Harvard Said Yes, Stanford Said Yes, She Had to Choose

Khaulat Abdulhakeem never planned to study mechatronics, but sometimes the best paths are the ones we don’t expect. Missing the cut for medicine by a single point set her on a new course—one that led to engineering, and eventually, Stanford.

But her story isn’t just about where she’s going. It’s about what she’s building along the way. As a student, Khaulat didn’t just focus on her own growth—she also worked to uplift those around her. She founded a community to support and empower others in data science, ensuring that more people have the resources and encouragement they need to thrive. Her journey has now taken her to Stanford, where she continues to learn, grow, and make an impact.

In this interview, part of our AMTES Alumni Series, Khaulat shares how she found mechatronics, why education matters to her, and the experiences that shaped her path to Stanford.

Hi, Khaulat! Thank you for being here, it’s a pleasure to have you. We have about 10 questions for this interview and we have about 30 mins. Hopefully we don’t go over that. For the first question, can you tell me about your journey from studying Mechatronics in FUNAAB to pursuing a Masters in Education Data Science at Stanford. What sparked that transition?

Studying Mechatronics engineering was definitely an interesting choice for me. Along the way, I think it was in my third year, I started reading a lot of AI and machine learning articles and I just got engulfed in it. These articles also helped me find my way through the field. Overtime, I wanted to be able to connect with people doing things in data science and AI, but I couldn’t really find them. That was when I founded the AI Abeokuta community. It was really awesome because a lot of people were really interested in learning about AI and machine learning. We had this weekly Saturday meetups where we just came to learn about AI and machine learning. The community grew really massively, helping people transition into the field and even secure jobs. That was how I found my way into that.

Afterwards, I got to do research with a lab at the University of Oxford. It was a machine learning research on how we can use AI in autonomous vehicles with deep multi-agent for autonomous vehicles with reinforcement learning. I did that for a bit before the pandemic happened. During that time, I got a lot of requests from members of the community and fellow students on opportunities they could leverage, helping them figure out what path to take, and to recommend the best resources. That was when I started doing one-on-one coaching and it sort of evolved into my first company. The goal of that company was to help people get into tech careers and eventually match them into jobs. Where the Stanford education came in was me wanting to combine my background in Data Science and AI with this new found love for coaching. I wanted to find a way to bring them together, and divulge solutions that would help people with their careers. That was the inspiration behind studying Education Data Science.

Wow, that’s a beautiful story. I have a friend who was one of your mentees. She signed up for your program, and she has been raving about it helped her gain a lot of clarity. She shared a glimpse of the document and it was very detailed. There was an option for one to select different career paths they’re interested in, and why, and it was very amazing. Thank you for everything that you do.

You’re welcome. That’s the project I’m currently working on, my very recent project. It’s part of something called the ‘confusion-to-clarity toolkit’. It’s supposed to help people who are confused about their careers find clarity especially when you’re just wrapping up college or you’re trying to get into the workforce and it’s like, “what do I do now?”, and you feel like you have options or too many options. Whatever your case might be, it’s about identifying, at the core, what is most important to you and what kind of career that aligns with that, matches with your finances, will maximize your fulfillment and also your productivity. I’m really excited about this and I’m glad you mentioned it.

Thank you so much for everything you do. I feel I might also sign up for that because I’m going through that confusion stage as well. The second question, why did you decide to study mechatronics in the first place? Was it something you always wanted to do?

No, interestingly, I wanted to study Medicine. I first applied to the University of Ibadan (UI) to study Medicine, and I missed the cutoff mark by one point. Right now I know that it was God redirecting me because I was so close to getting in then. When I didn’t get in, I was very sad, and I didn’t want to waste the year I had. I came across the INHURD program with JUPEB, Cambridge A Levels and all. I decided to do the A levels and I took the JUPEB examination. With that program you get into 200 level directly. Before that, I had a conversation with my dad about what I was really interested in, and I realized I really like to design stuff so I was considering Architecture. Maybe Medicine was not the way for me. I went into the program with A levels in mind, but then I realized FUNAAB doesn’t have an Architecture program. I wanted to still do something close to it so I thought of doing Civil engineering. I applied to the University of Ibadan again, and I was doing the A Levels with Civil engineering in mind. By the end of it, One of the lecturers, I can’t remember his name, was like, “oouu we have this new program and I think it would be a really good fit for you”. He managed to convince a few of us to give it a try, and that’s how I signed up for that, and so, I was the second cohort for Mechatronics engineering in FUNAAB. I also got into the UI for Civil engineering which was really exciting, so I had two options—going to 100 level for Civil engineering in UI or 200 level for Mechatronics, and I chose FUNAAB. That was how I ended up there.

I’m glad you made that choice and that it led to me speaking to you and learning from your experience. I feel like I had a similar story, I also wanted to study Medicine then one day I realized Biology was not for me, I’d rather solve Physics equations and design stuff. That was how I found myself in Mechatronics and I’ve been loving it ever since. Even though the university experience is not as hands-on as I would like, I don’t think I would trade this for anything.

Yeah, it’s an amazing program.

