With all that New York Epsilon Rajani Deshpande does, she looks to the quote “when you feel like giving up, remember why you started” to help remind her to keep going.
She is a vivacious sister studying Industrial Management Engineering and Mathematics of Operations Research, with a minor in Economics nonetheless, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Once I was able to sort through what that all meant, I needed to know what Rajani is going to do professionally with those degrees. Rajani is heading back to New York City. Thanks to a successful summer internship in the Securities Division at Goldman Sachs, she has received an offer to work full time in Client Services for the prestigious company.
With her future plans all set, it may be shocking to hear that Rajani came to college not sure what she wanted to study. With older brothers attending RPI, Rajani knew it was the school for her to study engineering. But during her first year of school, she was overwhelmed by the ratio of male to female students, which she estimated to be 70 percent male to 30 percent female. She always heard about the population difference, but being in the classroom, she noticed it immediately. Initially, she was not sure how to fit in her new environment often seeking guidance on how to express her opinions while also having people value what she had to contribute. She sought out a female support system through the Fraternity and Sorority Life community.
When Rajani met the Pi Phis, she viewed them as the leaders she always wanted to be. As Rajani thinks about this time she recalls, “the people that you naturally gravitate to, and feel that you have shared values with, end up being your sister anyway.” She joined the Pi Phi New Member class and her sisters became her first friends at college.
Rajani served as Vice President of Administration and is currently Policy and Standards Board Chair. She values the positions she has held in the chapter as they have allowed her to help her sisters with problems. Two times a week, she held “Real Talk with Raj” which was a time she set up as open office hours to allow her sisters to come talk to her about any issues, academic, personal or otherwise. The sisters have been very receptive to this time with Rajani and she has created stronger bonds with her sisters.
We really are a strong group of sisters,” Rajani says, “everyone is a leader in this [chapter].” Rajani attributes a successful undergraduate career in large part to Pi Phi. She felt supported through college and grateful for the sincere friendships she developed.