Learning to Navigate Doubt

The path Ghufran Bhatti had laid out for himself was clear when he arrived at Georgia Tech. Whether he would be able to follow it felt less certain.

Bhatti chose to study chemical engineering with the goal of pursuing a career in the oil and gas industry. Chemistry always appealed to him, as did the potential to travel and experience more of the world. And he was attracted by the prospects of a stable financial future to help his mother finally retire.

But he worried. Tech’s reputation for challenging students was well-known — and he’d known people who struggled in engineering. That’s why, when we met in his first year, he left himself this message: “I would tell myself to not be so uncertain and doubt yourself so much. As of right now, I'm not sure if I can make it. But if I do make it, I would definitely tell myself to not worry as much.”

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Four years later, message received. And honored.

Bhatti is finishing his chemical and biomolecular engineering degree and has a job lined up at ExxonMobil in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After a few years, he might have the opportunity to work abroad for the company.

Pretty much exactly as he planned it. The difference, he says, is that he sees things as less black-and-white now — not just success or failure but shades of gray. Uncertainty isn’t gone; he’s learned how to carry it,

Bhatti also says he’s learned to see himself more clearly, to appreciate the layers of his identity — a proud half-Pakistani, half-Indian chemical engineer who values the sacrifices of previous generations that have given him a world of opportunities. Someone who enjoys playing basketball and is trying to — but not making much progress at — learning to play piano. An optimist who worries less now about trying hard and failing.

I'm not going to go to the NBA, even if I start training for basketball 10 hours a day. But for more realistic goals, I tend to think if I try my best, I can achieve it,” he says. “Back then, I didn't think that way.

An Identity Centered on Helping

Rivash Deepnarain remembers walking through car shows as a kid and being fascinated by how they worked. By high school, he was deep into Formula 1 racing, even starting a YouTube channel to talk about races and the engineering behind the cars. So he knew what he wanted to do: study mechanical engineering and work in the automotive industry. Maybe even design F1 cars one day.

With graduation nearing, he still loves F1, but he’s less focused on becoming an automotive engineer. His college experiences have widened his perspective on the ways he can have a fulfilling career.

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Deepnarain has been a co-op student at Delta Air Lines and developed a passion along the way for the aviation industry. He works on airplane cabin interiors and sees how that can allow him to bring creativity and engineering skills together to make a difference for passengers.

That idea of having an impact was a big part of how Deepnnarain saw himself four years ago. And it still is.

“Wherever I end up, in whatever career, one of my major goals is to make a difference,” he says, adding: “A strong part of my identity, I think, is always helping others. I try to help people wherever I go. I think that helps define who I am.”

In high school, and now in college, he has devoted significant time to tutoring other students. Lately he’s been working to digitize that passion, developing a platform where students who excelled in a class could create a series of tutoring lessons to help people who might struggle in future semesters.

It’s a sentiment that he’d apply to himself if he could go back and share a bit of secret sauce with his younger self. It’s certainly a lesson he expects to carry forward wherever he lands in his career. 

“One of the major things I've learned throughout these four years at Tech is to detach yourself from the outcome,” Deepnarain says. “After taking some hard classes, I’ve realized that if you focus on putting in the work to learn the material and detach yourself from what grade you’re going to get, the results will come. I would’ve stressed a lot less if I knew that earlier.”

Staying the Course 

The questions on Priscilla Pierre’s mind four years ago weren’t about direction so much as validation. Would she succeed academically? What kinds of relationships would she form? Would she still love civil engineering at the end of her Tech career?

Pierre arrived on campus laser focused on becoming a structural engineer specializing in earthquake resilience. As a self-described Army brat who’d already lived all over the world, she wanted to find work that would allow her to travel and experience new places.

She felt comfortable academically in the early days. Courses were manageable and she was doing well. Then she moved deeper into her core engineering classes. The workload, complexity, and rigor set in quickly.

“I wish I would have known how hard it was going to be,” she says now. 

So that’s the answer to one of those questions: Yes, she still loves civil engineering.

The answers to the others came in different ways than she might have expected.

She says she realizes now that a perfect GPA isn’t the measure of academic success she once thought it was. Instead, she can step back and look at where she stands four years later: already finished with her civil engineering bachelor’s and about to complete her master’s degree. Then she’s going to work for the U.S. Navy’s Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command.

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It wasn’t her plan to complete two degrees so quickly but slowing down never occurred to her.

It’s part of her evolution — persisting, continuing to learn, and connecting with people. Which answers her other key question, Pierre says: “I'm much more of a people person than I was back then. I've had a lot of opportunities to make connections.”

In particular, she values her experiences as a resident assistant, where she’s been able to mentor younger students and build relationships with them.

For Pierre, college didn’t result in dramatic shifts, but a sustained throughline. She has the same purpose now as she did when she arrived on campus, she says.

“I'm really interested in making safe places for people to work, live, and play.”