First-Generation Student

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Where are you from or where do you consider home?

India

Three words to describe your experience at Northeastern:

Driven. Resilient. Boundless.

What motivated you to continue through challenging times in obtaining your degree?

What motivated me most was the belief that showing up is its own kind of strength. There were moments I felt like I didn’t belong, stepping into co-op environments where the problems were real and the deadlines didn’t care that I was still learning. But I stayed. I asked questions. I made mistakes and fixed them. My professors and classmates kept me going, and the moments when someone said “you’ve got this” when I didn’t believe it myself meant everything. CPS was built for people figuring things out as they go, and knowing I wasn’t alone in that made all the difference. Every time I wanted to stop, I reminded myself that progress counts, even when it’s messy.

What has your journey revealed to you about yourself?

My journey at Northeastern revealed that I am more capable than I believed. Northeastern, and especially CPS, showed me that growth doesn’t have to be perfect to be powerful. Through co-op, I learned to stop waiting to feel ready and to trust that I already was. I discovered that showing up, again and again, even when it’s messy and uncertain, is its own kind of strength. More than anything, this journey revealed that the quiet, specific dreams I was almost too afraid to dream are the ones that count.

Experiential learning is a core component of a Northeastern education. Describe some of the highlights for you.

Co-op was the highlight of my experiential learning journey. Stepping into a real work environment for the first time, I remember thinking I didn’t belong there yet. The problems were real, the deadlines didn’t care that I was still learning, and no one was going to pause the room for me. But that pressure became the greatest teacher. I stayed, asked questions, made mistakes and fixed them, and somewhere in that process something shifted. Co-op didn’t just teach me how to work — it taught me how to trust myself in rooms I once felt I didn’t belong in. My degree in Project Management gave me the frameworks and theory for how ideas become outcomes, but co-op gave me something no classroom could: the confidence to know I was ready, even before I felt like it.

Northeastern taught me that growth is a process, not a destination, and I plan to carry that mindset forward every step of the way. The journey from student to professional is just beginning, and I am genuinely excited about where it leads.

Pranjal Jagwani

Where do you imagine yourself five years from now?

Five years from now, I see myself growing into a leader who makes a real impact. I want to be someone who takes on bigger challenges, lifts others around them, and turns ideas into outcomes that actually matter. Northeastern taught me that growth is a process, not a destination, and I plan to carry that mindset forward every step of the way. The journey from student to professional is just beginning, and I am genuinely excited about where it leads.

Is there anything else you wanted to say that we didn’t cover?

I just want to take a moment to speak to every international student who is somewhere in the middle of their journey right now, feeling like they are figuring it out as they go. I was that person. Moving to a new country, building a life from scratch while also being a full-time student — there were days it felt like everything was a lot. But CPS met me exactly where I was. It never asked me to be perfect. It just asked me to keep going.

I am leaving Northeastern not just with a degree in Project Management but with something far more valuable: the confidence to trust myself in rooms I once felt I didn’t belong in, the resilience to show up even on the hard days, and memories of people who believed in me when I was still figuring it out myself.

To anyone who ever felt like the dream was too big or too far away, I hope my story is a small reminder that showing up, again and again, is enough. That progress counts, even when it is messy. And that the quiet dreams you carry are absolutely worth chasing.

Connect with Pranjal on LinkedIn.