The son of an immigrant single mum is set to take up a prestigious £250,000 scholarship at the world’s highest ranked university – after being rejected by Cambridge.
18-year-old Mohammed Isuf Ahmed, who lives with his mum and two younger brothers in a tiny flat in Aldgate, East London, had the enviable task of choosing between two of the world’s top three universities.
He plumped for top ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US – ahead of third-highest rated Harvard – after MIT offered him an all-expenses paid £250,000 scholarship to study physics and aerospace engineering.
The choice came despite him being earlier rejected by Cambridge. Amazingly, his American scholarship offers came just weeks after a rejection letter from Cambridge’s Corpus Christie College.
Isuf said, “I got rejected by Cambridge at the beginning of January and I was heartbroken.
“It was my dream to go to a life-changing university, and I honestly didn’t think I would get into the US universities if I couldn’t get in here.
“But then the MIT letter came and then Harvard. That was unbelievable, I still just can’t believe it. I have decided on MIT because it is the best university in the world for aerospace engineering.”
