To many students, life at AUD is just a passing phase, teeming with new concerns and concepts that they have probably never seen before at high school -- comprehensive exams, credit-hours, a code of conduct, an honor code, and of course, the petrifying notion of ‘plagiarism’ [along with a 101 ways to avoid it].
To a few others, AUD presents a vector of unbounded opportunities, an arena of limitless possibilities, waiting to be exploited mercilessly. As for me, I have been fortunate enough to be one of those few belonging to the latter group – always ready to clutch, tame and manipulate any opportunity coming in my direction.

AUD has endowed me with the best available in every aspect. With an eclectic team of skillful academics imparting knowledge, AUD has furnished me with one of the strongest Business Degrees in the Middle East. It has helped hone my personality by teaching me a plethora of practical lessons– lessons I learnt by being part of student clubs, activities, and leadership opportunities. AUD has molded me not just academically, but in a more holistic manner. It has allowed me to paint a picture of what reality looks like outside this university; a picture, which I am sure, would remain etched on the canvas of my life long after I have left this institution.

My experience at AUD has taught me that university is that crucial stint in an individual’s life during which he or she could metamorphose into a fully responsible adult. I say could, and not would, because this transformation is not an automated process that happens by default -- the opportunity is present ubiquitously at AUD, but only those who seek to extract its essence, tend to be successful in making this life changing transformation. I am proud, and lucky enough, to have been one amongst those few.

Armed with the wings of knowledge, resilience and determination cultivated in me by my four years at AUD, I am now primed to emerge out of its cocoon, ready to brave the winds of reality that blow outside this university – my university. Looking back through a mist of nostalgia, I feel that AUD has now become an integral part of me – one that I never want to let go of. But, alas, all good things must come to an end, and as the proverb goes:

“The back of one door is the face of another”

Abhilash Raj
Economics and Finance and Banking
Valedictorian Class of 2009
President - Student Government Association