Les collèges du Monde Uni au Sénégal - United World Colleges Senegal

My first week at Atlantic College was memorable: I arrived on campus on the afternoon of September 11, 2001. It didn't hit me at first, mainly because I didn't understand most of what people were saying (I wasn't fluent in English yet). I was just thrilled to attend school in a 12th-century castle in the UK with students from all over the world! We spent the first few days being acquainted to one another, attending welcome ceremonies and parties, and being thrown into the wilderness of Wales to attend First Year Camp, canoeing, mountain-climbing, playing team-building activities, or just sitting around a camp fire making s'mores (flame-roasted marshmallows, yum!). By the time we returned from First Year Camp, I finally understood the extent of the 9/11 attacks. Witnessing the discussions that were taking place around me, from our living rooms, to the cafeteria, to the lecture hall, I knew right away that Atlantic College was not like any other school. More than a school, it felt more like a forum where young people got together to have fruitful exchanges and promote international understanding. Indeed, there was no better time to attend a UWC.

I applied to several universities in the US, the UK and Canada, with the UK being my first choice. Unfortunately, there weren't many opportunities to obtain scholarships in the UK nor in Canada and applying for universities in the US meant I had to take the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs). The difficulty in taking a standardized test like the SAT lie within the fact they tend to be tailored for students who have been through the local educational system, which wasn't the case for me. Fortunately, SAT scores are not the only factor taken into account, colleges also look at overall academic background and achievement, extra-curricular activities, the student's potential, personality, background, etc.

Fortunately, I ended up attending Macalester College in St Paul, Minnesota as a beneficiary of scholarships especially tailored for international students, the Kofi Annan Scholarship for Academic Excellence and the Shelby Davis Scholarship for Academic Achievement.