IT was Zad Chin Qi Qi’s dream to pursue her tertiary education in Harvard College, and while Aqil Azmi initially wanted to study in the United Kingdom, he ultimately diverted his plans to the United States.
In August, both will embark on a new academic journey at Harvard College in Massachusetts along with other students across the world who were granted admission into the premier education institution.
Speaking to the duo, Aqil and Zad made it clear that it was their well-rounded “resume” that aided in the admission, particularly their sterling extra-curricular activities.
As part of his college’s student council, Aqil was also a debater that participated in several tournaments. These were the cherries on top of his academic qualifications. Zad on the other hand claimed that she was not that smart or the first in class.
“I think there are a lot of stereotypes that people who get into Harvard must have a GPA of 4.0, or you have to be first in the class from primary school. I only got two Bs for my PT3,” she said with a laugh.
“But in terms of achievements in extra-curricular activities, you could say I’m at the top.”
Greater education
In Harvard, Aqil who is from Shah Alam will be pursuing Mathematics and Philosophy, as the former was his favourite subject in school due to the logic and reasoning.
“As for philosophy, I tried it once in school, and since then, I’ve been reading a lot of it and I find myself enjoying it,” he said.
“I think it’s useful to study it. By extension it’s like math, there is a lot of logic and reasoning behind it. Even if the content of the subject doesn’t necessarily apply to real life, the skills I learn from it is useful.”
Aqil explains that what he has studied and will study is useful, particularly discussions about law and morality that are relevant in modern times.
Meanwhile, the Ipoh-native Zad will be taking on Computer Science and Social Studies in Harvard.
Having founded Beating Automation with Education (BAWE) last year, Zad’s mentorship project aimed to connect college students with children from lower income families in an effort to aid the latter group’s studies.
A previous project, BASE Scholarship equips students with knowledge on the wider pool of scholarships in the country.
“It was started with two other friends. At that time, we found out that a lot of people had no knowledge of the various scholarship opportunities in Malaysia. It’s kind of like organising a talk every March, where we present scholarships that are available, the documents needed for applications, how to prepare for the interview etc,” she said.
Both endeavours highlight Zad’s choice to study Computer Science and Social Studies at Harvard, as she is into robotics and solving problems in the world.
“The determining moment came after I engineered my forest fire detection device. I realised that it’s not just engineering that helps to solve the problem. It’s also about marketing the product. That’s why I want to study Computer Science and Social Studies because I would like to really understand society better, in order to create the right technology.”
Parting thoughts
Advising those that seek to follow in their footsteps, Zad says that those who wish to apply for Harvard College in the future should just do it no matter how small they think their chances are.
“When I first applied, even though I considered myself a relatively strong candidate, I didn’t think I could get it because there were already so many smart people applying,” Zad explained.
“You can’t be defeated by the mindset that you aren’t good enough.”
Zad also pointed out that there needs to be a passion, as there will be difficulties without passion which she observed in others.
“They tried to do things that they think the colleges like and somehow end up doing it badly because there is no passion and purpose. If you do it just to impress the institution, it won’t work.”
As Aqil himself excels in all that he has done, he said one should pursue their studies, extra-curricular activities and passion equally.
“Do everything to be a better, well-rounded individual. Getting into a top university would be a by-product of that,” said Aqil.
