U. City takes pride in the success of its students, including the success of Mouhamed Ly, senior and member of StuCo. Ly recently received the QuestBridge scholarship that has granted him a full-ride scholarship of $327,980. QuestBridge is a program that grants low income students with scholarships to attend prestigious universities such as Dartmouth, Vanderbilt and Boston College, which Ly was accepted into.

“After I was accepted into that in the middle of the summer, the QuestBridge National College Match scholarship opened and that’s when I started working on my application for that,” Ly said. “There were two essays that you needed to do and about ten short answer questions.”

QuestBridge is a very competitive scholarship that many students fight for; this year they received 13,000 applications and only 3,414 high schoolers became finalists. 

“On Dec. 1st I got notified that I got matched, which was about 1,700 students out of the 3,000 plus kids that were finalists,” Ly said. “As for Boston College there were about 70 students that got matched there.”

But with application came a requirement of a letter of recommendation. With a good history with his English teacher, Ly was able to get a letter from Andrew Gallagher whose class he has been in for a year.

“As a student he’s always receptive to feedback; there’s never a time when you gave him a suggestion and he just ignored it,” Gallagher said. “He would listen, he would think it through and execute it in a way that best serves him and the work he was doing.” 

In the time they have known each other Gallagher has watched him grow and not only learn from his class but has seen him incorporate the lessons into his life. Ly has been a part of StuCo for 4 years, NHS, Key Club and early college.

“He continues to push himself as a thinker, as an arguer and a reader,” Gallagher said. “It is a tremendous privilege [writing the recommendation letter]. He’s a student I saw tremendous potential in, and I knew that part of my job was to push him.”  

The staff also helps the seniors with college admissions to the best of their abilities. From constant scholarship newsletters to one-on-one meetings, the counselors do the best they can to assist. But along with the counselors’ assistance comes the help of the English teachers, such as Anoa Alimayu and Erin Bratkowski, who have been helping with letters of recommendation and college essays for the 2023 class. 

“Receiving this opportunity and full ride is a big motivator in working hard towards my future,” Ly said. “I’m excited to meet new people, explore Boston and start my journey of majoring in accounting, business management or finance.”