A Happy Student - Ahmad Al Kawari
Ahmad Al Kawari is a happy young man. He is enrolled at his dream university, pursuing his dream degree. A former ABP student, he entered the Program in August 2016 and graduated in May 2017 with acceptance letters from both CMU-Q and Texas A&M. His journey – from high school, through ABP, to university – summarizes experiences of many other young people in Qatar, but has a particularly positive message.
He explains why he joined the ABP: “Initially, I never thought of studying at the ABP and never even thought to apply. It was just around the end of May 2016, in my last year of high school, that I came to know about the ABP through a friend, Mohammed. He encouraged me to apply for admission to the Program with him, since neither of us were ready to attend university. I felt I needed something that would enable me to transition not just to any university, but to a top university here, in Qatar. It was a major challenge! I felt that my high school did not equip me with sufficient confidence, academic skills, and most importantly, the ability to think critically. I knew I had to gain all those somehow to be accepted at a renowned university. But where? The ABP was the best option. That is why I ended up applying to the ABP. I must say I never regretted this decision, not even once. The one year I spent as an ABP student was worth the three years I had spent studying in high school.”
Reflecting on his ABP experience, Ahmad remarks that one of the most important skills that he learnt here is how to be a good time-manager. Effective time-management is a key ingredient of success at university where “You need to be able to manage your time wisely in order to get your work done. This also applies to your professional life, so the benefits of solid time-management skills are long-lasting”, he says. Some other essential skills he developed while studying in the ABP include note-making and the ability to communicate in an academic style, conducting presentations, participating in seminars and discussions. He admits that he struggled trying to keep up his grades during the first semester, but soon got used to the rigorous ABP system and gradually fine-tuned his learning methods to obtain the best results. His advice is to take it slow, ask teachers for help, and “you will be fine”, he smiles. He ended up so ‘fine’, in fact, that he was offered admission to two universities: Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon.
The most important thing for Ahmad was that the ABP helped him to choose the university path best suited to his talents and interests. “Thanks to the monthly workshops that the ABP sets up, the assistance it offers to help students through academic counseling, information materials, and collaboration with Education City universities”, Ahmad discovered he had a passion for Information Systems, wanted to study it, felt he was good at it and able to do well. Encouraged by the ABP, he chose CMU. And this is what still makes him smile – he is a happy university student who made the right choice.
Ahmad has a final message for the current and prospective ABP students: “My dear fellow students, one last comment that I would like to make is, be competitive, be engaged, be problem solvers, time managers. don’t forget to have some fun, because at the ABP, you will learn the true meaning of fun when you are in class, with your colleagues and your teacher, and discover the joy of learning and secure your own bright future!”
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