An Interview with Amar Baatartsogt

Amar is in his senior year of undergraduate studies here at Duke. He is from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and is majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering and minoring in Economics.

1. So why did you decide to study in the States?
That’s a difficult question. I had a few options: study in Europe, somewhere in Asia, back home or the United States. My mom told me, “It’s your choice. Go ahead.” And I don’t know why I chose come here. Maybe because of the massive amount of American TV shows and movies that was injected into our minds? Somehow, the US felt a lot closer to me, I felt I knew a lot about it, and you know, everybody knows it has a great educational system.

2. Okay, so why Duke?
One of my cousins told me not to go to a big school, because it can be overwhelming, and to try smaller but more sophisticated colleges. On the other hand, my mom was against it and she wanted me to choose big universities, there was a point of conflict. You know same as every teenager, I just wanted to go against my mom, but finally decided to pick a few universities as well. One of them was Duke, an institution well known for its basketball team as I followed NCAA quite a bit starting my sophomore year in high school. In Mongolia, Duke is a little known for the academic part because all we hear is Harvard, MIT, and Stanford. It did take some research to fully realize how good of an academic institution Duke is, but I sure made a good choice.

3. What made you want to do electrical engineering?
IT and computer engineering field has been developing rapidly over the past couple of years. While in Mongolia, it just started to get a lot of attention recently. That’s one reason. And I feel like engineering is… you actually have to go through and learn and practice everything. The engineering way of thinking – you need a lot of skills such as ability to think critically and logically, ability to analyze, model and predict a system. And it is more challenging and that’s why engineers are highly valued in the job market. Let’s say for economics, you can read a couple of books, do some thinking, and you can get the main idea. In my opinion, engineering is a whole different world, with an engineering background you can flip into any field quite easily. So I thought that I’d study engineering, get the logical and thinking parts done, so I could do anything else afterwards, to some extent it gives me more opportunities.

4. Were most of your friends supportive of your decision to come here?
Yeah, a lot of my friends came to the US.

5. So then is it normal in Mongolia to study abroad for college?
Yep, it’s becoming a more and more of a popular trend.

6. How did you learn English. In the school system in Mongolia?
I started learning English when I was in kindergarten. You know, the ABCs, “A” for “apple” and so on. Then I came to San Jose, California, for elementary school for a year and a half or two years. So I guess that’s the fundamentals of how I learned it.

7. So English is normally taught in Mongolia?
Absolutely. I actually think English is the second official language now in Mongolia.

8. When you came to Duke, what were some big differences you noticed between here and home?
Well, I was born in Germany, and Mongolia is quite exposed to Western culture, so culturally I didn’t find a lot of big differences. But I guess one thing I would say is the party/social life is completely different. The educational system is also different, because back home the professors/teachers have so much power that they often abuse students. You have to sit in class and raise your hand to talk – it’s like the Soviet system, the “box system”. Here, you get to evaluate the professors and everyone is talking freely and debating. First, that was really hard for me. I wasn’t used to it, so I was just quietly sitting down all the time. Other than that, I didn’t find many differences. I did miss my mom’s food, though.

9. It sounds like you’ve moved around a lot, yeah?
Yeah, I travelled a lot when I was small to USA, China, Japan, Singapore, Russia and Europe, you know.

10. What was it like to live in so many different places? Do you regret not staying in one place?
No, I don’t regret it at all. By being in different countries and living in different places, I think I learned how to adjust to different cultures. It made me more culturally aware and diverse. You know, at Duke you can meet anyone from anywhere – an Indian student or a student from Latin America or Europe. It’s easy for me to connect with them. That’s how I feel.

11. How would you say that Mongolia has changed since the fall of the Soviet Union?
It’s changed a lot. In 1990, Mongolia was one of the first countries to end communism. We were technically never part of the Soviet Union, although all the orders came directly from Moscow. Then, we had a violence-free revolution to democracy. After communism fell, the first couple of years were terrible. There was nothing. Mongolia was still trying to recover. But now, everything’s changing really quickly. I can see Mongolia developing quite fast over the next fifteen years, because we just sealed a big contract with Rio Tinto, which is the biggest mining company in the world. We have a lot of resources underground, but the government just doesn’t have enough money to dig them up.

12. What would you say are some of the bigger challenges facing Mongolia during those next fifteen years?
Well, one of the big problems is that we’re between two superpowers: China and Russia. Russia wants control over our uranium and minerals, China wants our copper. We’re under constant pressure. If China closes the border and says, “We’re not going to give you any goods,” then we’re pretty much in trouble. All the industries will stop. In my opinion, the government should have a really good foreign policy about trying to figure out what is best without hurting our intentions and goals and talking to China and Russia.

13. Speaking of that, how would you describe the political situation right now in Mongolia?
Probably, from a foreigner’s perspective, it’s stable. But, from my perspective as an insider, it’s quite unstable. We have two parties: the Revolutionary party, which is the old one, and the new Democratic Party. We have smaller parties, but no one really cares because they’re too small. I feel like the two parties need to work together, cooperate, and figure out their future goals. Right now, there’s a lot lacking. This party wants to do A, and that one wants to do B. It completely differs and they govern in opposite directions, so cooperation is needed.

14. So is it a coalition-based system, then?
It’s a parliamentary system, where the party who has the most seats in Parliament gets control of the government. In the 2000 election, there was actually a tie. They tried to make it work out with equal powers, but it didn’t work out. It was a complete failure. So I guess one party in power is the better option.

15. Now, here on campus, what are you involved with?
I’m part of the International Association, which I’m really proud of, because I work with wonderful people. I love working with international kids and getting to know new people. Other than that, I don’t do a lot with student organizations. I look doing my own small graphic designs, but it’s just a hobby.

16. And in the past three years, would you say you’ve changed any?
Yeah, definitely. When I left home, I was a small boy, mama’s boy. After three and a half years, I’ve matured a lot. I’ve become more…more global. I’ve become more of an international citizen than just being a Mongolian.

17. So from the perspective of an international Mongolian student, what do you like best about Duke?
I feel like the academic part of Duke is really well structured, and the interaction between the faculty and students is quite good. There are a lot of things offered here at Duke, that’s probably the best thing.

18. Final question: What are your plans after graduation? Do you know yet?
Right now, I’m on the edge trying to decide what to do. Being a senior is difficult (laugh). I am thinking between studying here in the US for a grad degree directly after Duke, get a job here, or go back home. I am planning on doing an MBA in a few years, so probably I need some work experience now. So it’s most likely going to be working in Mongolia or the US. I don’t know yet. You never know, life guides you through a different path than you imagined. We’ll see.