Faculties of young Bangladeshis in the best universities in the world

AR Tahseen Jahan |
Published:
September 08, 2022 00:23:36

| Updated:
September 08, 2022 00:43:11

In recent decades, Bangladeshis going abroad to pursue their higher education seems to be a common phenomenon, but with the increasing competition, some are also heading to the best universities in the world due to their extraordinary abilities. With the release of the fall 2022 results, we will hear from Tanveer Mahmood and Md Azhar Uddin Bhuiyan who are lecturers at two public universities in Bangladesh and have also entered Pennsylvania State University in the USA and the University of Cambridge respectively United Kingdom. year to pursue their dream of higher education.
Studying Economics at Penn State: Tanveer Mahmood is a senior lecturer at the University of Dhaka in the Department of Economics who joined Penn State this fall through a post as a graduate teaching assistant (GTA). Besides Penn State, he also received offers from Rutgers University, Georgia State University and Rice University. Tanveer Mahmood was also a student in the Department of Economics at Dhaka University with a very nerdy student profile in his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Interested in applied microeconomics and econometrics, he began his doctoral studies in August. He considers that only a few universities can provide him with the skills he needs to pursue his research interests, which is why he chose Penn State above all others.
Tanveer’s main plan is to return to Bangladesh and continue studying after obtaining his doctorate. He also wants to work on gaps in econometric analysis in the quantitative research base of Bangladesh.
Getting into top universities for higher education requires going through a hectic application process. While talking about his application process for universities, he mentioned, “An applicant should focus on building an overall profile when applying for admission. Apart from good results and good GRE scores, schools superiors want a complete person in the United States.”
The Letter of Recommendation (LOR) and Statement of Purpose (SOP) should also be attractive enough. Tanveer’s SOP had a narrative style to let the admissions committee know how loving he was to the economy early on. As for LOR, he took one from his workplace and two from his faculties.
On top of that, he thinks the experience of a few research studies and publications in peer-reviewed journals made his candidacy stronger than other candidates. As most universities in the United States require the GRE for masters and doctoral programs, so it is important but not as much as the general profile of a candidate.
“Remember that the GRE score is important, but it is not the most important thing in your application. You must check what is the average profile of the successful candidates and try to obtain scores similar to this ‘GradCafe’ is a good source for finding relevant resources,” Tanveer mentioned.
With the ongoing competition increasing every season, Tanveer advised students who are in their junior and senior years and who want to be accepted into top universities to start researching the right programs and the requirements to get into those programs.
“Preparing for IELTS and GRE over the holidays and reaching out to teachers with research ideas would really help them prepare.”
From Moot Court Competitions to the Cambridge Law Dream: While Tanveer Mahmood preferred the United States for the economics major, Md Azhar Uddin Bhuiyan preferred to apply to the United Kingdom to pursue his dreams of graduate studies in law. He thinks the UK legal system is more like Bangladesh than any other in the world. As a law scholar and adviser to the Bangladesh Competition Commission, he felt the need to pursue higher education because with Bangladesh’s upcoming transition to developing country status, the country will face new challenges to protect the rule of law in the commercial sector.
Md Azhar Uddin Bhuiyan is a Lecturer in the Law Department of Bangladesh Professionals University (BUP). This year, he was admitted to the Master of Laws (LLM) program at the University of Cambridge on a Chevening scholarship. His future plan is to be in academia, grooming the next generation of activists, scholars, lawyers, and judges capable of dealing with very complex issues of law. He also wants to better advise the Bangladesh Competition Commission with new insights gained from the world’s best professors at Cambridge.
Since Chevening requires a huge application process, Azhar gave us some insight into it. “Applying for Chevening is a tedious process. You must write four essays on your leadership experience, ability to influence, potential to serve both the UK-Bangladesh relationship and your preferred course choices in the UK Based on these four essays, the Chevening Secretariat establishes a shortlist of candidates which will be followed by an individual interview.Finally, the interview determines the scholarship decision.
Azhar believes applicants should try to show they are a complete package ranging from academic excellence to leadership experience to policymaking, as Chevening looks at an application holistically.
For top UK universities, all require IELTS 7.5 with 7 in each of the following areas: writing, listening, speaking and reading. In the Statement of Purpose (SOP), students can focus on their research interest, past work and future plan and how the particular program can relate to their past work and future plan. The Letter of Reference (LOR) is very important for admission, as top-tier institutions rely heavily on the words of professors.
“To get an excellent LOR, students should consider working with their respective professors in the research projects. If you look around you will have many such opportunities. You just have to grab them,” Azhar said. .
Extra-Curricular Activities (ECA) should be subject-related if it helps connect you to a network of your career path and choice. Also, some general ECAs like debates, minor sports, etc. always help Chevening.
But just like Tanveer, Azhar also thinks having posts is always a plus. Azhar also had a number of international publications when he applied, so he thinks they played a very good role in his selection.
For the current student to dream of walking the Cambridge path with Chevening, Azhar said: “They should continue to study hard, maintain extraordinary grades, engage in voluntary work, take on leadership roles to seize opportunities .”
Both faculties have made their way into the top universities in the world through their hard work and caliber. They also feel like it’s hard, persistent work that helps you achieve your particular dream of higher education. It’s now or never!

The author studies development studies at the University of Dhaka.
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