Is It Difficult To Get into the University in Another Country?
HSE Illuminated: Good evening, Roman! As I know, you are an international student. Can you tell in more detail where you come from?
RA: Good evening! I am a citizen of the Republic of Latvia (European Union).
HI: Why did you choose Russia to enter the university?
RA: I chose Russia, because Russian education is one of the best in the world. Also, career prospects and the possibility of realizing my ambitions in the Russian Federation are much higher than in the European Union.
HI: And why is the HSE Saint Petersburg?
RA: At the moment, HSE is a leader among Russian universities in many educational programs, which naturally attracts people who want to get a really good education. Also, my choice was promoted by the tremendous support of students from the university and individual advisors, who always try to help students, no matter what country they are from.
HI: Was it difficult to accomplish?
RA: There are several ways for entering the HSE, the complexity of which is influenced by many factors. The first way is through the embassy of the Russian Federation in the country of a foreign applicant associated with the submission of the portfolio. The second way is passing the entrance tests from the HSE.
Using the first path, the embassy led a strange policy of choosing applicants, so I had to go through entrance tests that were held remotely, which makes it easier for the applicants to take these tests.
For each program, it is required to pass a certain number of exams in the subjects necessary for training in this program. You should always have a backup option, because enrolling from outside the country where you want to study is rather difficult, because you never know what it can turn out to be.
Based on my experience, I can recommend applicants wishing to enroll in the HSE to come to the city in which you want to study, see the university from the inside, talk with teachers and possibly with program managers, as this will help you more rationally weigh all the pros and cons and decide on a program.
In my time, a meeting with the head of my educational program helped me very much with an understanding of the goals of the university and in particular the ambitions of the program.
HI: How do you like the study process in the HSE and do you like being here?
RA: I think it depends on the group in which you study and on the people who surround you. The social circle will help you to become better both in academic terms and in social life. I really like studying here, in particular because of my social circle and especially from the program, which I chose, because I definitely like what I do.
HI: What is the attitude towards foreigners?
RA: Without the International Department I would not be able to enter HSE, since this is the only link that connected me to HSE through a great distance and which was ready to help at any time of the day or night. I would like to express my special thanks to Konstantin Sergeevich Platonov for his tremendous help in entering, without his help I would not study at the HSE.
HI: Do you regret your choice?
RA: Absolutely no regrets about my choice. Naturally, studying at HSE is not easy, but this way the university tries to train specialists of the highest level, therefore the complexity of studying at this university is justified by the best goal for every student.
HI: Do you think that any improvements in the tower are needed to interact with foreigners?
RA: I think there is no limit for the ideal, but at the moment work on communicating with foreign students is at its peak, because all issues are resolved in a very short time and I hope that the number of foreigners will only increase in future.
HI: And, at the end, will you advise this university for admission?
RA: I have already given a lecture in Latvia, telling about the HSE in my own school and I always try to agitate people to enter the HSE. Last year, my best friend entered the Higher School of Economics, Bachelor Program of Economics, and he does not regret his choice either.
Text by
Nikita Matvienko