Spring Break
CSU student joins Ivy Leaguers
Shelley Woll
Issue date: 4/16/09 Section: News
Waking up at 7:30 a.m. to meet with the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce Bioscience Committee, sitting down for an interview with the Collegian and then working on a presentation for a biomedical science seminar class is not how most 22-year-olds spend their birthdays, but that's exactly how Hamid Gari passed the day Tuesday.
But then again, Gari is not like most 22-year-olds --Â he is one out of a handful of U.S. students chosen to study biotechnology at the University of Cambridge.
Gari was accepted along with three Gates-Cambridge Scholars -- two from Stanford University and one from Yale University -- into the prestigious master's in Bioscience Enterprise program at the University of Cambridge. He will begin attending classes there next October after graduating rom CSU this May with a degree in Biomedical Sciences.
The University of Cambridge in England is one of the oldest universities in the world and is known for its strong math and sciences department as well as the staggering 83 Nobel Laureates it's produced since 1904. The program usually only accepts four to five students from the U.S. every year.
"I'm very excited and of course nervous at the same time," Gari said about moving to Cambridge in August.
"I looked up the reputation of Cambridge, and it's kind of one of those universities that you don't think a lot of people have heard of it, but when you look at it in a world scale, it's pretty up there with Harvard and Yale."
Gari's scholarship adviser, who discussed multiple programs in the UK with Gari, said his acceptance into the program was a validation of both Gari and CSU.
"That's an extremely competitive program to get in to," said Heather Esterday, the fellowship adviser for the Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships Programs. "It's great to know that CSU has this caliber of students."
Gari moved to Fort Collins five years ago from his native Saudi Arabia to finish up his high school degree and to attend his parent's alma mater, CSU.
But then again, Gari is not like most 22-year-olds --Â he is one out of a handful of U.S. students chosen to study biotechnology at the University of Cambridge.
Gari was accepted along with three Gates-Cambridge Scholars -- two from Stanford University and one from Yale University -- into the prestigious master's in Bioscience Enterprise program at the University of Cambridge. He will begin attending classes there next October after graduating rom CSU this May with a degree in Biomedical Sciences.
The University of Cambridge in England is one of the oldest universities in the world and is known for its strong math and sciences department as well as the staggering 83 Nobel Laureates it's produced since 1904. The program usually only accepts four to five students from the U.S. every year.
"I'm very excited and of course nervous at the same time," Gari said about moving to Cambridge in August.
"I looked up the reputation of Cambridge, and it's kind of one of those universities that you don't think a lot of people have heard of it, but when you look at it in a world scale, it's pretty up there with Harvard and Yale."
Gari's scholarship adviser, who discussed multiple programs in the UK with Gari, said his acceptance into the program was a validation of both Gari and CSU.
"That's an extremely competitive program to get in to," said Heather Esterday, the fellowship adviser for the Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships Programs. "It's great to know that CSU has this caliber of students."
Gari moved to Fort Collins five years ago from his native Saudi Arabia to finish up his high school degree and to attend his parent's alma mater, CSU.
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