Background 

Hello, my name is  Ahmed Maghri and I am currently a student at Constructor University in Germany. I was born in Casablanca, Morocco, then relocated to Temara, where I got my baccalaureate degree -High school diplomat- from  "Groupe Scolaire Al Bayane", taking the mathematical sciences A stream.

Studying abroad 

I want to major in computer science, and in this particular field, there are more opportunities abroad to get a better quality education, and more internship opportunities in a place that is well-developed in my field.

Moreover, most Universities in Morocco except some private universities such as AUI, UIR, and UM6P, don’t have that campus life and that college experience that I was highly searching for, and studying abroad also allows you to have that international experience that forces you to be independent and rely on yourself which is something that I was eager for.

While preparing my application I also considered a variety of countries that aligned with my goals such as the US, Canada, Qatar, and Moroccan Universities as a safety.

Why Germany 

In my senior year, I got accepted into the Constructor University which is an American University in Germany.

When doing my research Germany has been highly recommended to me for studying especially in fields related to engineering, and studying at an American university in Germany will allow me to learn about different cultures. At the same time Constructor University’s big international student body, and the fact that the official language in the university is English made it infinitely easier given that my German wasn’t the best at the start. Still, I got to slowly work on it without the pressure of being fluent from the day on.

Academics

The Constructor University requires a minimum of 1200 on the SATs which I was able to fulfill by getting a 1370 on the SAT, and I also had 120 on my Duolingo test to fulfill the language requirement as well.

In Morocco, we don’t have a GPA but our grading system is out of 20, I sent out my Junior year grade which was 17.28, and my grade on the regional test that we took at the end of Junior year which was 16.5.

Extracurricular Activities 

For my main extracurricular activities, I listed my 2 weeks internship at the orphanage " Centre Lalla Meriem pour la Ligue de protection de l'enfance" at Rabat as my number one activity and I also wrote my personal statement about this experience.

Then I also listed My model UN at Yale University where I represented France in the committee on Economic social and cultural rights and I had to debate on subjects related to AI, human rights, and intellectual property and find solutions to those problems.

Another main activity that I listed was my role as the leader of my team at the UBER GLOBAL HACKATHON, where we were in the category of design products and my role was to solve problems that we were given, and as a leader, I had to lead the team and try to match between all the ideas given by the members of my team.

Student life

The University has students from over 120 different countries, so as you can imagine we have a pretty diverse campus and classroom which makes it easier to communicate with people and make friends because all of you are going through the same transition at the same time.

The University has basketball courts, football fields, volleyball, tennis, and badminton too, so there is space to practice any sport you’re interested in and there are a bunch of activities to do on campus.

Financial aid

The University provides some partial scholarships for most international students however they rarely provide full scholarships. There’s no separate application needed as you’re automatically considered for the scholarship and in my case I got a 40% scholarship.

Tips for applicants 

My biggest tip would be to try not to stress during this process, just manage your time in the best way possible, do your best to present your activities in the best way and prioritize the quality of your work over the quantity.

And at any point in your journey, never be ashamed to try and improve your English.

Most importantly don’t start preparing too late, a good application takes time, so make sure to give yourself the time to create the best application possible.