School Grades were no barriers to a scholarship of 1.5 crore’s


M. Abdur Rahman is a shining example of what a student can achieve, if armed with the right mix of motivation, grit, persistence and goal-orientation. Abdur’s father is a Central Government employee.

Abdur’s father decided to concentrate on getting his son admitted in the best possible US University.

Accordingly, in Class XI, Abdur took admission in the USA UnivQuest 2 Year Program.

Abdur was a student with many facets and interests. Mercifully, he was not interested in being a bookworm, making him unfit for the “marks based” admission process in India. Abdur was a good student. In fact, he has a few research publications in his name in the area of Uranium and Radiation. He had also applied for a patent.

Apart from that, Abdur had a keen interest in social service and extra-curricular activities. He would write his own blog, comment extensively on political issues and was generally quite active in school and in his community. Among his myriad achievements, he was the CEO of People For Blind, an NGO he had spearheaded to enable access to better education facilities for the blind. He is also the Director of TECHNERD, a You Tube channel,targeted at the youth.

In his 12th CBSE Board Examinations, Abdur was able to score around 80%. With that score, it would have been impossible for him to get an admission in any decent University in India. However, due to advanced planning and focus, he was already admitted to the 74th ranked University in USA.

Abdur was admitted to Clarks University in the 3/2 Program. He would complete 3 Years at Clarks University and another 2 years at Columbia University to complete a BA & BS program in Computer Science and Engg.

Amazingly, due to the strength of his overall profile, Abdur was a recipient of the LEEP Scholarship at Clark’s University, whereby he was awarded a full scholarship amounting to $ 2 Lacs or Rs. 1.5 Cr. approximately.

Abdur, proved what we always insist on at USA UnivQuest – Winners don’t do different things; they do things differently!