and encouraged education and most of my primary and secondary education happened at Trinity College. I was never a stellar student but I enjoyed learning and did fairly well in most of my classes.  I started playing with computers and programming when I was quite young (commodore 64, good times!). While at Trinity I had the fortune to meet some like minded friends and we started a programming group. I was also involved in the school Computer Club. All of these experiences made me want to specialize in computer science or computer engineering in the future. When it was time to select my classes for the Sri Lankan A/Ls I decided to pursue physical sciences with the hope of getting into an engineering faculty in a Sri Lankan university.

After sitting for my A/L’s, while waiting for results, like most students at that time, I followed a course in computer hardware at a private institute and also started a job as a student service administrator and cashier for the Kandy Branch of the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT), A Global Talent Development Corporation, focused on imparting computer knowledge among its students. While working at NIIT I also completed a one-year diploma in computer programming. These experiences strengthened my desire to pursue a degree in computer engineering or computer science in the future.

I did fairly well in my A/L exams and was admitted to the Engineering Faculty at the University of Peradeniya and I was very excited for the opportunity. About a year into the program I began to feel a discontent with what I was learning and the direction my education was heading.

From early on in my life I read both non-fiction and fiction passionately. I had read most of the science-fiction and some of the non-fiction at the British Council in Kandy and I was fortunate to have parents who bought me a wide range of books. In addition to that, my neighbor, a Western Classics Professor,  had a library full of books about Greek and Roman history that I devoured during vacations while I was at Trinity. All of the reading created a thirst for knowledge within me that was not being satiated by the education I was receiving at an engineering faculty.  I wanted to learn more than just engineering and given that there was no synchronized semester system in place at the time, I was not able to take classes in other departments.

I wanted an opportunity to obtain a broad education that centered on learning and pursuing knowledge. In addition to pursuing computer science I was interested in taking classes in a wide range of fields such as astronomy, psychology, physics, philosophy, economics, religion etc. I had heard of the term “liberal arts education” and after doing a little bit of research and talking to friends who had gone to the US to study it sounded like an opportunity to obtain a computer science degree while also taking other classes that I would really enjoy.  

My parents were not able to afford the cost of studying in the US, but given that many liberal arts institutes give scholarships I decided to apply to a few liberal arts universities that had a computer science department. A helpful fact is that most private liberal arts institutions in the US are able to provide financial assistantships for international undergraduate students. Most public universities are not able to provide financial assistantships to international students as their funding comes from state or federal sources (most private institutions have endowments funded by private donors and endowments).

With regard to choosing specific universities, I looked online for information on sites like the US News and World Report –Best Colleges and also looked at printed publications with information about Universities and Colleges. After talking with friends and family who had gone to study in the US I applied for about 10-12 schools that varied in ranking and quality.

(2) Application Process

The application process was a time consuming process partly because of all the required essays and statements and partly the need to take standardized exams. I took the SAT, Subject SAT and TOEFL standardized exams and I did fairly well and was hopeful that I would get admission. Something that I learned after I came to the US was that many times students take these standardized exams twice and the scores can improve the second time. I also obtained reference letters from teachers at Trinity and submitted transcripts and A/L results. Many schools have different requirements with regard to their essays and other statements, so be prepared to write many different versions of personal statements. Most of the schools asked how much I will be able to contribute and because I was only interested in going if I receive a scholarship I said that I will only be able to pay $2000 per year to cover travel and other basic costs.

I received admission from a few schools - some with financial aid and some without financial aid. I actually did not hear back from Ohio Wesleyan where I finally ended up going. Fortunately a family friend was just graduating from Ohio Wesleyan and had gone and enquired from the admissions office if there were any applications from Sri Lanka. He was told that  there was an application from a Sri Lankan student but it was not evaluated because  Ohio Wesleyan required all applicants to show financial proof that they can provide  a minimum of $9000 per year, the cost of living for a year. He contacted me and suggested that I should state that I can provide the minimum required, but he said students are able to find work on campus during the semester and also during summer. He also said that students can find other sources of funding once they got there so I would not end up having to pay the $9000 minimum. I contacted Ohio Wesleyan University and updated the financial details upon which they evaluated my application. Ohio Wesleyan offered me admission with a financial scholarship that covered most of my tuition and in addition they allowed me to work on campus.


(3)  Visa Process, Costs involved and the Undergraduate Student Life.

Along with my application I requested to be considered for the honors program and to live in the honors residence hall. When I was admitted I was also admitted into the honors program and selected to live in the honors residence hall. This was a great opportunity to interact with students from all over the world who had a common intellectual curiosity and a desire to learn.

I had a fairly easy time to adjust, partly because there were a few Sri Lankan students who were at Ohio Wesleyan and one of my friends from Trinity had also been admitted with me. Having familiar faces and other Sri Lankans made the transition to a new culture straightforward. One of the somewhat difficult things to get used to was eating early at the dining halls. For a small liberal arts school with only 1800 students Ohio Wesleyan has five dining halls which provided a lot of variety in food, but the typical time for dinner was around 5:30pm or 6pm in the evening and this took some getting used to. At the same time my residence hall had a common kitchen and this allowed the Sri Lankans to get together and cook Sri Lankan food. The first year I was there, my friend and I cooked Sri Lankan food for the whole floor as part of a floor program.

*Sahan T.M Dissanayake is a PhD student studying Environmental Economics and Mathematical Modeling at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign.

In Part 2 of this article next week, Sahan continues discussing funding & internship opportunities through his undergraduate experience in the US. SL2College would like to thank Sahan Dissanayake for sharing an account of his undergraduate experience through this article to inspire other potential Sri Lankan students.

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