From Cairo to Harvard University L
ast year, Harvard University’s acceptance rate was 5.2 per cent, the lowest in its history. This implied that, from a pool of more than 39,000 applicants, only 2,037 were admitted to the Class of 2020.
Saleh, an incredibly
One of the successful applicants was Abdelrhman bright
18-year-old who, regardless
of his outstanding results and obvious potential, wasn’t even planning on applying until the last minute. “My cousin had to convince me – I never really thought I would get in,” he explains, a hint of astonishment still detectable in his tone. Abdel was too modest even to picture himself attending a university like Harvard, but his cousin was right to insist that he at least try: Abdel was not only accepted by Harvard but also received a full scholarship to study there.
NURTURING YOUNG TALENT
Born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, Abdel has spent the last two years in the UK, preparing himself for university. He had known for a long time that he wanted to study at a top university, an ambition that, as he was aware, required hard work, discipline and excellent academic results. He found the perfect setting for achieving those
standards in the prestigious boarding school King’s College Saint Michaels, a place that he now claims “feels more like home than home does”. King’s College Saint Michaels was, in fact, the first institution to see that there was something special about Abdel, and decided to invite him to study at the school on a full scholarship. “From the moment we met him, we knew he was brilliant: conscientious, hard-working and studious, but also personable and friendly,” says Stuart Higgins, the principal.
During his time at Saint Michaels, Abdel has been deputy
head boy, run the History and Politics Club, and organised fundraising events and activities (he raised money for the victims of the Nepalese earthquake, Birmingham Children’s
Abdelrhman Saleh, a student from King’s College Saint Michaels, in the UK, tells his story of hard work, hope and success.
Hospital, and the CLIC Sargent Foundation). On top of this, he obtained excellent results in his SAT tests. But even after all these achievements, Abdel hasn’t lost one bit of his humbleness. He is most certainly destined for great things, but probably one of his best qualities is a commendable modesty.
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO STUDY AT HARVARD?
Probably physics. I haven’t made up my mind yet, and the American liberal-arts system will allow me to explore multiple fields before choosing a major. I will spend my first year taking courses in economics, philosophy, statistics and history, which will give me a much better idea of what I want to major in.
WAS IT VERY HARD TO WIN A PLACE? WHAT WAS THE PROCESS? I took the SAT and two SAT Subject Tests, one in maths and another in physics. These were standardised American college entrance exams that the university required. I scored 2,380/2,400 on the SAT, which was in the 99 per cent percentile, and I scored 800/800 on the two other tests. Then I had to ask my teachers for recommendation letters, and I had to write some essays – equivalent to the personal statements UK universities ask for. Later, I was invited for an interview with a Harvard Alum, which didn’t go very well, and at that point I lost hope.
But I regained hope when I was invited for another interview with a senior admissions officer at Harvard, Ms Janet Irons, the person who makes the decisions. Luckily, that interview went better than the first one, and I received my acceptance letter two short months later. The most time-consuming part of the process was writing the 20-plus essays for the 20 universities I applied to. Each university asked for its own essays as part of the application. I also had to balance all this with my social
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