Assalamua alaikum,

My name is Sabirah Mahmud, a graduating senior from the University of Pennsylvania and a prospective and hopeful future graduate student. I have been studying International Relations and Modern Middle Eastern studies at UPenn for the last four years enthusiastically, primarily focusing on the intersections between educational empowerment, community resilience, and post-colonial framings of current civil and ethnic conflicts. 

I have recently been admitted into graduate programs at top universities such as McGill University, SOAS: London, and the University of St. Andrews. As a highly aided and full-ride FGLI student at UPenn, funding is crucial to my educational success. I grew up impoverished as a family of five surviving on only 25,000 per year. However, things changed when my mom left her abusive relationship in the fall of my freshman year and what was once a family of five became a family of four and my mom had to transition from never working to supporting her children. 

In pursuing my graduate programs, I have applied for funding for graduate school, but my applications returned unsuccessful. I remain enthusiastic and hopeful to begin graduate school in the fall. As I am graduating with no loans from my undergraduate, I want to try to finance my masters the best I can without compromising my religious values of not engaging in interest (riba). The University of St. Andrews, my top choice, requires a downpayment of 4,000 pounds to secure my spot in the fall. Moreover, this 4,000 down payment is a small portion of their 29,900 pound tuition fee for an one-year post-graduate program. This does not include housing or personal expenses which I hope to cover through working. Current fundraising is towards the downpayment fee to secure my spot in the program which is due March 31st as well as supporting tuition and transportation costs.

My admission to the MLitt program in International Security Studies helps support my further research into understanding the resiliency of young people and education. My current undergraduate thesis titled 'Seeds of Rebellion: How Long-Term Government Suppression Impacts Student Movement Culture' will be continued into this post-graduate program. As I have authored original qualitative research, I hope to hone in these skills by hoping to investigate the link between education and resiliency in the pluralistic South-Lebanon. I have already connected with professors like Dr. Malaka Shwaikh and Dr. Sarah Marsden at St. Andrews. All I need is financial assistance to help me pursue this masters and step into applying for a PhD program in the next cycle.