A CEO in Mumbai
A semester in India was not in David Kang CC’15’s plans when he arrived at the College as a second-year transfer student. Due to financial constraints, he had all but ruled out going abroad — until he learned about the Columbia Experience Overseas (CEO) program.
Offered each summer by the Center for Career Education, CEO sends undergraduates to one of eight cities to complete eight-week internships. As a financial aid recipient — he was awarded The Richard Ruzika Scholarship Fund upon admission, which helped cover his tuition — Kang was eligible for a $3,000 stipend for the CEO program in Mumbai. (Other CEO destinations are Amman, Bangalore, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai and Singapore.) The allowance covered his airfare and living expenses while he spent summer 2013 working at AZB & Partners, a corporate law firm.
“I’m very, very thankful,” he says, adding, “Without [CEO] I wouldn’t have been able to go.”
In Mumbai, Kang immersed himself in local culture through activities that ranged from a visit to the ancient Elephanta Caves to a Bollywood movie outing. He also relished jaunts to New Delhi, Rajasthan — “The deserts and oases were really fantastic to see,” he says — and the Taj Mahal.
“I really enjoyed my time in India and learned a lot about Indian culture,” says Kang. “Never once had I considered India a place to visit.”
CEO participants live together in housing arranged by Columbia and are assigned one or more alumni mentors who reside in the host city. Kang’s mentor, Srilekha Jayanthi CC’11, LAW’16, was at the time a research assistant at the Columbia Global Center in Mumbai, which is housed in the same building as AZB & Partners. She proved an invaluable resource for everything from travel and health advice to tips on how to interact with his colleagues at the law firm.
I’m very, very thankful. Without [CEO] I wouldn’t have been able to go.
“It was very convenient and helpful for me to check in with Jayanthi to ask her about India, about the culture, about the work culture, as well as what was OK and what wasn’t,” Kang says.
CEO also provided welcome logistical support. “Columbia helped me the entire way, in terms of getting my belongings to India and making sure I was safe and in a good location,” says Kang.
Professionally, Kang is already reaping the benefits of the weeks he spent conducting legal research and reviewing documents at AZB & Partners; he is now a paralegal in the Litigation II section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, which handles mergers in the defense, aeronautics, banking, construction and other industries. It was only because of his CEO experience that he considered pursuing such a job opportunity.
“Being a legal intern in India was challenging in terms of learning everything. I didn’t know anything about law, didn’t know anything about finance,” says Kang, adding, “The expertise I took away has been vital.”