KGSP Foundation Year Students Earn Impressive Early Action Admissions

KGSP’s Foundation Year students at the University of Pennsylvania and North Carolina State University spent the Fall 2024 semester attending classes, acclimating to life in the United States, taking standardized exams, and preparing admission applications to some of the most competitive undergraduate institutions in the world.

The 37 KGSP students participating in Foundation Year worked closely with their KGSP Advisors and placement experts to identify seven top STEM universities that aligned with personal preferences and academic goals for application this cycle. All students were encouraged to select at least one university from their submission plan to target for Early Action priority application review. This required students to work quickly to secure top standardized test scores, required admissions documentation, and work to incorporate KGSP and university feedback on their written essays.

In total, the KGSP supported 67 Early Action applications submitted by the end of October to leverage these priority review windows and yield earlier decisions on admission. Over the course of January, 31 of these applications have thus far turned into acceptances to impressive undergraduate institutions.

Hadwa Alruhaili (Jeddah), a Foundation Year student hosted at the University of Pennsylvania, earned KGSP’s first admission of the cycle: to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) for an intended major of Applied Physics.

Hadwa was excited to apply to Caltech due to its intimate size and focus on STEM fields. “With 200 students in the freshman class, I feel like I could thrive in the tailored education system,” Hadwa notes, and credits her experience with directed research for helping her application stand out among the thousands of Caltech hopefuls. “I dedicated a very big portion of my high school career to working in research, whether at KAUST in the Computational Physics Lab or in other affiliated institutions.”

Hadwa has also received early admissions offers from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Adeeb Alshehry (Dammam), a Foundation Year student hosted at the University of Pennsylvania, received an early admission to his dream school: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to pursue a major in Computer Science.

Describing the moment he found out, Adeeb said, “I vividly remember my heart beating faster than the confetti falling down the screen at tau-pm (6:28) when the decisions were released. After graduating from the International Olympiad in Informatics, I knew if I wanted to keep learning by being challenged by elite problem-solvers throughout university, MIT was the place to go.”

Adeeb has also received an early admission to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Mohammad Hafez (Madinah), a Foundation Year student hosted at North Carolina State University, received an early admission to a school he visited and decided would be a great fit for him: the University of Chicago, for an intended major in Computer Science.

Mohammad’s application emphasized talent development programming he completed through KAUST. “My time with the Math Olympiad team was the biggest influence on my application. The research I had done with KAUST allowed me to showcase my love for STEM authentically,” he said.

Mohammed has also received an early offer of admission to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Yazeed Albeladi (Madinah), a Foundation Year student at North Carolina State University, received an early admission to one of the top U.S. public research institutions: the University of Michigan Ann-Arbor for an intended major in Mechanical Engineering.

To prepare his application to the University of Michigan, Yazeed partnered closely with writing instructors and his KGSP Advisor, stating, “The support I received in writing my essays was tremendous, and allowed me to put together a successful application.”

Yazeed awaits decisions for his other six university applications.

The KGSP students also offered advice to their peers and future cohorts on how to navigate the competitive undergraduate admissions landscape. “I know college admissions season can seem very stressful and time-consuming. It's really easy to have second thoughts when applying to a very selective university. But whatever the result is, it will always make you feel better to have tried your best,” advised Adeeb. Mohammad recommends that students reflect on what makes them a good fit for each institution: “Think about what type of school you're applying to and what message you're sending them. Certain schools emphasize certain values, and you should do the same in your application.” But mostly, Yazeed advised that KGSP students aim high. “No opportunity is ever above or beneath you,” he advised. “Take every chance you can get.”