- Best overall student recounts secrets of his success
- Adedeji Alimi, First Class Mechanical Engineering, beats others to become overall best with 4.98/5.0 CGPA
“I won’t say it was easy, it was not. In my Primary school, I was always the first or second best student and in my secondary school I finished as the second best student, both which already gave me a good start. Then, my JAMB score was not as high as I would have expected. I had 205 in JAMB and getting admission into University of Lagos with 205 felt like impossible but I still got the merit list because of my excellent performance in my post UTME. I had a good foundation, coupled with the fact that I believe that whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. It was not like I had it in mind to be the best graduating student from the start. I only wanted to finish with a very good grade; a first class.
I attended a couple of orientations in my first year and that was where I learnt there was an endowment fund for students that made first class CGPA every year and it was N50,000. For a young boy like me, it was a lot of money and it was my motivation to do better. In my first semester, I took like 7 courses and because I prepared really hard, I had a 5.0 and also a 5.0 in second semester. I am a student that learns a lot in class so I took my classes very serious.
I am also not a fan of the library. In my entire years in the University, I visited the library only two or three times. I prefer to read in my room. Another thing that helped me was helping others. Helping my coursemates understand what we’ve been taught was a motivation to read for me. I also engaged in some extracurricular activities, but when I noticed it was becoming too much, I decided to cut it off because I knew my primary aim in the University was my academics.”
I won’t say I am from a rich home neither would I say we are poor. Let me just say we’re an average family. We’re not struggling, we’re fine. During my undergraduate studies, I also got scholarships so I could help out. My parents’ income was just sufficient for our needs.”