An international student from Australia, Nidhi Anugu chose the University of Iowa for the opportunities that the UIHC presents for students interested in the health sciences. She found the Honors Program at the end of her first semester, tried out an honors contract and experienced its benefits beyond simply earning honors credit, and joined honors outreach ambassadors to spread the word about honors opportunities to other students who might not have known about the program or who felt on the outside.

Dear Prospective Student,

Congratulations on coming to the University of Iowa! You have gone through many years of schooling and now you have started a new chapter; a new journey that is college. As you arrive to college, you are filled with excitement, but it may also start feeling real. You might be thinking of your high school friends, your teachers, classrooms you knew and now all of that is a mere memory. But the best part is now you’re at the University of Iowa you have many new people to meet, new auditoriums to explore and amazing professors to learn from. It may have been a difficult and long journey to say goodbye to your high school chapter, but bigger and better things are on your way. You are going to feel at home the moment you step into the Hawkeye family. We cannot wait to get to know YOU!

Let me give you a one-minute crash course on what college is like! I came from Sydney, Australia travelling via three flights. By the way, Hi My name is Nidhi Anugu and I’m majoring in human physiology on the pre-medicine track. What drew me to Iowa was the amount of accessibility it has to great opportunities. When I came here, I was equally nervous and excited. I was so worried whether I would find my home away from home and if this college was the right fit for me. I would walk down the walkways or in hallways and people would smile and say hi, they would introduce themselves and instantly I loved the warm and welcoming community it had. I then went to football games and the rush, the madness, the school pride was so thrilling. I would go to the dining halls and staff were so friendly and caring. No matter where I turned the people here were extremely genuine.

I chose the University of Iowa primarily because of the UIHC. I knew that for pre-medicine I would find the right opportunities and guidance here that would one day make me a better doctor. However, I always felt like I was different in my classrooms. I wanted to be around people who wanted to learn more and get a better take-away from classes. I then stumbled upon the UI Honors Program towards the end of my first semester during freshman year. I was nervous to apply because I didn’t think it was made for me. But I spoke to a peer-mentor, attended a seminar about honors and was on my way to applying for the program. I successfully got in and with that came a sense of pride and an acknowledgement of my achievement. I got to experience the honors community during my second semester of freshman year. I loved it a lot. This is because I was exposed to more opportunities, and I was able to be around students who also wanted to get more out of their classroom experience.

I learnt so much such as how to contract courses to receive honors credit. This allowed me to understand the fundamental skills of how to build connections with a professor and lecturer. It gave me these skills that would be vital for my medical school ambitions. For my honors contract for my rhetoric class, I spoke about how Covid 19 was spun into the media and the various hoaxes, facts, and uncertainty it brought to the world. This structure allowed me to understand medicine in a deeper way. I highly encourage you to reach out to your professors and create contracts for your classes as well to get a deeper meaning out of them.

I also liked how there were so many resources available to me such as different kinds of research, volunteer, and social activities to build those connections. I applied to become an honors ambassador because I wanted to spread the message of what it’s like to someone who was like me, who didn’t think that this program was for them.

I hope you do well in anything you aspire to, and that reading this has helped you gain more perspective on the program and perhaps even made you more excited to embark on this journey.

Best, Nidhi