With two brothers also currently attending college, Nadeem Patel was intent on finding an affordable education from an institution of higher education that offered a quality education – something he found as a Star Scholar at Harry S Truman College. Now he’s set to take even greater advantages of what that program has to offer students as one of four CCC Class of 2017 STAR Scholars to be offered a tuition free ride from Northwestern University, one of the program’s transfer partners.
Even before he learned of the Star Scholar program, which affords its students a no cost education to City Colleges with tuition and books paid for, Nadeem had made plans to follow in his mother’s footsteps by attending Truman before transferring to a four-year school. Along with his twin brother Naeem – who also received the scholarship offer from Northwestern – Nadeem, a Northside College Preparatory High School graduate, enrolled at City Colleges and quickly was able to identify the school’s strengths that helped him reach his associate degree in science.
“The best aspects of the Star Scholarship program were having access to opportunities and resources available at Truman College,” he said. “Any time I had questions or problems, there was always someone who was there to make things easy for me. The professors were great and very experienced, and students were motivated and had set goals. This kind of environment helped prepare me to transfer to a four-year university.”
He says his academic advisor was of enormous assistance, and he was especially pleased to receive a $5,000 CME Group scholarship through a partnership with the Star Scholar program.
As he moves on to Northwestern, he’s keeping his options open as to where he will eventually head. While working towards a bachelor’s degree in computer science, he will ultimately decide between attending medical school or graduate school for computer science instead.
Either way, he feels his experience in the diverse culture of Truman College will have prepared him for the transition to Northwestern.
“Diversity is huge at community colleges,” he said. “Students come as immigrants from all around the world. What I’m learning and experiencing at City Colleges is the same as what is being taught at a four-year university, so I think I’ll be prepared to move forward.”