Honestly. My third question was to ask you what made you decide to go into data science but I feel you’ve already covered this. For my next question, Stanford is such a competitive space. How did you prepare for it both academically and personally?

Hmmmmm. I think it’s just really being passionate about something, and knowing why I wanted to come here. I had a true goal for me to study at Stanford, so I think that was the main preparation I needed. Knowing I had a reason to go to graduate school. That helped me with my application, and being a graduate student here—knowing there’s something I’m working towards. With anything, It’s just about knowing what your own vision is and working towards it. Of course, it’s not going to be smooth. There’ll be a lot of roadblocks along the way. One of the things I struggled with after getting here was coming to terms with, “what really am I doing here?”, which led me to create the confusion-to-clarity toolkit. I got to a point where I was so confused about my career again, even though it seemed like I knew what I was doing. We cannot be very clear once and confusion won’t set in again, so I built the tool with that in mind. Anytime one is confused, you can always go back to it and find your direction again. That was what inspired that product.

To your question about dealing with a competitive space, I think it’s just about finding your mission or goal and just going at it.

Yeah. I feel like having that sense of direction helped some of the decisions I’ve made academics/career wise as well. To what you said about having clarity in one moment and confusion in the next, I feel it’s something I go through a lot, so your toolkit is actually a very great idea. Thank you so much for it once more. The next question is, what led you to choose Stanford for your graduate studies and what has the experience been like so far? Can you also walk us through your application as well?

To my point about having a clear goal, I mentioned earlier that what I wanted to do was combine my background in AI and Education, that led to me to look for institutions that had programs like that. Stanford at the time I was applying, was the only school that had this. At Stanford, I’m part of the newer cohorts, similar to Mechatronics in FUNAAB, so I’m always at the early stages of most of these, haha. That’s what led me to apply, having that clear goal helped me fit the purpose of why they created the program in the first place. That was how I discovered the program.

I found other similar ones. I also applied to Harvard in something called Learning Design and Technology…, I can’t really remember. Those were the two programs I applied to. I wanted to get into the top schools that were doing the best in the programs I was applying to. I knew about the space and I had a clear goal of why I was applying. At the time, I wasn’t too crazy about getting in, but towards the acceptance stage, I was really anxious and really hoped I got in, but I was also a bit like, I don’t care. I ended up getting accepted to both Stanford and Harvard which was amazing, and again, these were the only two schools I applied to.

I can’t give this advice to someone applying to grad school though, because it was a very risky move. You want to have options. I made a video about a year ago on my youtube channel with Steven Kolawole. He’s also a FUNAAB graduate and he got into Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) for his PhD in Computer Science. We talked about the application process in that video but he said he applied to ten schools, which was smarter than what I did. He was actually the one who made me apply to Harvard as my second school, because I only applied to Stanford in the first place. But yeah, you want to do your initial research first and have a list of schools you want to apply to. Then, you want to look at specific things like “oh, do they offer scholarships”, “how high is the application fee?”, “ Do they have application fee waivers?”. You look at these things and see if there is anything you can afford at any capacity, then narrow that down to school you’re sure you want to apply to.

After you’ve gotten this list, make sure to read through the program because all the programs are different. A mistake a lot of people make is writing one personal statement and sending it to all the schools. You want to make sure you tailor it to each school, and it’ll increase your chances of getting into at least one of them. I would advise you start working on your application like a year prior, and not just try to rush everything in a month. I’m actually planning to host an application workshop cause I get a lot of requests about it, we’ll see how that goes. After making the list and writing the first draft of your personal statement, share it to people around you, maybe even read it to them and see if it makes sense to them. You continuously refine, and refine, and use resources online as well to guide you, there are a lot of them. One tip I would give is to make sure it includes your personal story. That’s why it is personal. It should not just follow a generic formula you find online, make sure it really comes from you. That’s the problem a lot of people have, having that patience for the time to sit and just think. Focus on that, pour your heart out. In the first draft, write as much as comes to mind, and then refine over time. That’s about personal statements.

You also reach out to people who would write you recommendation letters. This could be your professors or lecturers in the university or any mentor you’ve worked with out of school. One of my recommendation letters was from Prof. Ishola—I don’t think he’s in the school anymore because he went to do his PhD in the UK. You can also get maybe your boss from your IT to write one for you. A third person could be another lecturer, or someone you’ve worked with in a different capacity. Look for the three best people, but make sure at least one is a lecturer from school, because you want to show you’re a good academic, and have them speak about your academics. You can send them an email stating you’re applying to grad school and would need their help with a recommendation letter. It should also contain the total number of schools you’re requesting their help with, and anything specific you want them to mention, just so they can expect it. Do it early so you don’t rush them. Send the first email three or four months before the deadline or as you begin your application, then follow up. This will reduce the pressure on both parties.

For your transcript, make sure to start to get it started on time as it takes a while to come in. Make sure to check for the application timeline as well.

Those are the important parts of any grad school application. Having those two done right increases your chances of getting in.

Wow, you’ve given a very detailed response that makes anyone reading this have a very strong application. Thank you for being very open and sharing everything. I’m actually inspired. I’m looking to apply to grad school as well, and I’ve noted the things I had no idea about. I’ve seen your video with Steven and I took some points from there as well.

