LOOKING AHEAD

After graduation, students from outside the United States must decide whether to return to their home countries.

Gimaiyo says that he wants to go back to Kenya to pursue a career in public service, perhaps focusing on economic policy making.

But he says he still worries about the possibility that his concentration choice will have a negative impact on his ability to find a job.

“Economics is considered an art, not very practical,” Gimaiyo says. “But learning it at Harvard, it might give me a certain edge. When I want to go into policy making, it might make the process a bit smoother.”

While he plans to return to Pakistan, Aftab says he is unsure what career he will pursue, though he is thinking about starting his own business.

Braimah says she plans to pursue her passion for architecture, despite her parents’ hopes for her to become a doctor. She says she would like to work in New York to allow her to focus on corporate architecture.

Braimah says her parents are beginning to accept her unconventional career ambitions, and her dad has even given her some architecture books.

“I love my parents, I love the way they raised me, even though they pushed that doctor thing. I understand they really just want the best for their children, and to them a doctor is the best you can be. If they hadn’t pushed me, I wouldn’t be here,” she says. “But if I took Women and Gender Studies, my parents would demolish me,” she adds with a laugh.

—Staff writer Victoria L. Venegas can be reached at vvenegas@college.harvard.edu.