Two school friends in Abu Dhabi made their dream a reality when both were accepted to study at Stanford University.
They spent their last few years at secondary school talking about places at a top-ranked college, and now they are going to the world's No 2.
Solal Afota and Vedant Khanna, 18, who are in their final year at British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi, turned down some of the world's best campuses, including the University of Cambridge in the UK, to study in the US.
They are the first two pupils from the school to go on to study at Stanford, which is second in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
When I saw congratulations written across the screen, I fell silent and just paced up and down my room. My mum was with me and her screams made up for my lack of words at the time
"I applied to universities in the US, Canada and the UK and even got accepted in Cambridge's Trinity College to study mathematics," Solal told The National.
“My dream was always to go to the University of Cambridge and I never really thought about studying in the US, but when I got accepted to Stanford in December I just jumped around my room.
“I think it was about 4am UAE time when I could access the online portal to find out if I had been successful. When I clicked it, all this confetti flooded the screen, that was obviously a good sign.”
With an acceptance rate of less than 5 per cent, Stanford is more selective than the US's eight Ivy League schools, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Columbia.
Each year, the school accepts about 200 international students as undergraduates.
After months of deliberation, Solal, who moved to the UAE when he was 10, said he made the decision to accept the place at Stanford and is likely to study mathematics and computer science there.
A keen mathematician, the French pupil ranked eighth globally in the British Mathematical Olympiad final this year.
He is also part of the French Olympiad maths team, where he is ranked fourth nationally.
Besides Cambridge and Stanford University, Solal was also accepted at the University of California Berkeley, the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo, both in Canada, where he was offered a merit-based scholarship.
"I think a lot of my family and friends were surprised I chose Stanford over Trinity, as that was always my dream university,“ he said.
"It just makes more sense to go to the US as I want to get into tech start-ups in the future.
"I guess the end goal is to be the founder of the next-generation Google or Amazon, so I have my sights set on Silicon Valley.“
For Indian pupil Vedant, Stanford was always the dream, but it was a goal he did not think was possible.
“I was always so confident Solal would get in, he has his life plan set out, but when it came to me, I wasn’t confident,” Vedant said.
“When I saw 'congratulations' written across the screen, I fell silent and just paced up and down my room.
“My mum was with me and her screams made up for my lack of words at the time.”
Described as one the "best physicists I have ever had the privilege to teach", by his head of year, Michael Byrne, Vedant plans to study physics and computer science when he moves to the US in September.
Vedant said he is still pinching himself.
Both pupils will have to fund their accommodation and tuition fees, totalling about $80,000 (Dh290,000) a year, so they are keen to find sponsorship in the UAE in exchange for a work placement or internship.
“Personally, right now, I have no clue what I want to do in the future but I guess, and not to sound cliched, I’d want to give something back to the world,” Vedant said.
“Maybe use AI, which is something I’m so passionate about, or some other advanced tech to impact the world positively.”
For their application process, both boys had to submit eight short-form essays that gave the application panel a glimpse into their “vulnerabilities and personality”.
Mr Byrne, head of Year 13 at BSAK, said both boys were outstanding pupils.
“I have had the privilege of teaching Solal and Vedant for A-Level physics, as well as working with them as part of the Sixth Form pastoral team,” he said.
“Solal is one of, if not the best, mathematicians to have ever graced BSAK, and Vedant’s ability and reading already extends well beyond the demands of an A-Level syllabus in physics and computer science."
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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