Joshua is an undergraduate student at Columbia University, majoring in Quantitative Economics. A graduate from Hunter College High School, Joshua has been recognized with many awards in various fields; he was awarded by the American Mathematical Society, Ky and Yu Fen Fan; in his last three years of high school, he was recognized as a winner by the YoungArts National Competition.
In high school, Joshua was a long-term member and leader of Hunter’s Math Team, Economics Team, and Jazz Band—he also started a jazz education club at his school, which he curated for 4 years. Joshua has been a high performer on numerous math competitions, including the Purple Comet, the NYCIML, the AMC 8/10/12, and the AIME. A previous student of Kweller Prep, he attended their Hunter and AMC 8/10/12 courses. Joshua scored a 124.5 on the 2024 AMC 10B, a 1540 on his SAT, and a perfect score on his PSAT.
In high school, his coursework included AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Computer Science A, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics and AP Music Theory, scoring a 4 or 5 on all of them. In addition, he studied Linear Algebra and Differential Equations in his own time. Over his summers, he attended many programs such as SigmaCamp, New York Math Circle’s HSSP Black Level, Columbia University’s Bridge to Higher Mathematics, The New York Times Summer Academy, Interlochen Summer Camp, New England Music Camp, and more.
Joshua has conducted four years of research in collaboration with Dr. Michael J Cafarella at MIT CSAIL, studying machine learning’s use in assessing music education accessibility within given demographics. He was also accepted to MIT in the Early Action process. Being accepted to Columbia University Early Decision on the same day, Joshua inevitably chose to stay in New York.
Also a serious musician, Joshua graduated from the Juilliard School’s Preparatory Division, winning their coveted Commencement Award. He was the only saxophonist in the New York Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, led by Gustavo Dudamel. He has been a long-time member of the New York Youth Symphony Jazz Band and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra. In addition, he leads his own group, the Joshua Quddus Quartet, performing original music written by himself. Joshua and his sister Bianca co-founded a 501(c)3 non-profit, Harmony 4 All, dedicated to increasing access to music education in marginalized communities. They have raised over $50,000 in grants. For fun, Joshua enjoys playing the saxophone and writing code.