Rewant's Story

My name is Rewant and I come from India. I grew up in Lucknow which was once the capital of Mughal Empire, and most famous for its food and culture. Since childhood, I have been exposed to a lot of customs and traditions which played an important role in defining who I am today, but I’m far from a person who is bound by these customs and traditions. I also prefer to keep myself occupied with a lot of extracurricular activities, both on-campus and off-campus, which is the reason why I have always been involved in a lot of clubs and different school activities.

I am especially interested in theatre and performing arts. Before I began my freshman year at NYU Shanghai, I contacted all the theatre companies in Shanghai asking them if they had any work or volunteer opportunities available for college students. After waiting for months, an amateur theatre company got back to me and asked if I could get involved in their next production.

I am majoring in Interactive Media Arts (IMA) at NYU Shanghai. Before choosing the IMA track as my major, I was also following the Business and Finance track, and Neuroscience track that involved following the Foundation of Science (FOS) curriculum. While I enjoyed taking both Business and Science classes, my creative intellect wasn’t being challenged. I decided to take a few IMA classes and fell in love with what I was doing in that major.

IMA gave me a platform to further cultivate my creative intellect and interest in wearable technology and projection mapping. I have especially been intrigued by wearable technology and the potential it holds in near future. For the final project of one of my IMA class, I created a glove that measures pulse-rate and body temperature of a person in less than 10 seconds, and shows the data on a small screen attached on top of the glove. This was the first time I had created wearable technology myself, but is definitely not the last time. What I really appreciate about the IMA Department at NYU Shanghai is that they always encourage students to be innovative and motivate them to use their creative intellect.

For most part of my high school education, I had never considered studying outside India as an option after graduating high school. The whole concept of studying abroad was strange and new to me as no one in our high school had done that in the past decade. I, along with two other ambitious friends in a class of 300 students, decided to apply to a few colleges outside India and break the mainstream custom of only applying to Indian colleges.

When I first received my acceptance email from NYU Shanghai, I was not as excited as I thought I would be. I was a little skeptical about attending a newly established college in China. While I was waiting to hear back from other colleges, NYU Shanghai invited me to attend the Admitted Students Weekend in Shanghai to discuss NYU Shanghai and meet other students who would comprise the inaugural class. I decided to attend the admitted students weekend and get to know more about NYU’s newly established institute. During my short stay in Shanghai, I was left completely mesmerized by the city and the amazing people I had met from all around the world. NYU Shanghai was giving students an opportunity to receive world-class education in a city like Shanghai, full of energy and potential. After returning back home I knew where I would be spending my next 4 years of college and immediately enrolled into NYU Shanghai without any second thoughts.

One of the advantages of attending NYU Shanghai is the ability to spend up to three semesters at any of NYU’s 10 study away sites located all around the globe. I want to take this opportunity to circumnavigate the globe and experience different cultures and traditions. I am spending a semester in Berlin this fall, and in the United States next spring before I come back to Shanghai for my senior year. I want to accumulate as much experience as possible during my college so that when I go back to India after I graduate, I have something valuable to add to the cultural diversity. While it might be too early to narrow down on a city to call my future home, my top pick would either be Shanghai or Mumbai in India.

All in all, I am glad to have chosen NYU Shanghai for the enriching experience I have had here so far. Every day in Shanghai is an adventure and this city never ceases to amaze you. The people here add to a more memorable experience as everyone is humble and helpful. I am also excited about studying-away in junior year of college, and try fulfilling my childhood dream of circumnavigating the globe.