“From over four thousand schools in US an international applicant is faced with the dilemma of (blindly) picking the most suitable (place). I counselled Ms. Priyanthi Dissanayake for two main reasons: Ms. Dissanayake visits her schools each year and she knows what’s best for each one of us. She is not only one of the most experienced counsellors but also a mother to each one of us. I saw OtterbeinCollege through her eyes and I trusted her implicitly. I know that I would fit in perfectly and Westerville would be a second home to me. I am more than satisfied of her services and so grateful to have found her” - Buddheesha
Priyanthi and some of her partners with Prof. Kshanika Hirimburegama, Vice Chancellor, University of Colombo. |
Eight years ago Priyanthi Dissanayake embarked on a journey to find an affordable American university for her daughter. At that time, she never imagined she would play a key role in joining US-Lankan education institutes for mutually beneficial endeavours and help hundreds of students like her daughter find a perfect fit in over twenty leading universities across US.
Turning back to those eventful eight years she recalls many visits across the Island promoting US higher education. There were many barriers she had to cross - affordability was a main concern, as for many potential students, US education was an exorbitant cost. Priyanthi proved otherwise by informing her US counterparts of a continuing civil war which had weakened the local economy. She convinced each admission official of the quality of Lankan youth and the wisdom of investing in their future. On her visits to Harvard, MIT and Wellesley, she questioned the absence of Lankan students to match the numbers of other international students from our region. Such efforts made her institutions offer maximum financial aid consisting of outright grants and availability of part-time campus employment/paid summer internships to Lankan students.
Safety was another key concern, as for some Lankan parents, US was the land of violence and promiscuity, as portrayed by Hollywood. Priyanthi’s annual visits to US painted a very different reality from such stereotypes and built long lasting relationships that were plenty proof that her American associates harboured the same values, concerns and attachments as us Sri Lankans. But the biggest validation to her pursuit of American higher education was the success of her own daughters who greatly benefited from the opportunities made available by US higher education. Sashikala Dissanayake graduated from Concordia College with double majors and immediately secured employment with a Fortune 500 company. She proved how Lankans excelled on a level playing field by becoming the best national rookie salesperson for Liberty Mutual Group within eight months of hire, and was honoured by its Board along with all top achievers of the Group. Within two months, she was offered double the benefits by another Fortune 500 which led the logistics category.
Batch for fall 2009 with Prof. Leslie Panditharatne, past VC University of Peradeniya and Chairman, UGC and Chullante Jayasuriya, Executive Director, American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka. |
Sulochana Dissanayake received a top financial aid package (covering 92% of the college costs) to attend one of the most expensive and exclusive liberal arts institution and graduated this year with Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Theatre. She is one of the 40 undergraduates (one of 3 internationals) chosen across US for the prestigious Watson fellowship and is currently exploring contemporary theatre in South Africa and Indonesia. Such personal experiences inspired Priyanthi’s students and dispelled suspicion and uncertainty of “the New World”. These opportunities convinced Priyanthi that no other country could offer so much to deserving Lankans. As a mother and a professional, Priyanthi wished to convey her discoveries to every deserving child and parent she encountered.
“I am writing this to convey a million thanks to you. You two are like my own mother and father. For you I would have been just another student but for me it was my whole life. Only parents would do what both of you did to me.” -Joanna
“I read the article where you have helped this Johnian gain admission to a US university that brought tears to my eyes. On behalf of all old Johnians and as a Tamil I wish to thank you…your goodwill gesture will go a long way in cementing harmony between the two major communities”. Rajadurai - Melbourn
Priyanthi’s experience in raising her own children made her realize that most often, being raised in an authoritarian society prevented children from discovering their true potential. Self confidence was a rare and vital attribute for success, which unfortunately flounders under such constricting educational/social structures. Priyanthi made it her priority to instill confidence in her students by sharing inspiring personal stories of students she encountered. She encouraged them to rise over each barrier and challenged them to follow their heart instead of conventional expectations. She gave examples of how one can pursue their passions by exploring the array of unique fields offered in the US colleges she represents - such as Music Therapy in Cleveland State University. On her annual visits to her colleges, Priyanthi sat in on a few classes and had seen for herself that American higher education was a challenging intellectual process of self discovery which could greatly benefit many of her students.
“The smartest guidance counsellors and college consultants figured out long ago that getting students into the most selective colleges was a fool’s game. Their observations of their students, and research by scholars like social scientist Stacy Berg Dale and Princeton economist Alan B.Krueger, revealed it was character traits, not college pedigrees, that produced successful lives. So their job has been to find the colleges that best fit students’ needs and desires, rather than encouraging applications to the schools most likely to reject them”. -Jay Mathews
Batch for fall 2007 with Terry White, past PAO and Alexis Smith, past CAO at the American Center, Colombo. |
The reason for Priyanthi’s phenomenal success was her ability to find a fitting school to each one of her students. The diversity of her students - ranging from Mahanaga Maha Vidyalaya in Ampara to Stafford International School compelled Priyanthi to offers 23 equally affordable schools, with one to match any Sri Lankan. The colleges she offer encourages potential students to look beyond Ivy Leagues (keeping in mind that 90% of Ivy League applications are rejected) and appreciate the hidden benefits of smaller liberal arts colleges that offer personalized curriculums, individual attention and ample resources to their students.
