My college tenure has been challenging, rewarding, and an experience I’ve loved more than I ever thought I would. I’ve learned to fail and persevere, I’ve learned to manage my time and still succeed when I’m stretched thin, and I’ve learned to set lofty goals for myself. Each year I’ve attended Georgia Tech has presented me with challenges that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to face. I’ve bounced back from a semester where I earned a 2.5 GPA in my first year, to originally being denied from the Georgia Tech Student Foundation Investments Committee and struggling to make an impact within the organization in my second year, to working three jobs in my third year to help my parents finance my college expenses. Among all the times of uncertainty I’ve gone through in my college career, a common theme I noticed is that not having anyone to count on for advice made my journey much more difficult. A lack of access to advice and guidance is a challenge most first-generation college students have to navigate, but I’ve never seen my background as a reason that I should achieve less than any of my peers. It has also been the reason for how much I’ve made mentorship a part of my college extracurriculars. By being involved in Georgia Tech’s First-Gen Jackets mentorship program for the past two years, I’ve been a resource for younger, first-generation students who don't know where else to turn. I’ve been able to help my mentees with building optimal schedules, finding more financial aid, and getting ahead in internship recruiting, which were things I wasn’t clued in on during my earlier undergraduate years. Besides First-Gen Jackets, I am also involved with the Black Student Recruitment Team and the Student Ambassadors program for the Scheller College of Business. Through the Black Student Recruitment Team, I can show Black high schoolers that success at Georgia Tech is possible for Black students despite being underrepresented on campus. I’ve also been able to encourage more Black high school students to consider applying to Tech since many never do due to believing they would be underqualified applicants. As part of the Scheller Business Ambassadors program, I focus on broadcasting the inclusive environment within the Scheller College of Business to current, potentially interested non-Scheller students. It has also been another avenue for me to engage with prospective Georgia Tech students and ease potential concerns about the Scheller environment or their potential to succeed in Scheller. Doing this has been especially rewarding because I’ve gotten to help multiple prospective students from various backgrounds feel more confident and excited about their transition to college. Becoming someone who can point struggling students to resources they didn’t know existed or help fellow low-income students look for scholarship and grant opportunities has been a fulfilling way to give back to the Georgia Tech community, and I truly value knowing that there are students who’ve struggled less than I did when I had the same questions as them. Mentorship, and subsequently making Georgia Tech a place where first-generation, low-income students like me feel empowered to succeed in the classroom and be ambitious in extracurriculars, has been intertwined with my education and college career. I’ve been able to ensure that students benefit from the knowledge I’ve gained and thereby make their college experiences less stressful. I plan to continue this after college by engaging heavily with early-insight and networking programs for students at my future full-time firm. I would love to pay forward professional enrichment to students, as I struggled to find it early in my college career.

My college tenure has been challenging, rewarding, and an experience I’ve loved more than I ever thought I would. I’ve learned to fail and persevere, I’ve learned to manage my time and succeed when I’m stretched thin, and I’ve learned to set lofty goals. Each year I’ve attended Georgia Tech has presented me with challenges that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to face. I’ve bounced back from a semester where I earned a 2.5 GPA in my first year, to originally being denied from the Georgia Tech Student Investments Committee and struggling to make an impact within the organization in my second year, to working three jobs in my third year to help my parents finance my college expenses. Each time I struggled, I learned skills that helped prepare me for future challenges. The most useful skill I've learned is the art of process-oriented goal-setting. I learned that setting a big goal for myself without attention to the process I'd need to follow was a bad way to set a goal which often lead to failure. I learned to set smaller goals that built on each other towards my big-picture goals. Among all the hardships I’ve gone through in my college career, a common theme I noticed is that not having anyone to count on for advice made my journey much more difficult. A lack of access to advice and guidance is a challenge most first-generation college students have to navigate, but I’ve never seen my background as a reason that I should achieve less than any of my peers. It has instead been the reason for how much I’ve made mentorship a huge part of my college extracurriculars. By being involved in Georgia Tech’s First-Gen Jackets mentorship program for the past two years, I’ve been a resource for younger, first-generation students who don't know where else to turn. I’ve been able to help my mentees with building optimal schedules, finding more financial aid, getting ahead in internship recruiting, and good goal-setting, which were things I wasn’t clued in on during my earlier undergraduate years. Besides First-Gen Jackets, I am also involved with the Black Student Recruitment Team and the Student Ambassadors program for the Scheller College of Business. Through the Black Student Recruitment Team, I can show Black high schoolers that success at Georgia Tech is possible for Black students despite being underrepresented on campus. I’ve also been able to encourage more Black high school students to consider applying to Tech since many never do in the first place due to believing they would be underqualified applicants. As part of the Business Ambassadors program, I focus on broadcasting the inclusive environment within the Scheller College of Business to current, potentially interested non-Scheller students. It has been especially rewarding because I’ve gotten to help multiple prospective students feel more confident and excited about their transition to college. Becoming someone who can point struggling students to resources they didn’t know existed or help fellow low-income students look for scholarship opportunities has been a fulfilling way to give back to the Georgia Tech community, and I truly value knowing that there are students who’ve struggled less than I did when I had the same questions as them. Mentorship, and subsequently making Georgia Tech a place where first-generation, low-income students like me feel empowered to succeed in the classroom and be ambitious in extracurriculars, has been intertwined with my education and college career. Because of the adversity I've faced in getting through college, I've made it a priority to be there for the students around me who need an extra hand.

Being raised in Islam has shaped not only the way my parents raised me but the way I see myself, and how that has translated to my goals. I give many thanks to my parents, who always brought me up to see myself as intelligent and capable of achieving anything my peers could, if not more. Their advice growing up always tied my ability to achieve with the power of Dua, so from an early age, the two biggest tools I'd been equipped with were unwavering self-esteem and steady reliance on Dua. In my academic pursuits, I've been sure of what I wanted for a while, which made working toward my goals that much easier. Having the mindset that drove me to work as hard as possible to succeed in classes and gain acceptance to Georgia Tech built my confidence that Allah would make my goals a reality for me and place me in the situation that suits me the best. The value of Islam that influence my career goals the most would be kindness and charitability. Most jobs or work don't operate primarily with the purpose of charity, and my goal profession, management consulting, is no different. This has made me conscious about pursuing companies that at least have a division of their workforce dedicated to charity or nonprofit work. My attitude towards giving, shaped by Islam and my parents, also inspires me to be generous with the knowledge I've collected about the corporate world and professional recruiting to younger students on campus. I love to be there for people who could use tips regarding their resume, interview practice, or other advice on networking and finding roles to apply for. Now that I've been a college student for two years, I know that I enjoy my field of study and I've also been blessed with the opportunity to experience a career in management consulting, which has reinforced my desire to pursue the profession. Receiving this scholarship would allow me to devote more of my energy to my studies, as well as allow me the time to be a mentor and resource to others on campus who wish to be in a similar position. Otherwise, I'd have to spend the bulk of my free time working after class to fund my meals, rent, books, and any other expenses that my current financial aid doesn't fully cover. I really appreciate being considered for this opportunity.