13.5 Miles. That’s the furthest I ever ran before today, my 28th Birthday. Originally, I really wanted to just run 28 kilometers, which is about 17.4 miles. That seemed quite doable, especially considering how I have been training for the Vermont city marathon since December and had done small running challenges before.
In 9th grade, I was asked to choose between computer science or biology by my high school in my home country of Pakistan. Those like me, who wanted to be engineers, chose computer science, and those who wanted to be doctors, chose biology. There was no middle ground. After high school, I was fortunate enough to experience an academic life abroad when I received a full scholarship to Turkey’s highest-ranked college for mechanical engineering. It was there, in my junior year, that I took my first biology course: Introduction to Modern Biology.
Given that we now live in a virtual world, it’s fair to assume that you are mentally fatigued from watching the same format of presentations on your Zoom or Microsoft Teams video calls: the monotonous screen-sharing feature and if the presenter is courageous enough to turn on video, their face in a tiny box somewhere on your screen. For a class I took last semester (Nanobiomaterials), I was tasked to give a 35-minute lecture on a live Microsoft Teams meeting.
It’s not every day that you see a fully naked girl and one covered in a hijab in public at the same time. Nonetheless, this was what I saw on a walk around my neighborhood in Burlington, Vermont on my first day here. What a welcome, right? Upon further research, I learned that public nudity has been decriminalized in Vermont for many decades. Not only that, but there is…
I recently signed a lease for a studio apartment in Vermont, where I will be moving in a few weeks. This will be the first time in my life that I will not be sharing a space with others. Since starting college, I have lived with at least 20 different people, as college students do. In college, I chose the cheapest option and shared a small dorm room with three other students. In New York, I shared a tiny room with two other people, as New Yorkers do…
“Let’s stop here for a drink”, I said panting as we turned on Boston Avenue. “Here? At Dunkin Donuts?”, replied Saad, with similar a tone of exhaustion in his voice. “Yeah, they don’t give out free water in Australia? Let’s go!” That was a year ago during a 5-mile run with my friend Saad, who was visiting from Australia. To see him, I flew to Boston. On our first day together, I decided to invite him on a run, a pastime I had undertaken that summer in efforts to get more fit…
GRE stands for Graduate Record Examinations and it is a compulsory part of most Masters or Ph.D. applications in the U.S. At first glance, GRE seems like an easy exam, especially when you realize that it only tests your English and Math skills. However, after attempting just one four hour practice exam, you will realize that it tests much more than that.
Growing up, I was always a skinny kid. I biked to the football ground every day and played for hours until sundown. I ate everything I could get my hands on and thankfully never had to think twice before stuffing my mouth full of donuts or chips. And then one day when I was 20, I started gaining weight. I could feel myself gravitating towards the classic dad-bod shape with a large belly…
In my previous post where I outlined the timeline for U.S. graduate applications, I mentioned how difficult it is to even start writing a Statement of Purpose (SOP). The SOP is a compulsory part of every graduate application which gives you a chance to truly stand out amongst hundreds of applicants from all around the world.
Congratulations! If you’re reading this, you have already taken the first step in fulfilling your dream of pursuing a graduate degree from the United States of America on a full scholarship. Three years ago, I was in a similar position as you and I had no idea how to get started on the long checklist of requirements for a graduate application to an American university.