NYU has been my dream school since highschool. I had been building my profile as soon as grade 8. I had excellent test scores, grades and extracurriculars and ended up securing admission into my dream university. However, due to lack of financing, I was unable to join. I ended up coming to LUMS, and used my 4 years here with one goal in mind: securing a fully funded admission into the NYU graduate school.

Reflecting back on my experience, I took several exploratory leaps in my academic journey, and I am glad I did. I utilised the interdisciplinarity inherent in the MGSHSS curriculum to explore all facets of my multi-passionate self holistically. STEM courses have made me a better quantitative analyst. In contrast, history and politics courses have provided the necessary nuance to my intellectual perspectives and made me a better researcher. To pursue my passion, I found the perfect blend of courses to explore and work on issues combining gender, economic theory, and development policy.

LUMS offered me the environment to foster deep personal and professional ties with my faculty and the academic community at large. My current role as a pre-doctoral research fellow at MHRC has allowed me to work with renowned names like Dr. Michael Best (Columbia) and Dr. Anders Jensen (Harvard) as well. I found my personal inspiration in Dr. Hadia Majid and Professor Maha Rehman. Their mentorship helped me find my calling and refine my specialisation interests. Moreover, professors such as Dr. Farooq Naseer and Dr. Sher Afghan Asad played a vital role in my journey, from providing rigorous quantitative training to mentoring me on projects that allowed me to acquire essential research skills.

The opportunities LUMS presented me have been monumental in making me the self-confident professional and academic I am today. At NYU, I aim to continue the work I started at LUMS and strive to provide an equitable chance at life to the most vulnerable populations in the global south.

Today, I am proud to share that I will be pursuing an M.A. in Economics at NYU as a Fulbright Scholar. On top of my Fulbright Scholarship, I also received the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (GSAS) 100% Scholarship from NYU.

To all prospective applicants, never give up. Stay committed to your dreams, and with enough hard work and resilience, they will come true!

GRAD ECHO

ActualAIz