Chintan Patel

Chintan Patel says that he wouldn’t be where he is today if it weren’t for Wright College. An international student who came to Chicago from India to get his college degree, Chintan decided on Wright College on the advice of his friends, who urged him to start at a community college to save money. Wright ended up being the right choice for Chintan for many reasons.

When Chintan arrived at Wright College in the fall of 2015, he was quiet, shy, and experienced anxiety at the thought of speaking up in class.
By the time he earned his associate degree in the spring of 2018, he says he was a totally different person.

“I had difficulty talking to people, but thanks to the small class sizes and helpful faculty at Wright, I can speak in front of people without any anxiety, ask questions during class, and generally have the soft skills that are so necessary at university and out in the world.”

He also credits his participation in an array of clubs for helping him shed some of his insecurities – he was the SGA secretary, co-president of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society, and part of many other committees.

“My advice to any new student would be to join a lot of clubs if you want to feel part of the community,” said Chintan.

Saying that he loves math and that he especially enjoyed his math classes, Chintan also participated in a math research project involving robotics, and was a math tutor in the Tutoring Center.

Now a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology studying computer science having earned scholarships that help him pay for both tuition and room and board, Chintan can’t say enough about the positive experience he had at Wright College.

“As an international student it was hard to settle in at first, but I had a really great experience. The classes are small, the professors are friendly and you can contact them any time. The faculty and staff are all really helpful and want every student to succeed.”

Once he has his bachelor’s degree, Chintan thinks he’d like to work as a software engineer.