Interview with Pratik Spring 2018

Meeting up with Pratik Banala is always a great time! Pratik is undecided on his major but is starting to lean towards a Data and Analytics major. I asked Pratik if he was enjoying his major and  why or why no. He said he likes that he went in undecided so that he could figure out what he wants to do with his life. He knows he wants to do something with business and loves it because it has a lot of opportunity and a variety of degrees that align with the business school. I asked if Pratik if his career plans have changed since first semester and he said yes and no. Pratik came in knowing he wanted to do something with business and that has not changed; however, he thought he wanted to major in economics but now is leaning towards a data and statistics degree. This change happened because he really enjoyed his stats class and feels that it is the route he wants to pursue. Next I asked about Pratik’s involvement on campus. This has been a little bit of a struggle for him since he is really working hard to get good grades. Pratik participates in events like Clean Up Columbus and other Buckeye Serve events. Pratik also recently participated in Buckeyethon, a 24-hour dance marathon, and raised money to help fight pediatric cancer. Next year he hopes to get involved with an intermural team for basketball or volleyball. Pratik also wants to join the Democrats club as OSU as he is very passionate about political issues and loves to talk about these subjects. Next I asked what Pratik thinks about the ACES living-learning community. This year Pratik has really enjoyed living in Smith-Steeb with other ACES. This living-learning community has provided him with a group of people to get involved with. Some of the best friends he has made this year were people living on his floor from ACES. Lastly, when I asked about what Pratik loved most about last semester, he said it was definitely the football games. Pratik made it to all of the Big 10 games and his favorite was the Penn State game with that last second win for OSU. Go bucks. Pratik said, “game day atmosphere is like no other” and he is very excited for another football season next semester. After catching up with Pratik I was very happy to hear he seemed very well adjusted to OSU. I can help mentor Pratik but making suggestions of ways he can get involved with volunteering on a regular basis. This seems to be an area for growth for him as he said he typically struggles to get all of his volunteer hours in. The only thing keeping him from getting super involved are his grades. As a mentor I can help Pratik find a study plan to make the best use of his time so that he can have time for both school work and other involvement with clubs or volunteering. Pratik and I have very different majors but I have a lot of friends studying areas in the Business school so I can also help him by giving him people he can contact if he has questions about their majors or classes he should be taking. To touch on fun subjects, Pratik mentioned to me that he has been to some cool restaurants and shopping areas of Columbus such as Condado and Easton. We talked about different places in Columbus he has yet to try, such as Jenni’s and Brassica. It is cool to hear that Pratik has a group of friends to do fun things with around Columbus and also good to hear he has adjusted well to college classes, as they can be very challenging. I look forward to doing our explore Columbus event and can’t wait to see the awesome things he has in store for the rest of the semester!