Thousands of candidates eye Ivy League varsities

Joseph Karanja from Light International Academy, who scored an A of 82 points in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam, is among thousands of young bright scholars eyeing education in the prestigious Ivy League of colleges.

Students whom People Daily spoke to, attribute their ambitions to study abroad to issues such as the time consumed in local universities and authenticity of some of the academic programmes offered.

Most of these students are getting moral support from their parents to pursue this dream despite their economic status. Their teachers are also supporting them.

Karanja, a straight A student in his education history, said from his observation, many graduates in the country possess academic documents that are not marketable.

 “There is a lot of learning time wastage in this country; so many strikes by lecturers and students end up increasing the number of years learners take to complete their courses,” the 17-year-old boy said at the school in Karen, last Thursday.

Require quick fixes

“I feel that if I get an opportunity to study abroad, I will be able to make the much-needed contribution to the society,” he added.

His parents, Wangare Karanja and Daniel Kimingi, despite their poor financial status, are raring to go to any lengths to see that their first-born child achieves his life ambitions.

“He wants to pursue very sophisticated physics, and that one is not available in the local universities. He has already applied to two universities in the US that are under the Ivy League.

He has even done an international exam with one of them, and scored an A. Subsequently, two of the universities are already in talks with him, and he is expecting results of an exam he has done with one of them,” said Kimingi.

Cornell University, a private and statutory Ivy League research university in Ithaca, New York, is one of the universities that has been in touch with Karanja. 

Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, the university was intended to teach and make contributions in all fields of knowledge—from the classics to the sciences, and from the theoretical to the applied.

Karanja’s mother said her son has been a brilliant and all-rounded child throughout his primary and secondary education.

“He’s a boy who can do exemplary well in almost all areas. He has been a role model and skills leader to other children.

As a trained teacher, he has always confided that he wants to be an aeronautical engineer or a medical doctor, other options are computer scientist and other science fields,” she said.

Karanja said the problems facing Kenyans, including poverty, shortage of medical care, lack of access to water and quality education, and low technology penetration, require quick fixes.

“So, I think it is our responsibility as upcoming young scholars to give back to the society the investment they have put in us. If we get the opportunity to study abroad, we will be happy to do so,” Karanja who also hopes to be an economic planner in future, added.

Give back

Karanja’s classmate at Light International Academy, Kelvin Mue, who scored an A- (minus) with 79 points also said he wants to study abroad despite his needy background.

“The school gave me a scholarship to study here because I come from a poor background, and my dreams were to get an opportunity to pursue a career in a university overseas,” said the 17-year-old, who wants to pursue Finance and International Relations.

At Kenya High, the country’s second best student Maryanne Njeri Barasa, hopes to proceed to Harvard University, where she intends to pursue medicine.

“My choice of Harvard is based on quick career development so that I can give back to society for nurturing me,” said the 17-year-old from Mathare North.

 Light International Academy principal, Ismail Kucuk said the school supports the students’ career ambitions because by studying abroad they become global citizens; unique leaders with more exposure.

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