Hi! I’m Khoder, and I’m currently a freshman at New York University in New York City. I’m originally a Syrian-Lebanese, living on the coast of Syria in a governorate called Tartous

Why did I decide to study abroad?

Being in Syria meant constantly escaping wars, aiming for a better life, and a better education, and that’s why I decided to study abroad. I started taking action towards my goal at the beginning of my freshman year in high school (10th grade), and first applied to United World Colleges (UWC), but I was rejected. Despite that, I continued working on my application, and right after my senior year, I got into a program called the Syrian Youth Empowerment (SYE) One-Year Program, which is a mentorship program that helps Syrian students with the process of applying to colleges abroad. I applied to 18 schools in the US; yet, I was rejected from all of them, except for NYUAD who waitlisted me. Unfortunately, as months went by, that waitlist turned into a rejection as well.

At that point, I was questioning everything, and was very conflicted about whether I should apply again or not, especially since I was already in my first year of studying dentistry. A lot of people were telling me that I shouldn’t do it. That said, I sat down with myself and started looking for what I (Khoder) wanted, and I knew that deep down I really wanted to apply again. So I took a leap of faith, and I decided to start a brand new application, new essays, a new personal statement, and I rewrote my activities and honors from the ground up. I applied to NYUAD ED 1 mainly because they waitlisted me in the previous cycle, and I believed that my odds were the highest there. And to my surprise, a few months later, I received an invitation to an experience that would have one of the biggest twists in my life. It was an invitation to the candidate weekend on NYU’s Campus in Abu Dhabi.

My experience with the candidate weekend: 

The candidate weekend is basically an event that NYUAD hosts, and they invite lots of students to do interviews and activities for 3 days. The weekend started off great. I first had two interviews and an English assessment, and the timing between them was very short, so I was literally running to make it between them. The first interview was very simple; they asked me about my interests and my background. I talked about everything I did and emphasized how much I loved writing and poetry, and to my surprise, my interviewer was a creative writer, and she literally jumped after she found out that I had written hundreds of poems. The second interview, however, was much harder. They asked me questions like: Why NYU, and “what’s one course you’d give at NYU, and why”. The purpose of these questions was to see how I perform under pressure, and I personally believed that I did fine.

Three days after finishing the interviews and the activities, it was time to head back home; however, my flight to Syria was on December 8th, literally the same day when the Syrian regime collapsed, and our previous president fled the country. I was terrified. People in the place I spent years in were getting killed, my family were in danger, and I could do nothing but sit and hope for the best. There wasn’t any way for me to go to Syria, as the airport was closed, and the streets were very dangerous. Despite that, the board of NYUAD immediately came to help me, and they ended up allowing me to stay on campus, and a week later, I went back to Syria after things cooled off.

I would say that the best thing about the candidate weekend was the people, as the AOs and my friends at NYUAD were amazing, and they helped me a lot with everything, and were very supportive and kind.

The visa process

A day after I came back to Syria, the decisions came out, and I was accepted into NYUAD for the class of 2029! I spent months waiting, but still didn’t get any news regarding my visa to the UAE. However, in July, I received a call from the international students’ office at NYUAD, and they told me that they had 2 pieces of news for me. The bad news was that my UAE visa had been rejected. However, the good news was that they sent my application to two other campuses, NYC and Paris, for the spring semester, and they gave me the choice to choose whichever campus I wanted to go to. I was stunned. Syria collapsed, there was a genocide happening where I live, and now I got my visa rejected! However, I knew that the only thing I could do was to choose and hope for the best with my visa, so I decided to choose NYC (because who wouldn’t), and I started working on my visa application in September, which is very early; however, I’m someone who loves to do things quickly. I went to Jordan for my visa interview in late November, and a few days later, I was sent an email saying, “Congrats, your visa has been issued”. My flight was on December 22, which meant that I literally had around 10 days to pack my 20 years of living in Syria. I made it to the US 2 days before Christmas Eve, and I was lucky because my friends were having a reunion, and seeing them after all these years felt wholesome.