“Priyanthi has referred well-qualified applicants to AshlandUniversity. The students who have enrolled are knowledgeable about the university’s services and programmes, as well as what the academic, social and community life is like in our small college town. We appreciate the visits she has made to our campus and value partnering with her in bringing SL students to the US” -Susan Rosa, Director-ISS, AshlandUniversity
Priyanthi’s conviction to visit her schools annually arises out of a sense of responsibility that she is the face of these institutions to her students and their parents, who do not have opportunities to visit these schools prior to making a decision. Thus, she makes sure she sees for herself that these institutions match the expectations of her students and their parents.
“We, at Otterbein, are quite pleased with the quality of the students arriving on our campus from Sri Lanka. They are well prepared academically and quite open to sharing their Island culture while learning about American customs. The students have been well received and are high quality Ambassadors for their native land. We look forward to a long relationship of such high calibre students who work with such a quality academic advisor”. -Dr.Tom Stein, VP for Enrollment, OtterbeinCollege
The colleges Priyanthi represents are equally careful of who they admit, as they are keen to safeguard their own upstanding reputations as leading academic institutions. Due to the intimacy of community in Sri Lanka, reputation plays a key role in establishing personal/professional relationships. Thus, Priyanthi mainly works through referrals when taking aboard new students, where they are referred by the families/friends of past students who have found successful matches in Priyanthi’s institutions.
“I just got the acceptance letter from UC and it feels amazing to have officially gotten in. Thank you so much and what you did was amazing! I wasn’t expecting an admission decision so fast – it caught me totally unprepared. Thanks so much for speedy action.
– Shiran
Priyanthi’s dedication not only benefits Lankan students who are unable to gain admission to affordable American schools; she also assists American schools who are constantly on the lookout for quality international students. Her first student at Concordia College in Moorhead MN was the first Lankan there in twenty-three years. Within the next five years its ranks were filled with 22 Lankans - making Lankans only second to Ghana among international community. In 2005 when Priyanthi placed Kalana Maldeniya and Dilhara Fernando in North Dakota State University, Lankans were at 40th position. Within the next four years, she raised Lankans to 3rd by sending 59 students. In fact many Americans including Asst Secretary of State Robert O. Blake found it amusing that someone could promote cold North Dakota to tropical Lankans!
On her visits to US, Priyanthi acts as an Ambassador in promoting our people and culture. Armed with Tourist Board’s colourful brochures she educates many Americans of the natural beauty, charming culture and ancient history of our Island nation. To many who only identified Sri Lanka as a war-torn killing field, she exposed its positive qualities through highly motivated, English educated youth, who were denied of a college education due to lack of space. Another surprising fact was that on per capita basis, Sri Lankans were probably the largest international student population in US. It was due to her persuasion that institutions such as Bates College and University of Cincinnati sent their officials on visits to Sri Lanka. She placed Sri Lanka on their recruitment maps and convinced them to consider it as one of their main international communities. It was such efforts that resulted in the overwhelming success of “Amazing America” (Sri Lanka’s first ever exclusive American education fair) where her institutions ensured nearly 50% of the fair’s participation.
“Rest assured, my experience in SL was far more than crazy traffic. The people are phenomenal and I really hope that we’ll be welcoming more SL students to OU very soon. I can’t thank you enough for the amazing programme you put together for our group, not to mention the more than generous hospitality you provided. You gave us opportunities that we could never have dreamt of” -Vicki Seefeldt West of OhioUniversity (upon returning from “Amazing America”)
What does the future hold?
“I am most indebted to Priyanthi for having made it possible to develop the collaboration between the Geography Depts. of University of North Dakota and University of Peradeniya”. - Dr.Douglas C.Munski Professor and Graduate Director, Dept of Geography, UND
“Your services have been essential to the forging of one major strategic relationship that University of Cincinnati now have - the 2+2 dual degree programme with the Institute of Chemistry (Ceylon). The agreement we now have would never have come about without your assistance”. - Dr.MitchLeventhalViceProvostInternationalUniversity of Cincinnati
Priyanthi feels that it’s time to attract more American Universities to Sri Lanka on long term investment. She is currently exploring means to enable many more Lankans to access US higher education through on-line degrees and 2+2 dual degree options where the cost of education is halved. She plans to initiate dynamic student exchange programmes where American students enroll for summer courses in local universities, thus attracting vital foreign exchange into the country. She wishes to establish systems where young professionals receive their education at home and are granted opportunities to work nationally and internationally. With her first batch of PhD students excelling in prestigious US universities, she is confident that all of the above can be initiated in the near future. |
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