Diversity in Admissions: Ashoka Students and the Team that Selects Them

Memory takes me back to early 2016 when I moved from working with the Young India Fellowship programme team on the new Ashoka University Campus to the Delhi office (then in Vasant Kunj) to join the Office of Admissions. With a completely new team of 6, including Vineet Sabharwal, Ali Imran and myself, we collectively tried to understand, learn, re-establish, and build upon the existing admissions process. By August 2016, we managed to bring in an undergraduate cohort of 341 undergraduate students with unwavering support and guidance from faculty members and founders, who were closely involved in the selection of students. Currently, at the end of August 2024, now functioning as an independent team of 13, and enrolling an undergraduate cohort of around 900 students and 80 postgraduate students, the process is definitely far more streamlined and nuanced but remains as intense and exciting as ever.

The Ashoka admissions journey has evolved over the years and both the incoming cohort sizes, as well as the Admissions Team, have grown in unique ways. The Office of Admissions independently oversees all admissions related to undergraduate programmes, and works with faculty members of various departments for their postgraduate admissions, with the aim to craft each year’s incoming cohorts in a thoughtful manner.

As a function, Admissions at Ashoka has two unique aspects: On the one hand, the team handpicks students through a holistic process that assesses various parameters such as academic rigour, intellectual curiosity, critical thinking and logical reasoning abilities, co-curricular engagements, extra-curricular passions, reading interests, etc. All this is evaluated within the unique context of each student’s personal and educational life journey, wherein their awareness of themselves and the world, their motivation and grit, and their core values are considered. On the other hand, once an offer of admission is made, the focus shifts to consolidating the cohort. An immense amount of effort is made by the Admissions Team to individually retain each student by engaging them and their families through in-person and online interactions, in-depth conversations via various channels of communication, sharing informative and creative content, hosting community-building events, running social media campaigns, and a whole lot more.

To bring in postgraduate students for 3 departments and a diverse undergraduate cohort of 900 students from 11 Countries, 27 Indian States, and 424 Schools, across a variety of gender expressions, seeking to pursue academics across Majors and a variety of exciting extra-curricular interests, requires a diverse Admissions Team that is both academic and process-oriented, well read and detail-oriented, empathetic and perceptive, creative and data-driven, passionate and consistent, and much more. The Admissions Team represents 10 Indian States and speaks 8 unique Languages and consists of members from a range of academic backgrounds (including some Ashoka Alum), non-academic interests, professional and creative skills, plus a variety of life experiences beneficial in the selection of students who best fit the Ashoka University academic and residential life programmes.

Given my interest in the philosophy of diversity, inclusion and belonging, since 2018, I have had the privilege of garnering support from Ashoka’s leadership to run a 3-week Academic Bridge Programme for select incoming students each year, supply laptops for those who cannot afford one, funds to purchase books, stationery items and important resources, along with the promise of a regular monetary provision in the form of a stipend to students on full financial aid waivers. With Ashoka’s support and vision for students from underprivileged and/or marginalised communities, my hope has been to not only offer admission to all deserving students but also give them the opportunity to receive a high-quality education and as much support and social empowerment on campus.

In my administrative and leadership role, I have tried to be strategic and detailed in our planning and execution phases, with the aim to simplify all processes, make them sustainable, and allow space for creativity, without compromising the quality of the process or the student body, and by actively ensuring that we set each student up for success at Ashoka and beyond. To be entrusted with the selection of Ashoka students is genuinely humbling while everything that I have learned in this journey is precious and priceless.