Dickinson Welcomes First Next Genius Scholars
From left: Hemanth Kapa, Adi Chacko and Pranav Azad. Photo by Dan Loh.
Program Identifies Exceptional Students From India, Bangladesh and Nepal
by Tony Moore
Dickinson has recently joined forces with Next Genius, a program identifying and supporting the brightest and most promising students from 1,800 schools in India, Bangladesh and Nepal who seek to study at American colleges and universities.
Since its inception in 2014, Next Genius has awarded more than $28 million in scholarships to 230+ students, enabling them to pursue undergraduate studies at 21 partner institutions across the United States. This year, Dickinson welcomed its first three Next Genius Scholars, all from India.
Why Dickinson?
“I decided on studying in the U.S. because of the research opportunities and exposure it offers, along with the chance to experience diversity and broaden my perspectives,” says Hemanth Kapa ’27, from Tadepalligudem, Andhra Pradesh, noting that he’s “cherishing every moment here at Dickinson. Specifically, I chose Dickinson because of its small class sizes and favorable student-to-faculty ratio, which I believe will facilitate more meaningful interactions with professors and foster strong connections.”
The Next Genius partnership allows Dickinson to reach even farther beyond our limestone walls, continuing to foster an enhanced international presence that will further attract students who are driven, ambitious, globally aware and ready for the challenges Dickinson offers.
“Dickinson attracted me with its hands-on curriculum—like the workshop approach for physics courses and early research opportunities—and its push into each student getting a more holistic education background,” says Adi Chacko ’27 of Amritsar, Punjab, fully embracing Dickinson’s broad-based education. “A writing major shouldn’t just focus on writing/English classes. They should also expand into things like art history, because one way or another that will impact their writing.”
Finding Their Place
As part of the program, Next Genius sponsors a comprehensive recruitment tour across major cities in India, including school visits and counselor programs in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Goa and New Delhi. The tour both facilitates student engagement and allows Dickinson to establish meaningful connections with a variety of schools in South Asia. And those connections lead to many others, notably between Dickinson's academic landscape and the scholars themselves.
“Dickinson being a liberal arts college serves me a wide variety of courses and at the same time the liberty of studying anything, [and] it has an amazing computer science program, which happened to be my primary interest,” says New Delhi’s Pranav Azad ’27. “Dickinson has been a welcoming community with lots of facilities. Weekdays are study focused but at the same time weekends come to the rescue. A person can never get bored here because this campus is filled with activities and events.”
Kapa also looks to his full slate of engaging activities—both in and out of the classroom—as he cites “engaging in clubs I love, rekindling old passions and conducting fascinating experiments in the lab” as what keeps him engaged. “And those late-night philosophical discussions with friends from Korea to the U.S. make me feel like I've found my place.”
TAKE THE NEXT STEPS
Published October 6, 2023