::: Star Campus :::

Student Profile

You can’t give her bad grades!

Irtiza A Farooq

Every student's dream is to graduate with a CGPA that is over 3.80. However, after a couple of semesters they realise that this dream of theirs will always remain a dream. I know this sounds really harsh but nonetheless it is the truth in most of the cases.
However, there are always exceptions around. I have managed to find a student who is in her 8th semester with a CGPA of 3.87 and trust me it felt as if I had to look for a needle in a haystack. She is known as the "Shining Star" of BRAC University. Her name is Tanzela Mansoor and she is in Architecture department.

She has got all A's in her O Levels. She has received The Daily Star Award for outstanding result. She has been the Debate champion, Table Tennis champion and Carom

Champion of BRAC University. She is one of the very few students of BRAC University who had a CGPA of 4.0 for 5 consecutive semesters. Not only that, she has done the whole interior designing of the restaurant "Candle Light", and for her latest project she has been asked to design a community center and a vacation house in Shunamganj. Last year 7 undergraduate students from Bangladesh were chosen to attend a 6 weeks program in United States of America organized by the ASI (American Studies Institution) and she was one of them. The whole program was fully sponsored by the United States government.

An interview with the "shining star" of BRAC University is given below.
Q: What was your feeling when you were asked to give this interview?
A: It felt as if I am flying over the clouds. It felt so good.

Q: Maintaining a CGPA of 3.87 is a tough job. How do you do it?
A: Honestly speaking I don't study that much. My technique is not to get distracted in class. I pay attention to everything my course instructor says, so that I don't forget it later. And every night I

Just revise what I did all day.
Q: With your result, you could have joined any university in this world. Why did you join BRAC University?
A: I didn't want to go abroad. I am the eldest daughter in my family and so I have got many responsibilities. Besides I am a very home oriented person. I wanted to join BUET, but unfortunately I was not in Dhaka during their admission test because my grandmother was very sick at that time.

Q: What do you think is the best thing about BRAC University?
A: To me, the best thing about BU is TARC (Training And Resource Center). TARC is a small campus of BU located at Savar. I lived there for 4 months and I have loved it.

Q: As a student, tell me what are the problems of BRAC University?
A: Well, frankly speaking there are very few problems. For example, our Architecture Department is very isolated.

We have to work in a studio all day and non-department students cannot enter there. So it is very hard for us to make friends outside our department. Another drawback of BU is that our extra curricular clubs are not that active.

Q: Speaking of friends, how do you manage to study so much and be with your friends as well?
A: As I told you before I don't study during daytime. The whole day is for my friends. I study at night.

Q: What is so different about studying architecture?
A: Architecture is totally different about any other courses. We have got fewer theories, we have a more creative life and we have more practical work than any other departments.

Q: you lived in the US for 6 weeks. Tell us about your experience.
A: It was great. We worked for community service. We cooked food for old people. We built shelters for the homeless people. We had different cultural, heritage and political seminars to reduce the gap between two countries. I lived with an authentic American family for a couple of days. It was a new experience for me. I also saw what real campus life is like. I lived in Dickinson College, Pennsylvania. Their university life is totally different from ours.

Q: What did you do to promote our country?
A: We gave different presentations about our heritage, culture, politics, sports and tourism. We had a programme where we danced and sang. We cooked "Deshi" food for the American students. We faced a problem while cooking because we couldn't find proper spices. We had to look for hours.

Q: Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
A: Sleeping on a bed of money. Jokes apart, 5 years from now I want to be done with my masters and working for an internationally known architect.

Q: What is your message for other students?
A: LIVE LIFE!!! Do take studies seriously, but don't forget to have fun.

Philosophy teacher in class:
"Students, take note:
Knowledge is power ...
But power corrupts ...
And corruption is a crime ...
And crime doesn't pay ...
So if you keep on studying you'll go broke!”
-Sent by Shaila