I’ll be merging the sixth question with the seventh one so we can save time. The question is, can you share some insights into the research project you’re involved in at Stanford? How did you get started with research there and what do you find most fulfilling about doing research at the graduate level?

My research is driven by my mission. You can see how it ties in everything. My research is currently on the future of work, trying to understand what is changing about work, and how we can prepare the workforce so people are not surprised and can know what to do to position themselves right. This is also something I built into the confusion-to-clarity toolkit. What I did there is make it easy for people to do their own mini research about what is going on in their industry, so they can make the right decision about their careers and learn the right tools. My research now is about how we can understand what is changing about a particular industry. Currently at Stanford, I’m focusing on Software Engineering, so I am basically working on understanding how Software Engineering has changed post Large Language Models (LLMs) with things like ChatGPT, Claude and all those products. How it is changing how people are doing software engineering, how it is expected to change it even more in a few years, and what people should be learning right now to continue to be competitive in the job market. That’s what my research is all about.

Regarding how I got started, I’ve spoken about how I wanted to do something career and job related, but it was defined initially. Over time, it continued to refine itself into what I’m working on now. Know that getting started with research takes time. As long as you’re interested in it and in putting in the work, it will refine itself over time and you would have a solid research project.

Another important thing is identifying professors whose work aligns with what you want to do. If you’re able to find them, reach out to them or someone who knows the person you’re trying to reach out to, and talk to them. Ask them to make an introduction. That’s really all about it.

Thank you for this as well. The next question is, what is the most challenging part of grad school that you were not expecting, and how do you deal with it?

Hmmm, the most challenging part is just discipline and time-management. You’re learning a lot of new things and it’s very different from undergrad. You’re learning and going deeper, so you would really need to focus and take the time to understand what you’re doing. Time-management was the most challenging especially when I first moved here—managing all the classes, adjusting and settling in, finding where everything was. That was challenging but once I started to know how to manage my time better, it got better.

I really appreciate you sharing this. For our next question—we’re almost the end—, what advice would you give someone applying to a highly competitive program like Stanford? Were there any specific things you did to prepare?

Okay, it’s going to seem repetitive cause I’ll go back to the mission point, but you’re trying to apply to a program that is competitive. You can’t afford to go in and say, “I have a Bachelor’s in this, you have a Master’s in this, can I come in?”. You have to have something to offer. You have to go with, “oh, I’ve done this before, I want to work on this to be able to do this, and this is how it will benefit your institution”. You don’t have to state it out like that, but you want to show that what you’re coming to do will put the institution in a good light and make it better because you’re there. That’s really the key. There’s a lot of things you would learn from the institution and it’s important to include your interest in learning them. You must have done your research on some of the classes or projects by the professors. I remember mentioning in my personal statement specifically that I’d read a recent research paper by this professor, and I really love what he was working on, and I’m really interested in learning more from him. I listed three examples of professors, so you want to do the real research of knowing what you’re going into. They want to see that you’ve done the work and know what you’re getting into. This goes beyond competitive institutions, keep this in mind.

You just keep dropping, gem after gem after gem, I can’t get enough! We’re finally on the last question, thank you for sticking with me till now. For students who have big dreams but might feel unsure of themselves, what is one piece of advice you would share to encourage them?

Trust yourself. Just trust yourself and start small. Whatever your big dream is, think about the small little thing you can do today to help you achieve your dream. Don’t think about the mighty thing in front of you, just think about the smallest steps. It might just be reading a certain article or whatever it is. Once you can trust yourself to get past that small thing, you actually increase your trust in yourself to get past the next small thing, and over time it adds up.

This felt like personal advice to me. I feel like I also belong in the category of having big dreams, but dealing with severe imposter syndrome. Listening to your advice alone has made me feel a lot calmer, and like my dreams are achievable. It’d definitely store it in my mind and live by it. Thank you so much, for giving me time out of your day and choosing to do it with me. I really appreciate it. I hope that it inspires younger students like we hope it does. Have a lovely rest of your day, thank you so much.

You’re welcome! Thank you for inviting me, I’m glad I got to do this and inspire and help people. I would also like to offer the confusion-to-clarity toolkit at a discount to the community, I believe it’ll be super helpful. I’ll be sending the details to your email.

Wow, thank you so much!

You’re welcome. Alright, bye!

Khaulat’s story shows that sometimes, the path we never expected leads to the best opportunities. Missing medicine by one point could have felt like a failure, but instead, it opened the door to something new. She found mechatronics, a field she had never planned for, and it led to her finding her passion.

Through her Carpool Career series, she speaks with Stanford students about their career journeys, giving others the advice she once needed and helping them gain career clarity. On her YouTube channel, she shares tips on applying to graduate school, including in her video with Steven Kolawole on how to not just apply, but actually get into top US universities.

Khaulat’s story is one of courage, curiosity, and the willingness to step into the unknown. She didn’t wait for the perfect path—she built it herself. And now, she’s making sure others can do the same.

From all of us at AMTES, we celebrate you!

You can connect with her on LinkedIn. As a bonus, you can read Steven’s story on getting into CMU here.