Hello! I am Omar from Cairo, Egypt. I graduated from STEM High School for Boys - 6th of October in 2021. Currently, I am a rising senior at the University of Chicago. This is my whole journey.

My background

My family moved a lot, and I often found myself changing schools – sometimes, changing countries. I spent middle school in Saudi Arabia, and I was homeschooled. However, at the end of my middle school journey I realized I did not want to stay in Saudi Arabia much longer: I did not have many in-person friends, and I wanted a taste of home once more. To me, STEM Egypt schools was the answer I was seeking, being a boarding school in Egypt. Likewise, after researching the school curriculum, my persuasion increased: it was a school for students who loved mathematics, science, technology, and fabrication. To me, this was the ideal high school experience. I put STEM High School for Boys - 6th of October as my first choice after I sat through the admission exams due to its proximity to Cairo but also its unique and bold building design, which stood in contrast to other STEM schools.

Why I chose the US as a destination

STEM School was a competitive environment. From day one, I wanted to use my passion for knowledge and skills to do something unique. When I was in Saudi Arabia, I developed my grasp of the English language. Thus, my main strength in high school was my English skills. Moreover, after living in Egypt for a time, I did not feel my personality fit in this place. The U.S. was one of the most perfect and obvious options because of its diverse social structure and plentiful academic opportunities. Furthermore, most of my classmates and older classes applied to the U.S. So, I had much information about the admission process.

Why UChicago?

To be honest, UChicago was not my first option. My first option was Harvard and it was my restrictive early action (REA). I preferred Harvard because in middle school and high school, I was doing creative writing and graphic design. Consequently, I looked for a university with a focus on liberal arts and I loved how I could take classes at MIT as well. But I got deferred from Harvard. After the Harvard decision, I began considering UChicago and Middlebury College as options as they fit my application. At first, Middlebury was my ED2 choice and UChicago was part of my RD: I was not too keen on taking another big risk with a top-10 university. On the night both apps were due, I hesitated. I decided to write the UChicago creative essay – an open-ended open-prompt creative response essay and decide accordingly. “If the essay is good, then, well… I will go to UChicago.” My prompt was “what is actually divisible by zero”– very quirky. I sat down before a Google Doc, took a poem I wrote a while earlier, and repurposed it to fit a faint vision I had for the essay, serving as the introduction. It was a love poem inspired by the sightings of Jupiter and Saturn in the sky at the time. On the other hand, the repurposed poem used a lot of the same imagery to describe how small we are when compared to the expansive universe. As a creative writer, it was easy to write as I go. I wrote 3 pages in 1.5 hours, then I sent the essay to some of my friends and older peers for review. With overwhelmingly positive reactions, I was set on UChicago as my ED2 choice. One last curveball had to be dealt with–UChicago’s app was due in 3 hours and I was still one essay short: the Why UChicago essay. I wrote to the regional admission officer to see if it was okay to submit a late application and I received their affirmation. A while after submitting the application, I also sent a creative writing portfolio, an art portfolio, and my website.