Ram is the son of Kolandavel and Santhini Ramasamy. He is of Indian Tamil origin. His sister, Anita, attended Johns Hopkins University for both her undergraduate degree as well as medical school.[3] Varun has been considered the Maryland basketball team's smartest player, with a 3.99 grade-point average in neurology and physiology. He is well known for his grit, determination, and perseverance in both athletics and academics. After he graduating UMD, he wanted to work in Medical consulting. He was also thinking of playing basketball for an overseas professional team or the Indian National team (he was ineligible due to his citizenship status).
In addition, Ram is a volunteer coaching fellow with Crossover Basketball and Scholars Academy (www.crossover-India.org); an organization committed to impacting education rates in India (Chennai at this time) through the use of basketball as a vehicle of change and imparting the skills of leadership, character, teamwork, and communication.
He has been a part of the India Rising (now Brown Ballers), TBT roster summer tournament since 2022. Ram competed with his alma mater's TBT team, Shell Shock, in the summer of 2025.
Ram graduated from Stanford Graduate Business School in 2023.[8] Teammate Melo Trimble said, "Varun, he's probably the smartest guy on the team."[5]