This summer I submitted my application for the Discovery Scholarship at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. It would pay for my last year of school here, cost of living, travel, tuition there, and a stipend to buy a new laptop. Well, when you have the fifth largest endowment in the world, I guess you can afford to do that sort of thing.

At any rate, I nit-picked an essay (they wanted an essay of 50 lines or less detailing academic achievement, international experience, statement of purpose, etc., so it’s bound to be a paced a certain way), and got letters of recommendation from three of my professors. Specifically, Graeme Fairweather, the department head, Mike Colagrosso, a recently tenured professor who just left us for the private sector (you’ll be missed, Mike), and Yong Bakos, a first year professor. All in all, I felt pretty good about my application.

Well, earlier this week I got an email saying that I had been selected as a finalist. Of the 2300 who applied, they whittled it down to 672 students (of whom they’re saying they’ll accept 500); 99 of these are from the US or Canada. Making it to the finals means that they’re going to fly me out to Washington D.C. for an interview this weekend, about which I’m very excited. I’ve never been back east, and it will give me a chance to see my cousin Elizabeth and her husband Wess, who live in Arlington, VA. The KAUST people even let me delay my departure so I could spend Labor Day weekend with them. Hooray!

At a recent dinner, my mother mentioned that she was praying I didn’t get accepted. Something about the perceived danger of living in the Middle East for two years. At any rate, things are looking up, and at the very least, I’ll get a trip to D.C. out of it.

It really looks like a beautiful campus and a unique opportunity. I would be in their first graduating class, getting my Master’s when I finish. I have a knack for being in the early graduating classes for schools. I was in the second class out of my middle school, and I was in the second class to graduate from the IB program at Niwot.

For more on KAUST, visit their website.