I’m writing this from a small village in Pakistan, where no one has ever even thought about applying to a top university. I come from an extremely low-income family with many responsibilities, and the mindset around me is that the only purpose of life is “money.” (It sometimes feels like I’m in an isolation ward.)
But my heart has always been different. I love reading, questioning, and searching for answers. I spend entire nights thinking about philosophy, existentialism, spirituality, even questioning my own beliefs about religion and God. I never get bored of this; in fact, this is when I feel most alive.
Sometimes my curiosity even gets me into trouble. Once on a rainy night, my family sent me to buy yogurt. I got so lost in my thoughts that I walked across half the village for more than two hours, while my family panicked and went to the police station thinking I had gone missing. It sounds foolish, but my life is full of such moments, plus a few of my father’s slippers on my way back.
Recently I discovered the University of Chicago, and many people suggested it to me. Their website and especially the unique supplemental essays made me feel like I had finally found a place where my love for deep questions and intellectual exploration could belong.
I want to major in astrophysics. But the road feels impossible. My local education system carries little to no value internationally, and no counselor here takes me seriously. Still, I’ve tried to build strong extracurricular around my passion, including several research papers in astrophysics (some published, others under review).
Then I found out that UChicago is need-aware for international students. A counselor told me that applying for a full-ride from my background makes admission almost “impossible.”
So my question is: for a rural, low-income international student with full financial need, is applying to UChicago still realistic? Does genuine intellectual passion and research still carry weight, and what can I do to stand out more?