My GPA and Test Scores

We don’t have a GPA system in Syria, so I sent my grades separately:

• 9th grade: I got 98.5%

• 10th grade: 97.8%

• 11th grade: 95.8%

• 12th grade (baccalaureate): 95.6%

I took the SAT when there was an SAT center in Syria, but I didn't prepare well, and I got an 1100, so I ended up applying test-optional.

I took the Duolingo English Test (DET) and scored 130/160.

My Extracurriculars and Honors

My ECs were very broad. I did Debate throughout high school. I started as a national debater and got 2nd place in the national tournament, then in my junior year, I started playing internationally, representing Syria, and in my senior year, I was a co-coach.

Music was also a very vital part of my journey. I play 2 instruments: The piano (since 2020) and the violin (since 2015). I played in 3 concerts, and in one of them I played as a solo pianist.

I founded a book club in 2022.

I founded an initiative called Dafa, and it mainly aims to help poor people by handing them clothes and food. I started Dafa in 2019, and it’s still going to this day.

I started doing public speaking with the Junior Chamber International (JCI) after I finished high school, and I won two awards: The best national public speaker and the best local public speaker. And I also judged the public speaking events that happened after that.

I did writing and poetry, and wrote over 150 poems and a book, but it wasn’t published. 

And I played chess in the summer of my 9th grade.

Spike vs. Well-Rounded

I believe that a person should be well-rounded, not just in their ECs, but in life in general. For example, when I made it to NYU, I became friends with people who were in Frats and nerds. I didn't like limiting myself to one kind of community, because I knew that it was best to meet people from all different backgrounds.

My Essays

During my first cycle of applying, I had a very hard time with my essays for multiple reasons. We rarely write essays in Syria, and the idea of writing 30+ essays was very overwhelming, especially considering that my mentor wasn’t always available and he’d show up every few months, so I had to rely on myself, and my friends who had mentors in SYE. Nevertheless, I believe that writing is one of those skills that you only get better at if you do it, so just keep writing!I used the college essay guy guides in my first round of applying, and I also asked ChatGPT to rate my essays on a scale of 1-10 and used its feedback to make them better. And I was always looking for essay samples online.

Financial aid

I got a near-full scholarship (97%), and it covers everything except my health insurance. My scholarship came through the CSS, and it didn’t have a separate application.

Life at NYU

Living in New York is weird; people aren’t very welcoming here, and they mainly care about working. The city is very fast-paced, and it’s nothing like Syria, so I definitely had culture shock when I first made it. As for NYU, I got admitted into the liberal studies core, and now I have four classes that I'm required to take:

1. Global Works & Society: It's mainly a class that focuses on culture, general knowledge, and reading.

2. Arts and culture across antiquity: It's a seminar, and it depends on your performance and analytical skills, as the professor wants you to always do presentations and research various topics.

3. Writing as exploration: This class is mainly made to help with writing across various types (creative and academic). One of the assignments that I did was to go take a walk on a street in NYC, and then write about my walk in a journal that the professor reads.

4. Elective: I took Intro to Psychology.

I haven’t decided what I’m going to study yet; however, I’m still choosing between Psychology and Neuroscience.

How to deal with rejections

I got rejected from over 18 schools, and that took me over 3 months to fully recover from. I was always getting imposter syndrome, and people were telling me to just forget about it, and that the US is a very hard dream to reach. However, before I applied to NYUAD for the second time, I sat down with myself and started looking at what I wanted, not what was easier, and not what others were telling me. And I knew that, deep down, I wanted to apply again, and I did that, and look where I am now! Just remember that rejection is a part of the journey, and also remember that the main person you should be listening to is yourself, do what you want, even if it’s hard.

Advice for future applicants

Always have plan B, C, and E, and never stop working towards your goal just because something might feel hard or because plan A didn’t work.

And finally, remember that no matter how weird the path might look, you don't know how things will turn out. It's fine if sometimes your path is different from others, because you never know what's gonna happen. Just stick with whatever feels right, and never leave something unfinished and it will turn out beautiful.