Silicon Valley Trip Gives Rutgers Students Inside Look Into a World of Innovation
This week, Rutgers students were on a whirlwind four-day trip, trading traditional lectures for the opportunity to walk through the doors of some of the world’s most innovative and impactful technology companies.
The group of 60 students, faculty and alumni participating in the Road to Silicon Valley Program (RSVP) touched down Monday in the mecca of global technology for the sixth annual immersion trip. They spent the next few days getting an inside look at tech giants – Meta, Anthropic and Arcellx – and networking with alumni who have already made the leap from Rutgers to the C-suite.
“It’s incredibly eye-opening,” said Jack Aregood, a senior studying computer science and Italian who is co-president of the program. “You see technological innovations in practice before the rest of the world. Last year, I was looking out at my first Waymo driverless car from the window of our bus.”
For many participants, the trip provides more than just a sneak peek at the future – it marks their first time traveling outside the East Coast and offers experiences that can jump start their futures.
“I’d never been to California before,” said Ankit Mithbavkar, 21, a senior computer and data science double major who also serves as RSVP co-president. “Getting to visit these companies and tour San Francisco sounded like an awesome opportunity, but the program is so much more than the trip.”
Mithbavkar, who has already secured a full-time role as an AI software engineer with IBM following his May graduation, credits RSVP’s on-campus fireside chats, mentorships, and speaker series for his readiness.
“RSVP helps students understand what’s possible,” Mithbavkar said. “Whether it’s working for a major corporation, joining a startup, or launching something of your own, it shows you all the paths life has to offer.”
Modeled after the successful Road to Wall Street program at Rutgers Business School, Road to Silicon Valley has evolved into a premier pipeline for future CEOs, investors, and tech leaders. The program is led by founding director and faculty advisor Mukesh Patel with guidance and funding support from its 16-member Advisory Board and the Dean's office. The program encourages active student participation and operational management from its student-led e-board.
They are seeing the center of gravity for innovation and AI where it’s being born. It changes their mindset of what is possible and lights a fire to aspire for more.
Mukesh Patel
Founding director and faculty advisor Road to Silicon Valley Program and assistant professor at Rutgers Business School
Each year, RSVP selects a competitive new cohort of 25 to 30 new students to participate in the program. Today, it has grown to include more than 100 undergraduates from multiple schools and majors who foster a "grassroots" culture, managing everything from pitch competitions to alumni outreach.
The annual trip caps off a year of intensive planning. Thanks to investments from Rutgers Business School, the RSVP Advisory Board, strategic partners, corporate sponsors, and alumni donors, the group that participates each year has grown from 10 to nearly 60, with most travel and accommodation costs covered to ensure financial background isn't a barrier to entry.
“It blows their minds,” said Patel, an assistant professor at Rutgers Business School. “They are seeing the center of gravity for innovation and AI where it’s being born. It changes their mindset of what is possible and lights a fire to aspire for more.”
During past trips, participants have met the founder of Reddit, the creator of the world’s first flying car, top venture capital firms and toured startup accelerator Y Combinator. This week, they visited the global headquarters of Anthropic, the company that created Claude AI.
“We learn about all of this in our courses and now get to see where it all happens and learn directly from the executives, senior global business leaders, and leading AI experts,” Patel said.
A cornerstone of the trip is "rubbing elbows" with successful alumni like Bhumika Kapadia, a product manager at Meta. Three years ago, Kapadia attended an RSVP networking mixer in the Bay Area on a whim. After meeting Patel’s students, she was so impressed that she offered to help the group secure a tour of Meta’s campus led by herself and several other Rutgers alums at the social media company.
“It felt like I was talking with colleagues instead of students,” said Kapadia, a 1999 Rutgers College graduate who began her own California journey at a then-small startup called Netflix. “These folks were very polished, prepared, and ready for the business world.”
Kapadia has since partnered with the group on three consecutive trips, including this one, noting that the camaraderie built during these sessions is invaluable. “You’re having a meal and connecting with people in ways you don’t realize. That’s how business happens.”
Past president Brianna Lischy, 22, is living proof of the program’s return on investment. The contacts Lischy gained through RSVP helped her turn an internship at the luxury bedding company Boll & Branch into a full-time job not long after crossing the commencement stage last May.
“As a sophomore, you’re trying to figure out what you like and what major you want,” Lischy said. “I was fortunate to go to California that year and get that real-world component. To visit the epicenter of technology and have the tours led by Rutgers alumni makes it all feel so much more relatable.”
For Lischy, the realization that the Rutgers network is global – and incredibly engaged – was the ultimate takeaway. “You don’t think of it – Rutgers is in Jersey, right? But then you’re in California, and a Rutgers alum is talking to you about what’s going on at Apple. It’s amazing.”
As the program enters its seventh year, Patel is planning to expand the model to other emerging tech-innovation and entrepreneurial hubs like Austin, Boston, NYC and Raleigh-Durham.
“We need to plant ourselves into those ecosystems and foster collaborations,” Patel said. “We also need to bring the case studies students read in their classrooms to real life. You learn from the thought leaders of the world and come back to Rutgers with insight and a network that no one else is even thinking about yet.”
