Hello! I am Ahmed from Egypt. I graduated from Red Sea STEM School in 2022. Now, I am a freshman at RWTH Aachen University in Germany.
My background
I was in a public elementary language school that teaches the German language from 4th grade. To begin with, I was studying the German language to pass the exams with high grades. However, in 7th grade, I took a German A1 course at Goethe Institute and passed the exam for the A1 German language at Goethe Institute. Going to 8th grade, I decided to pursue learning German as I loved the experience of learning it. I end up in 8th grade by passing the A2 German language exam at Goethe Institute. During the 9th grade, which was my senior year in my preparatory school, I heard about Egyptian STEM schools that took the best 1500 students in Egypt who excelled academically at G9 and passed the entrance exam to pursue high school in it. I finished G9 with 99% and applied for the STEM school entrance exam. I got into Red Sea STEM School ranked 73th in the entrance exam with over 5000 applicants and 1500 accepted students.
Why Germany
The second semester during G10 was canceled because of Covid-19 that allowed me to search for universities in the US and Germany. I privileged German universities because I loved how Germany supports the students. For instance, offering work 20 hours/week and reducing the living expenses for students. Furthermore, I came across the preparation year offered by the Goethe Institute in cooperation with the Technische University of Berlin (TUB) for admission to German universities.
Stats, grades, and test scores while in high school
During my Red Sea STEM journey, my GPA was 3.9/4. My second semester in G11 was canceled because of Covid-19. That was the best opportunity to level up my German language skills. I began to enhance my German with a mentor and in September 2021, I took the B2 German proficiency exam.
Extracurricular activities & Honors
Making an international team to work on a challenge at the Junior Academy program at the New York Academy of Science was an impressive experience. I was the Head of the Robotics branch at the Red Sea STEM Fab Lab club. It is a club that teaches programming languages such as C++ and how to cooperate in the robotics field to freshmen and juniors. I was an event manager at TEDxYouth MaadiSTEM. However, the event was canceled due to COVID-19 but was a nice experience. Going to honors, I won a 1st place medal at the NASA Space Apps Challenge Ismailia branch. I was a finalist at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
Scholarship & Financial aid
After I took the B2 German proficiency, I talked with my mentor about my plans. She recommended applying for the Studienkolleg Ägypten Sawiris Foundation Scholarship. It is an Egyptian scholarship that covers the preparation year expenses that was 6K Euros at Goethe Institute which prepares for German University admission and covers the university expenses if you show academic excellence during this preparation year. I applied for the preparation year in January 2022 and applied for the Studienkolleg Ägypten Sawiris Foundation Scholarship in June 2022. I received my acceptance letter for both in September 2022.
Preparation Year experience, grades, and test scores
I am a resident of Hurghada, Red Sea, in south Egypt. I had to move to Cairo in central Egypt to take the preparation year at Goethe Institute. It was a huge challenge, especially after knowing that in the prior class, no one had achieved the scholarship conditions. On the contrary, it was an amazing year at Goethe Institute. I liked their small classes, and their ceremonies were well-vibed. I ended this year ranking second in the class and first on the scholarship scholars. My GPA was 1.5/1 (The GPA system in Germany is a little bit different, as you excel academically, you approach 1). My TestDaF score was 17/20. TestDaF is a German proficiency exam. By that, I matched with the scholarship conditions.
Essays
I wrote my motivation letter about my journey learning to code in high school highlighting it with accomplishments done with coding and my journey leading the Red Sea STEM Fab Lab Club Robotics branch.
Why RWTH Aachen
I was targeting Munich University, Berlin University, and RWTH Aachen University. These are the German top universities. As a direct consequence of receiving my TestDaF score late, I missed the deadlines for Munich University and Berlin University. I applied for RWTH Aachen in September 2023 and I received my acceptance letter in the same month. By that, I become the first Egyptian to study Bachelor's in Germany with a full-ride.
How I chose my major
As a passionate about computers generally and coding especially. I was not confused while choosing my major. I like coding and how we can understand computer language. Moreover, I love teaching it as I mentioned before, one of the most enjoyable moments for me in high school was when I was teaching C++ to the freshmen in the Red Sea STEM Fab Lab club.
Campus experience
RWTH Aachen has outstanding vibes. The whole city is a campus. Whenever you walk, you find a building for RWTH Aachen University. For instance, I took lectures in one building, internships in another building, and took exams in another building. It is so diverse and has a lot of communities there. I remember in my first days, someone realized that I was an international student, he delivered me to a community of international students at the University.
