I had big dreams about my college life but the most important drive behind those dreams was leaving home. I did not want to be in my parents’ nest anymore. I wanted to get out into the world and be independent. Now that I look back, I feel like I could never go through a major life change like that again– the naivety that I had back then helped me overcome a lot of challenges with ease. I had never been anywhere outside my home countries which are only a 30 min flight away from each other, but I was ready to pack my life and fly across the Atlantic alone.
I was going to go to the UK for my undergraduate studies. I got conditional offers from 4 out of the 5 universities I applied to, but my lowest and highest preferences all gave me the same offer – I had to get an A* in Mathematics and A in Economics (I was under the British curriculum doing my IGCSE A ‘Levels). The condition seemed a little risky, so I decided to apply to Canada as a backup. I did not invest half the time in my Canadian applications – I Googled the top universities and told my guidance counselor which one I wanted to apply to. She then told me applying to different provinces would cost me more so I just applied to York University and the University of Toronto in Ontario. I wanted to apply to UBC and McGill but I missed the deadlines because that’s how much attention I did not pay to my Canadian applications.
UofT got back to me within 10 days. They wanted an A in Mathematics and a grade of B or higher in my other subjects. I knew I was getting those grades so now came the time where I had to decide where to go. The UK had a 3-year degree but living costs were a little higher whereas Canada would take me a year longer. University College London (UCL) had a very similar ranking to UofT so it was really up to me to decide now.
Now let’s backtrack a little bit to the part where I knew for sure I was going to the UK. London School of Economics (LSE) was my dream school and the only one that rejected me out of the 5 UK universities I applied to. That rejection made me more angry than sad because they told me my statement of purpose did not depict enough passion for the subject. University is a place that is supposed to help us figure out our passion – I am still not sure how I was supposed to have it all figured out and articulate that passion in a 2000-character essay in high school. Any other justification on their part would have been more acceptable but this, somehow, did not feel fair.
After opening the welcome package from UofT, my instincts somehow told me that’s where I should go. UofT was one of the first renowned, foreign university names I learned of as a kid and suddenly, the idea of going to Toronto suddenly seemed more plausible. The cold was a big concern for my family and the fact that it was geographically further than London made them hesitant, but we finally came to an agreement and I accepted the offer to my guidance counselor’s utter surprise.
My program of admission was BBA Management with a Specialist in Economics at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus.