Marks alone won’t shape one’s future: UC-bound student
On February 11, 2017, Dubai student Sanchit Kapoor received some information that was set to change his future. At 5.30am that morning, his father burst into his bedroom to break the news that he had been accepted at one of his top choice universities in the US — the University of California, Berkeley. But more than just being accepted, the 17-year-old Gems Modern Academy student is among just 400 students to receive the Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholarship — a feat which saw him beat off competition from more than 85,000 applicants.
“Honestly, I was so surprised when my father said I had received the scholarship. I had no idea they offered it to international students and from what I believe this is the first time they have offered it to a student out of state,” Kapoor told Khaleej Times.
Admitting that he is “not one for optimism”, Kapoor said when he submitted his application back in November he decided to “air on the side of caution”. “That way, good news always comes as a pleasant surprise,” he said.
Come August, Kapoor will be making the journey to his new home in the US to pursue a four-year bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science — a course that has just a five to six per cent acceptance rate. But despite beating off competition from others and impressing both his peers, teachers and parents, he remained very humble.
“I actually got rejected from my other top choice, Stanford University. So I’m not taking anything for granted. But being one of the first students to get a scholarship as an international applicant is an honour.”
Along with UC Berkeley, Kapoor applied for courses at MIT, Georgia Tech and “a few Ivy League universities like Harvard”. But with UC Berkeley in his top two choices, the initial acceptance along with the scholarship was music to his ears.
But this is a student who is no stranger to success. In 2016 he won the title of World Scrabble Champion after representing Team UAE in the World Youth Scrabble Championships (WYSC), a team he has represented for over six years. And for him, that is one of the driving forces as to why he was chosen as a recipient of the scholarship.
“During my Skype interview they really focused on what I could bring to the university and they asked a lot of questions about what I had been involved in outside the classroom. I told them how scrabble was a big part of my life and I think that impressed them,” Kapoor said.
The former topper said he aims to make it even more so, especially on his university campus. And that’s a message he said he is keen to spread to other students in the UAE: academics are important, but passions are equally as vital too.
“What I found is that top ranking universities want all-rounders. You can’t aim to simply only be academically-perfect because often it’s about what you can bring to the table in terms of being a role model for a university.” Although education is the cornerstone to success, he said passions are also a key driver too. “Always strive to do what you love,” he said.
kelly@khaleejtimes.com