One Life Changing Email!
The Beginning: A Thirst for Excellence
Even though I finally got admitted to MS in Economics in 2022, back in 2016 and 2017 I also had gotten admission to Gothenburg University, unfortunate circumstances did not allow me to move to Sweden back then. Well, the story starts even earlier, after I finished my BSS, I knew that I was capable of more and that degree doesn't define me. But I am the kind of spirit who doesn't feel obligated to perform my best when the surrounding environment isn't so much standardised and competitive. So I ended up with a lower GPA in my Bachelor that was not something to be satisfied about. But I had this thirst, this quest for excellence, this insatiable desire to push my limits. I knew I could do more. I wanted to study abroad, study in a more globally recognised institution! But how! Number one, I could not afford the tuition, and number 2, my profile was anything but suitable for a scholarship. So the question was, how I can do that? The only light of hope was GRE! While many of the toppers among my peers or at my University were saying, nah! not my cup of tea, I was empty on all measures but courage!
I started to prepare! As it goes, as a backbencher, I never actually knew how to properly study. I started off with learning the 3500 word Barron's Word list, which most would demand as the most challenging task and sort of like an entry barrier to the GRE. Finally, when I did sit for the exam, I did't even know how exactly to prepare for the quanttitative reasoning part until after several years later. And while studying I discovered that I am actually a comprehensive learner; meaning while studying, if I find something that I was not familiar with, even if it is something not necessarily important for the GRE, I would take th time and digress into that topic for weeks if not for months. So, I ended up exhausting a lot time learning different topics and when the time came I wanted to postpone! After postponing once or twice, when I actually started to dig a bit deeper, I realised I need at least another month but I could not postpone anymore due to other circumstanes! So, I finally went for it.
The First Attempt and Failure
My score was 293! 149 in Verbal Reasoning, 144 in Quantitative Reasoning, and 3.5 in Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)! Of course, the score was depressing except for the AWA part! And it was depressing to the point that I didn't even check if that score could at least get me any admission anywhere! I just had to get back to regular life due to life circumstances at that point. Hoewever, this dream of mine, I could not let go, but I also was not sure what is going to happen with my dream! because, on one hand I did not have anymore scope to study and on the other hand, giving up, as they put it, "Was not in my DNA". I could not fathom what the future looks like at that moment, so for the time being, I had to obfuscate that or, in other words, I had to put my dream in coma!
The First Glimpse of Sweden
In 2015, in search of my dream, I found out that Sweden is a great place to go! And nothing captured my attention better than Gothenburg University. I had a valid GRE, which would give me priority into the admission process. So I just took the IELTS, scored 7.0 and I applied for the MS in International Business as my First choice for te Autumn 2016 intake! Not Economics! And that's because I was scared to get into a MS in Economics! Fast forward, on April 1, 2016 got the admission but I was not offered the scholarship! So, unfortunately, that, along with other circumstances, didn’t allow me to move to Sweden that year! Howeve, my journey did not stop there, I applied again next year, in 2017. Again got admitted! Again, I was not offered the scholarship! Again, I could not move ahead! After that, the next few years, my circumstances deteriorated so much that I could not even apply! And incedentally, to make things worse, In December 2019, my GRE score also became invalid! And that meant, I would not be considered in the priority group in the admission process at Gothenburg University.
The Second Attempt: Renewed Determination
I needed to go back before I could move forward! So, back to GRE again! The second journey on the same Rocky Mountain! I quit my job and started to look at the materials and gather the resources. Bought the necessary books, got into online courses and started to prepare for the GRE. I still remember, while trying to solve one math problem, I felt so overwhelmed that I was on the verge of throwing up! But I was determined! I knew if I put in enough efforts, I could do it.
Setbacks of Pandemic and Uncertainty
So I started preparing again and planned to take it in December 2019. Probably a week before the exam day when Itook the two mock tests, I realised my preparation is not enough to hit my target score! And, since I can't catch the application window anymore for fall 2020 intake in many universities, I decided to postpone and schedule it in March/April 2020! I prepared to the best of my abilities! But then came the shocking COVID lockdown! When I was almost at the peak of my preparation, everything, including the GRE test centres in Dhaka got shut down! and what increased the uncertainty even more was, my passport got expired and the passport office was also closed for an uncertain period! So, it was all uncertain, no one knew when things would come back to normal, and I didn't know when I might be able to renew the passport as passport acts as an ID for the GRE test. As such, I could not keep on practicing for an uncertain time! So I had to stop.
Loss, Recovery, and Redemption
Finally, when everything started to reopen, I got my passport renewed at the end of January 2021, remember, was not working so financing those needs were a big challenge. Even I had to face days when friends living abroad for years denied lending me $50! However, Allah did not deny me! He literally introduced me with people from the other side of the globe who became my friend and partially supported my GRE journey. So, I rescheduled the exam after about two months or so and started preparing again! However, this time, I was struck by one of the toughest shocksof my life! February 9! My respected father's soul left this world! The shock took me several months to recover from! So, I had to postpone my exam again! Finally, when I recovered slightly from the shock, I started to turn those pages agin! One more time, I said to myself, all you need is one more time! And so it follwed. Finally, on September 27, 2021, I did it. 306 this time with 151 in Verbal Reasoning, 155 in Quantitative Reasoning, and 4.0 on Analytical Writig Assessment (AWA). Not the score I was prepared to get, but sufficient enough to move ahead!
The Turning Point: A Life-Changing Email
Then came the next journey! Applying to Universities, I made 19 applications! This time the focus was on the USA, but as a backup plan, I also applied to Gothenburg University,Sweden! And at the last minute, I gathered the courage to put Economics as my first priority! Finally, I got admitted to four Universities, 3 in USA and 1 in Sweden; University of Central Michigan for Economics, IOWA State University for Information Technology, North Dakota State University for Business Analytics, and Gothenburg University for Economics! But id not get any scholarship! So the plan was to go anyway, even if I had to sell a part of our only property in Bangladesh. So, I prepared, but due to not getting a schedule at the US consulate for an F1 visa, my options were to either postpone the admission in the US universities to Spring 2023 or try applying for a study permit in Sweden! I chose the latter, and it was my destiny because, even though initially the Axel Adler Scholarship Committee denied my scholarship application, while I was on a layover at Dubai en route to Gothenburg, Sweden, I suddenly checked my email and got confused to see an email from "scholarship," I mean there was no reason for me to get an email from that! And, To my wonder, when I opened it, it said something that changed my life forever:
"Dear student,
We trust this email finds you well. At the beginning of this week, we offered you the Axel Adler Scholarship 2022 (email sent August 15). We will remind you that today, August 19, 2022, is the last day to answer if you want to accept the offer. If we do not hear from you, the offer will go to another student. Please contact us by email to inform us if you want to accept or decline the offer for the Axel Adler Scholarship 2022.
Best Regards,
Scholarship officers."
Can you imagine! It had been 4 days since the initial email with the Scholarship offer was in my inbox, and I couldn't check it! Well, obviously, I was busy preparing to leave the country, so I couldn't check! But thank god I found the email when only about four hours were left to reply! That was probably the happiest day of my life! Fast forward, in 2025 I received my MS in Economics Degree!
