Desis, very much like white people working in book stores and coffee shops, hope to use Masters degrees as a gateway to the real America. But very UNLIKE white people, desis always get ONLY into engineering degree programs.
You have to bear in mind that Asia produces a gazillion college graduates every year or more accurately a gazillion engineering graduates. A Master’s degree is a gateway to the American dream. In other words, an American degree is a definitive way of scoring high on one’s reputation as well as feeling unique among his/her high school friends.
The journey begins with out realizing the huge unforeseen identity crisis lying ahead. It comes as a shock to the desi to find hoards of other desis in United States. The after-shocks are pretty serious resulting in partial or complete loss of uniqueness he/she felt all the while.
Desis start retrofitting their feeling of uniqueness by comparing several traditional parameters of reputation like: Urban upbringing in India, reputation of the undergrad institution etc. People from Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Hyderabad and Bangalore start re-affirming their faith that rest of India is just rustic and they alone have read PG Wodehouse. Similarly, people from IITs, BITS Pilani and NITs instantaneously start looking down upon the rest of the folk. Computer Science folks re-enact feeling/acting superior over say, Civil and Mechanical engineering branches. A complex social hierarchy of position and superiority emerges.
This goes several steps deeper: When desis from different universities meet, they instantly run US News ranking comparisons to see who is likely to emerge superior. Universities outside the US News ranking list will almost certainly be considered not to have Wikipedia entries.
Desis who do not have a Master’s degree from United States are considered to be at the bottom most of this pyramid. These people will be pooled under a ‘contractor/consultant’ category and are perceived as some sort of pollutants/diluents to American society and culture who should have never been issued American visas in the first place.
However, everything returns back to good and joyful times when desis are visiting back in India. The very fact that the degree/person is from a ‘foreign’ university/country , no matter which one, restores normalcy. It is important not to get intimidated by this maze of hierarchy. Desis, often, celebrate their Master’s degrees by having them printed beside their names on Wedding invitations. Attributing some sort of superiority to this degree on the invitation is likely to quench the desi thirst for feeling unique.
Very true. The purpose of education is to realize the unity beyond the apparent diversity and not a feeling of ‘uniqueness’ or pride. It would be great if education imparts the right vision and some humility.
I tend to disagree with the statement that desis get ONLY into engineering programs. It used to be the only gateway to Masters Program in US but not anymore. Desis have cracked the code of getting into MBA Programs as well. When I graduated in 2002, desis were 13% of the entire class. Last year (Class of 2007) we had 18-20% desis, and the number keeps on going up every year. According to one estimate (desi MBA Consultants!), ~3,000 desi MBA graduate every year from top 50 b-schools.
Haha.. this is so true. Although, I went to a canadian school for my masters (in computer science.. surprise! surprise!) and didn’t see many desis in my program. Like the blogger said.. anything other than the states is a big no no…
It is better to update your knowledge on certain things.
1. American Dream is no longer appealing with great job opportunities back in India and rising living standards/salaries.
2. MBA from a IIM is always considered better than any masters from US. The best ones try to get into IIM’s the rest choose the easy way of Mater’s in US.
3. Those who come for Master’s, Unlike the Deis’s who came in 90’s, the current crowd wants to go back to India.
4. Having a degree in US is no longer considered great (unless say it is MBA from some top school), MS degree’s are considered waste of time and money (that was the question most asked me when I left my well paying job and came over to do MS)
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OK, what about medical school – I am a white guy in medical school and probably almost half of my class is composed of Indian-Americans (born to Indian immigrant parents)…What is up with this??? I thought this was incredible.
PhDs fetch better.
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I guess most people and this includes all colors, in that specific segment ( graduate degrees ) are elitist. I know for a fact that MBA students look down upon engineering, and doctors look down upon both. But ,my advisor who is not brown/desi said this about doctors ” I appreciate the fact that they work very hard, but their work does not require intelligence”. I might be paraphrasing, but my point is that everyone especially those who reach that level in their field is a bit passionate about the field.You cannot get a PHD if you do not like what you do.
As far as the uniqueness and shock of seeing so many desis goes, ever heard of a place called the consulate?? That queue puts to rest any ideas of uniqueness you may have, infact its quite a humbling experience. You see all sorts of people in that queue, and it is natural to bunch with people who seem like you.
Oh and there was a time when USA encouraged doctors ( now they encourge engineers and MBAs) , probably in the 70’s and 80’s , but they are now much stricter towards doctors. Same thing is going to happen to IT guys now,and soon it will be only MBAs .
Although I don’t necessarily approve of all of your intentionally sardonic posts on all things “Desi”, this particular post was quite an accurate description of Desi fetish with superiority. You have a keen eye for behavioral details!