Help Bardia go to grad school

Hi!

If this is our first exchange — great to have you! If not — you know what you're getting, and I'm happy to see you here. 

So, let’s briefly (re)introduce ourselves, shall we? My name is Bardia Bijani, and I'm passionate about many things: among them philosophy, technology, human-centered economies, and ethical entrepreneurship. I’m born and raised in Sweden to parents originally from Iran, and for the past five years I have been living in the U.S, doing everything between heaven and earth. 

Here is a (very) small subset of my recent activity:

- Co-founded a very successful college venture, called Triink LLC (that's still going strong!)

- Wrote the best undergraduate thesis of the year at my institution

- Graduated from SJU over Zoom with highest honors and a degree in Numerical Computation, specializing in Digital Ethics

- Served as a Benedictine Volunteer in Esquipulas, Guatemala, teaching English remotely to about 200 primary school kids at a time for eleven months


Now, what’s next for me? Since my volunteer mission ended in June, I have been working and studying during the summer, in preparation for my year-long M.S in Management of Information Systems and Digital Innovation (MISDI) at the London School of Economics (LSE)—likely the world's best institution for my purposes. I’m excited about every aspect of this opportunity... well, except the cost. With the pandemic rendering most domestic scholarship opportunities unattainable, my approximated cost of attendance will be $75,000 for the year—almost as much as my entire four-year stay at CSB/SJU.

Since graduating from high school, I have taken decisions that inevitably implied financial burden as a trade-off for personal growth. I went to college in the United States, even though Swedish higher education is free. Then, I chose to volunteer full-time during a pandemic, knowing that I already owed more than $85,000 in student loans. Throughout this time, I have also insisted on not receiving assistance from my mother—the only other member of my immediate family—as I believe she has already sacrificed everything to get me this far (although now I may be forced to). Therefore, I opted for a gap year before starting college, to ensure I could cover the costs independently. I am doing something similar this summer, studying and working full-time to be better prepared, both financially and academically, for my upcoming journey. 

Now, some will consider these costly endeavors mindless for someone with relatively limited means. However, if every individual were to set their ambitions based on the hand they were dealt, then people like myself would never even think to attend a program at the London School of Economics. I hope to avoid the potential heartbreak of turning down the graduate program of my dreams, only for having taken on experiences that I believe have qualified me for it. 

I will be honest with you: I hate doing this. There is not a fiber in my body that likes requesting money to entertain my privileges, when I know that the needs of so many individuals across the globe are far from covered. I hope to give back in ways that benefit my surroundings, mainly by encouraging ethical and thoughtful entrepreneurship in the digital space—a domain that affects essentially everyone. Beyond assuring you that I will use my education to give back what I have taken, I want to offer alternatives that might give you more value (I will add to this list as I come up with ideas): 

- Subscribe to my Substack blog, where I look to provide content every week moving forward. 

- Donate to my friend Steffi's grad school fund. She likely needs it more than I do. 

With all of this said, every SEK ($1 ≈ 8.6 SEK) counts, and I am grateful for every person who even bothered visiting this page. I hope I can repay your kindness. 

Love and appreciation,
Bardia