International Student Profile: Abdelrahman Elbrolosy

Abdelrahman Elbrolosy, MBS Class of 2021, was born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A double major in Finance and Management, he’s the current president of the International Student Association. 

“Abdelrahman is a very bright, curious, knowledgeable, and hard-working student,” says Dr. Sebastian Lobe, one of the student’s professors. “He shows his talent in the world of options trading while engaging in my Financial Derivatives and Fixed Income class (FIN 454). As Abdelrahman told me, he had quite some success in his own trading over the last weeks. What a great fusion of academic work and practical application!”

Abdelrahman came to the Maine Business School because he wanted to study business at a strong program in the Northeast. While he lived in the U.S. from 2004 to 2009, he’d never been to Maine. He decided to check it out. “Through my research I heard about the Bloomberg Lab and was interested in using it,” he says. “I also learned about Dr. Pankaj Agrrawal and his remarkable skills as an ETF trader through an article on Yahoo. It was about top ETF friendly professors and most of them were at Ivy League schools but Dr. Agrrawal was at UMaine.”

His move to UMaine from the Middle East meant he had to adapt to the environment and lifestyle. Luckily Abdelrahman loves to ski, so he found a home among our snow covered ski resorts. 

Abdelrahman became involved in the International Student Association (ISA) when he first came to campus in 2019. His goal was to meet more international students, and he eventually took on a leadership role. He became vice president of the organization in the spring of 2020. In the fall he was promoted to president. “ISA is a huge student organization,” he says. “It’s open to all students with more than 700 international students involved.”

The group hosts a coffee hour each Friday, as well as the annual CultureFest and International Dance Festival.

“I can understand how it may be difficult for international students to socialize with the language barrier and culture shock,” Abdelrahman says. “I found the best way to make the most out of your time in college is to  interact with others while being yourself.”

The senior is currently trying to land a job in the U.S. despite difficulties due to the COVID pandemic and Visa restrictions. He encourages international students to seek out internship opportunities that would help them build their resume and make connections with employers.