Useful Information for Newbies at HSE

When entering the Higher School of Economics, it is important to quickly adapt in the team - here is useful information for beginners.

Useful Information for Newbies at HSE

The Higher School of Economics (or simply HSE) is a national research university with world level science achievements. During its existence, it has acquired traditions, values, victories, academic stars and graduates, accounting for more than 80,000.

The Vyshka was established in 1992 at the initiative of a group of scientists, which was noticed and supported by the country's leadership. The HSE was created as an economic university, so at first only economists, managers, lawyers, and sociologists have been trained here. Over the years, the range of educational programs has widened.

The Crow

The mascot (symbol) of the university is the crow. The crow is the smartest bird, and it doesn’t hurt a lot of fans. The crow is not kept in a cage. She is her own master.

Now the crow can be found on any HSE's souvenir product; it is a guest of our main events. Also the winners of the annual Golden Vyshka award receive the statuette in the form of a crow.

The motto of the university is “We are not learning for school, but for life!”

Life at HSE

The Vyshka has expanded widely not only in the country, but also in Moscow. Walking around the capital, you will meet the buildings of the Higher School of Economics here and there, some of which form entire clusters. Thanks to the student pass, you can visit each of them. Not all students manage to visit each during 4 years of study.

This year, after reconstruction, the building on Pokrovka has been opened. Perhaps this is the place where you definitely need to visit. Once there you understand that you are study at a modern university with all the necessary (infrastructures) for students. There is a lot of space for work and leisure, many places for eating: dining rooms, cafes, various food corners and vending machines.

The Higher School of Economics is also famous for having a large number of student organizations. If you are still in doubt and don’t know what interests you more, there’s nothing to worry about, there’s an organization for every taste. They can be divided into the following areas: science and education, volunteering, creativity, theater and cinema, entertainment, tourism and travel, sports and event organization.

But after all these organizational issues and events, you find yourself in your corps among classmates with whom you just met.

And now I would like to give you important tips that you should keep in mind while your academic life:

Always be active!

The Higher School of Economics is a university where events constantly take place, and you have a unique opportunity to become a part of them. Try to invest as much time as possible in such activities in your first year, while you only get acquainted with everything that is happening around.
Also, this activity may concern not only student and other events, be active at the lessons! Firstly, it will help you to always be in the subject of events and in contact with the teachers, and secondly, it will definitely affect your assessment, and therefore the rating, which cannot but rejoice!

Avoid procrastination!

Yes, this is perhaps not the easiest action, but if you accustom yourself from the very beginning to do everything on time, and even better in advance, you will be able to do much more, and you won’t be nervous and worried.

This advice is good for any of your lesson and extracurricular task, put your internal deadlines, preferably 2-3 days before it, and you will definitely have time to do all the work on time and with less worries.

This also applies to the “Project Fair”, because for the entire period of study it is necessary to collect a certain amount of credits (it varies in different educational programs) and many students realize this case only in the 4th year of study, so I strongly advise you to start dealing with this issue at 1th grade, then by the end of the 2nd year you will be able to completely close the number of required credits and gain valuable experience in projects.

4 sessions a year – why not!

When applicants hear about the phrase “4 sessions”, many of them immediately lose their desire to study here, because the session is usually associated with stress, nerves, sleepless nights and constant memorization of material, and nobody wants to experience these emotions and feelings twice as often. But I will try to dispel these erroneous judgments. The modular system allows you to better concentrate on certain subjects, as they last a shorter period of time and you have the opportunity to master them faster and better. Therefore, try to pay attention to each subject, and remember everything during the training, because the modules are quite short, and there may not be any time left to memorize!

In other universities, you are likely to come across the expression "Students live happily from session to session." The same situation is at Higher School of Economics – “From session to session we have two more sessions.

Group work

Higher School of Economics is also famous for organizing work in groups within formed academic groups. This process is not always simple and easy, because you are still very little familiar with classmates and do not know with whom you would like to work more. My advice is about trying to choose people with whom you are pleased to communicate, because only in this way you will be able to build clear communication within the group. But if suddenly it turned out that the group in which you have to work is formed at random, then first of all you need to establish contact with everyone. Often it turns out that not all members of the group are interested in completing the task, then the organization must be taken into their own hands. It is important to draw up a plan of your work, put a deadline and let each participant select the part that interests him. If this option does not work, then it is better to personally talk with a classmate who does not fulfill his/her obligations and explain to him/her that by doing this he substitutes the whole team, because the goal and assessment are common.

I am sure that these tips you will make your learning process easier and more structured. Good luck!

Text by Anastasia Sosina