Old Boy Mohamed Zidan Cassim Heads to Harvard

We are extremely excited to share with the wider St David’s Marist Inanda community that Mohamed Zidan Cassim has been accepted into the prestigious Harvard University in Massachusetts.

Mohamed served as Deputy Head Prefect during his matric year, and matriculated in 2021 with 10 distinctions. He was recognised as an IEB Outstanding Achiever, meaning that he achieved within the top 5% in 6 or more Subjects and achieved a rating level of 7 in Life Orientation. Mohamed was also ranked in the top 1% in the country for both Accounting and English HL.

After matriculating, Mohamed studied Computer and Electrical Engineering at the University of Cape Town until mid-April, when he learnt that his application to Harvard had been successful. Harvard University has an acceptance rate of 5%, meaning that only one application out of every twenty is successful. This achievement is even more impressive knowing that he only submitted his application after receiving his matric results and right before Harvard’s deadline.

Mohamed shares that his first year of study at Harvard will be more general, but he is planning on specializing in computer science, electrical engineering, or economics from 2nd year. He is extremely excited to travel overseas, and experience other parts of the world, be exposed to new cultures, and meet people from other walks of life.

He offers the following advice to his younger Marist brothers: “Do as many things as you possibly can – anything that pops up, even if you think you may not be good at it. Don’t limit yourself. Let yourself be exposed to a variety of interesting things. You will learn more about the world and yourself. You can find out what you enjoy and what you’re good at.”

Mohamed leaves for Massachusetts in August, and we wish him all the best on this exciting adventure that he is embarking on.