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Q&A with UAB’s Rhodes Scholar Ameen Barghi

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Among the 32 Rhodes Scholars from the United States announced Monday was a UAB senior.

Ameen BarghiBirmingham’s Ameen Barghi will be part of the Class of 2015 spending the fall semester at the University of Oxford. A pool of 877 students applied for the scholarships. The Rhodes Trust picks 83 students from around the world each year.

UAB’s Neelaksh Varshney was a Rhodes Scholar in 2000 and Joshua Carpenter in 2012.

Barghi, 22, attended Oak Mountain High School. During his sophomore year there, he also volunteered at UAB Hospital.

His accomplishments include early admittance to UAB Medical School, enrollment in UAB Honors College’s Science and Technology Honors Program and the Collat School of Business Honors Program. He is a double major in neuroscience focusing on translational research.

Oh, and he has a 4.0 GPA.

Barghi answered a few questions by email before Thanksgiving break.

What are you looking forward to most next fall at Oxford?

Being around students who will be equally or more intellectually curious as myself. I’m really excited to be able to train at one of the oldest institutions in the world that still maintains a standard of academic excellence.

I read that you want to earn a medical degree and a doctoral degree. Do you plan to practice medicine, do research, a combination or something else?

It will definitely be a combination of patient care and research.

Why do you think the Rhodes committee selected you among hundreds of applicants?

Though all of the interviewees were exceptionally qualified, I think I may have just been the most passionate that day. It’s really a test of nerve, endurance and passion.

Where had you looked at for college, and what led you to UAB?

I looked at some state schools, considered a couple of the New England schools, but ultimately picked UAB for financial and academic reasons. I was accepted into their Early Medical School Acceptance Program (which guaranteed my spot at their medical school), so I had more leeway as an undergraduate.

What is the next big goal you’d like to accomplish?

My next big goal is to be able to experience as much as I can during my time at Oxford!

Video: 280 Living interview with Ameen Barghi

Ameen Barghi

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