What earned Abir 6 offer letters from prestigious US universities

The final semester is usually the most demanding phase of a BUET undergraduate's journey, a period consumed by thesis deadlines, project submissions, and the pressure of graduation. 

For Abrar Rahman Abir, it was also the season when an unusual pattern emerged in his inbox: one fully funded PhD offer after another from some of America's most prestigious research universities.

The offers came from the University of Texas at Austin, Cornell University, the University of Maryland, College Park, Virginia Tech, UC Berkeley, and finally the University of Southern California (USC), six admissions in total, all secured before he had even completed his undergraduate degree.

Among them, the UC Berkeley offer stood out. Consistently ranked among the world's top computer science institutions, Berkeley put Abir through five rounds of interviews, each designed to probe deeper into his research ability, intellectual curiosity, and potential as a future scholar. He cleared every stage.

The Covid-19 gap before BUET's admission test left most students waiting, restless, and uncertain about when life would resume. Abir used the time differently. He spent that stretch working through multivariate calculus, linear algebra, and probability theory — not for the entrance exam or any assignment, but because he found mathematics genuinely interesting and wanted to understand it properly. 

It is a small detail, but also almost the whole story in miniature. The instinct that drove him to open a calculus textbook during a pandemic is the same instinct that would carry him through four years of research at BUET and eventually to Berkeley.

When he enrolled into BUET's Computer Science and Engineering department, he did not take the default path of competitive programming, the route most students entering CSE in Bangladesh are expected to follow. He has thought about this carefully and arrived at a clear position.

"Competitions have nothing to do with pure science and have no meaningful contribution to science. The thing that matters in competition is how fast and accurate you are compared to others on already solved problems. I do not undermine competitions, but my point is that it has nothing to do with contributing to science. That is why competitive programming has not been my choice," he says.

Instead, even before his first semester started, he was teaching himself machine learning — Python first, then the libraries and algorithms — building upward from the mathematical base he had already laid. By the time an ordinary student starts adjusting to life at BUET, Abir was already looking for his first research opportunity.

"I found out that Artificial Intelligence [AI] and Machine Learning [ML] is nothing but purely mathematical; it deals with the advanced maths I already liked," he says. "Since I had an understanding of advanced maths, I could start ML from the very foundations. And ML is naturally inclined towards research."

Research opportunities for first-year undergraduates at any university are rare. At BUET, where a formal research culture has traditionally been concentrated in the third or fourth year, finding one in the first year requires both preparation and timing. Abir had the preparation. The timing arrived in the form of a project from the Civil Engineering department.

The project involved ML modelling of pavement parameters. The project team needed someone from CSE who knew machine learning. Abir knew machine learning. That was enough.

"I was in Level 1-Term 2, if I remember correctly," he says. "There was an ongoing project in the Civil Department regarding ML modelling of some parameters of pavement. They were looking for someone from CSE who knew ML. That is how I got involved."

"That was my first exposure to formal research," he says, "and my choice of pursuing research stemmed from the very start of my undergraduate studies."

From that first-year project, Abir kept building himself steadily, year by year. By his third year, he was collaborating with professors at universities abroad, accumulating the kind of international research experience and recommendation letters that top PhD programmes look for, and rarely find in undergraduate applicants.

The number requires context to fully land. Many PhD students graduate with fewer first-author publications than Abir accumulated as an undergraduate. First-authorship means leading the research — conceiving the study, driving the methodology, and writing the paper. It is not a supporting credit. 

By graduation, Abir had 13 of them, seven published in Q1 journals, the highest tier of academic publishing in the scientific world. 

When asked how he balanced thesis, coursework, and publishing simultaneously, his answer is worth sitting with.

"Thesis has never been a burden to me because, by the start of fourth year — before the thesis even began — I already had multiple top Q1 journal publications. So I had adequate research experience. I did my thesis with great enjoyment and pace. I actually produced three separate publications through my thesis before my defence."

As for coursework, he is disarmingly honest about it. Research was his first priority; coursework was secondary. He studied mostly before exams and still graduated with a CGPA of 3.96 out of 4.00.

"Since I was already working with advanced stuff, coursework did not feel heavy to me naturally. I also had a very great peer group; they were always there to help."

And then, on the subject of vacations, "I literally had no vacation. I am not promoting this. But personally, I always loved to invest my time in research, learning more advanced theories. There were times my friends insisted I go on a trip every term break, but I happily refused because I was busy with my research."

He never felt pressured about academics, he says, because enjoyment was the engine. 

UC Berkeley's Computer Science PhD programme is among the most exclusive in the world. Abir went through five separate interview rounds before receiving his offer. 

"The application process is time-consuming, but the most important step is the interview," he says. "Without a deep understanding of your own research, it is very hard to survive that stage."

On the subject of his six offer letters, and what each felt like, his answer is particularly revealing: "Out of my six offer letters, the last one was from the University of Southern California. Honestly, I was confident I could get in there. The happiest moments of my life would definitely be the acceptances from Cornell and UC Berkeley. These are so competitive that no one can ever be sure of them."

He had prepared for TOEFL with strategic early planning rather than last-minute panic. He studied the format and patterns months in advance, then sat for the actual exam in September with just ten to fifteen days of focused preparation. He scored 108 out of 120.

On whether a Q1 publication is achievable for an undergraduate starting out, he says, "Q1 journal publication is very difficult, even for PhD students. If any undergraduate can do it, it adds great value to their application for a PhD or MS."

Abir visited UC Berkeley last month for a pre-admission orientation. What he observed stayed with him. He says, "CSE at BUET, or any university in Bangladesh, has a very low focus on advanced mathematics, but this is extremely necessary for research. I visited UC Berkeley last month. I saw students had profound knowledge of maths because they learned it at their university. In my case, I had to learn everything on my own. I wish my undergraduate university could provide stronger mathematical training."

And one thing he would admit was not an ideal strategy, but one that worked nonetheless: studying for courses mostly right before exams while pouring the rest of his time into research. He says, "This is not the ideal way, obviously. The load becomes heavy. But my decision was correct. There is no point in investing your entire time and effort in academic courses. But anyone following this must ensure that they can actually manage their academic studies in a short time."

He believes his result reflects a very specific kind of commitment — rooted in self-drive. "The only point one might fail is in maintaining consistency and sustaining a very work-heavy life. Everyone cannot sit in front of a computer to run experiments or draft equations on paper all day and night, regardless of vacation or the running semester. Someone following my exact path should have self-drive. I believe they will succeed."

Abir will begin his PhD at UC Berkeley in Fall 2026.