M.A. Alumna August 2002

Like many of our students, Kadhir‘€™s academic preparation for a career in medicine entailed breadth and depth beyond the sciences. In 2009 he graduated with a triple major in Spanish, History, and Latin American Studies. While at Tulane, Kadhir spent a semester in Buenos Aires enrolled at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina, and Universidad de Buenos Aires and during the summer of 2007, worked with underprivileged youth from Niterói, Brazil in a project for BemTV, a local non-profit community media group. Later that year, he worked with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, assisting specifically in the compilation of an electronic database of the group‘€™s historic documents in order to preserve them for posterity.

Here Kadhiresan reflects on the way his LAST major impacted his medical career…

Why did you choose to major in Latin American Studies?

I originally entered college knowing I would ultimately pursue an M.D., but I wanted to use my four years to study something other than science (aside from the required coursework).  My interest in Latin America stemmed from experiences I had in high school.  I lived in a dormitory with international students from around the world, including many from Mexico. With their help, I excelled in my Spanish classes and knew that continuing my study would allow me to reach a far greater population as a physician. 

How has your background in LAST helped you since graduation?

I did not know how valuable my time at Tulane and abroad in Brazil and Argentina would become. In the hospital, I am often the only person on my team who speaks Spanish‘€“making my communication skills an integral part of daily rounds and allowing me to follow unique cases I would otherwise miss out on. Additionally, the cultural perspective I gained through LAST allows me to build rapport with patients from diverse backgrounds.  

Any words of wisdom for LAST undergraduates?

To undergraduates from LAST, I would recommend shooting for the stars. LAST encourages students to analyze problems from a broad-scoped, multidisciplinary background. This approach is useful not only in traditionally affiliated professions, but also in careers in business, medicine, or any field. There truly is no limitation for what you can do with your degree, but the skills and experiences you gain from LAST will definitely set you apart from other applicants for jobs and graduate programs.

Plan Políticas Públicas, São Paulo

After graduating from Tulane, William began a part-time internship at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) a research non-profit loosely affiliated with Yale and located in New Haven, CT. Leveraging his previous English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching experience, he also took a position at an ESL summer camp, St. Giles International. He returned to Tulane in fall of 2010 to begin studies as part of the Master’s program in Latin American Studies, receiving his degree in 2012. He is currently Junior Evaluator & Social Sciences Researcher at Plan Políticas Públicas, a consulting firm in São Paulo, Brazil.

William discusses his experience at Tulane…

Why did you choose Latin American Studies?
In making my decision, the most important factor was the reputation of the Stone Center as an institution. Once the decision was made, however, I realized a number of other advantages to my choice. The interdisciplinarity of the Stone Center program allowed me much more control over the pathway of my studies than I believe I would have had in most other majors. While at first my flirtations with so many disciplines worried family, gradually I realized that the supreme concern with specialization is a trait of post-WWII science education (the ‘€˜Cold War Sciences,‘€™ as I have heard them called) in which both my parents were active participants. The current, interdisciplinary model exemplified by the Stone Center is not only strong, but increasingly relevant due to the complexity of the challenges which our generation faces (e.g. global climate change, persistent poverty, and social marginalization). Solving these problems requires that the deep-yet-specific learning garnered by following a cannon of celebrity thinkers along the traditional branches of study be overlaid with networked understanding of multiple fields and the ability to translate ideas between these. In my job search I also realized that when employers do not see the sort of run-of-the-mill major and checkbox skills that they may expect, this necessitates that they look deeper into my background to understand why I am applying‘€“just the sort of edge that can make all the difference. I am not a shoe-in anywhere, but at the same time I have the flexibility to re-define myself for each position.

How has your background in LAST helped you since graduation?
It has only been a few months since my graduation from my MA. If we are talking about my graduation from my undergraduate LAST major, well then first and foremost I would have to say that my major helped me to get offers from all five of the LAST MA. programs to which I applied. At Tulane, where I accepted, I received a free and highly productive MA. with a stipend on which to live for four semesters of coursework. There are few better deals in the world, seems to me.

In hindsight, what would you have done differently as a LAST major?
Not much. I would have taken more advantage of the library sooner, I suppose.

Any word of wisdom for LAST undergraduates?
You will get out what you put in…a cliché, but an appropriate one here. Think hard about the future and whether LAST will be a good fit for what you imagine yourself doing and studying. Meet and talk with people in the major to get a better idea of how it might fit with your goals/ideas (I‘€™ve found more and more that the types of people studying something has a greater effect on my happiness than the nature of the subject matter itself). Finally, trust your gut‘€“are you the type of person who excels when given more freedom? Do you enjoy open-endedness more than efficiency? Do you pick up quickly on different disciplinary jargons, and does your mind connect and map diverse concepts naturally? Would you like to live/work in Latin America?