International student, graduated from school in 2021
Russian citizen
White female, Ukrainian&Russian, natural redhead, have freckles and a high-pitched voice (is this important? I was discriminated a lot)
Graduated from art school with honors (have been studying for 8 years)
Do not have a father. Was raised by mother. Coming from a low-income family
Have been accepted to Corvinus University of Budapest and Budapest Business School, but, unfortunately, the quota had decreased, and there was no financial aid left to me
Intended Major(s)
Design, art, media. Something creative that would let me either draw or write.
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Duolingo English Test: 135
Russian State Exam: 86/94/84 (as far as I know, NYUAD is concerned about it)
Unweighted HS GPA: 4,64/5 (the final year only)
Class Rank: we did not have it
ACT/SAT Scores: I would like to get rid of it…
Coursework
My school was not good at all, but it was specialized in literature and social studies. It was a mundane place without any deep stuff.
Awards
The Diploma of Art School (with honors). Both basic and advanced.
The certificate that expresses gratitude to me for succeeding in the art school.
The Conference of Southern Federal University/ Social Philosophy. The 3rd place for the article on existentialism at the works of Haruki Murakami
The graditude for helping the veterans.
The graditude for helping the school museum (the only museum of Rostov’s People’s Milita).
The Regional Academy of Youth Researches / Scientific Conference / Social Studies and Politics. The 3rd place for the research on the reflection of totalitarism in Orwell’s works
The diplomas and certificates for forums (read below).
Extracurriculars
Have had a course on UI/UX design and advanced features of Figma
Doing graphic and web design
An author for a graphic identity (and a website) of a successful vegan confectioner
Have created a graphic identity of an Egyptian festival in my city. It was provided with the help of the Egyptian embassy
A media volunteer of an all-Russian forum of architecture and art
A participant of that all-Russian forum of architecture and art (I was on the track called Mediatechnology)
A volunteer of handball games, drawing with children
A resident of a regional youth educative forum for talanted youth
A representative of South Korea in terms of a regional model of the UN (the department of Human Rights)
Drawing and desigining, have a profile on Behance (not popular though)
Learning Korean now. Myself
Worked for a start-up based in Abu Dhabi (it is Russian but there is such thing as relocation)
Worked for a game-dev start-up based in Germany (unfortunately, it has been frozen due to the war)
Having a course on UX by Google now
Essays/LORs/Other
LORs: do not really know, need to visit my last school…
Cost Constraints / Budget
I do not have any budget, my family has a low income (~$6000 per year, I guess). I strive to get a full ride, this is the only option I can consider.
Schools
Not really sure what I should write here… I need to find a school that offers a full ride, but I do not think that I am good enough, so I am here to listen to you honest opinions. I know that there are New York University Abu Dhabi and Northwestern University Quatar that offer such a generous financial help, but am I an appropriate applicant (and are there any other unis that can cover flight, tution, food, living, visa but in the US…?)? This is the question!
Please, do not be afraid to hurt my feelings, I need the truth, you are my only hope. I would really appreciate your time and answers.
Have a good day, and thank you very much for visiting this page!! < 3
Unfortunately there are very few schools in the US that give full rides to international students and they are all extremely difficult to get into. You must be a top student in your country to be considered and it doesn’t seem like you fit that profile. You probably should look for other schools in Europe since I don’t think the US is realistic for you financially.
Also, having red hair is not relevant to anything. I have red hair, lots of people have red hair. I have never been discriminated against because of my hair and have never heard of such a thing. Sometimes kids can be bullies. Is it that what you are referring to? If so, let it go. Those kids aren’t around anymore.
People in the UK are horrible to redheads, I don’t know why, it’s weird. Some DNA memory?
People in France love redheads and they have an excellent school for computer animation:
Okay, thank you very much for the honest answer!
When it comes to studying in English, Europe does not offer full scholarships for Russians, as far as I know. I was close to become an awardee of Stipendium Hungaricum, but (apparently…) there was no quota left for me.
Yes, red hair is a pretty common feature, but as I was bullied due to hair and a high-pitched voice, I thought it could make my application stronger. Like a spike, you know. I noticed that some people accentuate these little yet prominent things in their applications, so decided to mention it here just for case.
So my extracurriculars and personality do not mean anything since my grades are not that brilliant (I forgot to mention that I had had my final year homeschooling), right?
I think you have an uphill search here. First…the schools that guarantee to meet full need for all are highly competitive for admissions…and that includes your ACT or SAT score. There are also only seven U.S. colleges that meet full need for all accepted students AND are need blind for admission. At the other colleges that meet full need for all international students, your ability to pay will be factored into your admissions.
In addition, there are many colleges that either offer limited aid to international students, or none at all.
Your hair color doesn’t have a thing to do with your college chances.
Thank you very much for your answer!
The official website of NYUAD considers the result of the Russian State Exam, stating SAT as an unnecessary option. As far as I know, SAT is still optional in many schools, but I am not that sure… well, I am not sure about whether I am a proper candidate with a strong personal background as well, this is why I am here
And, oh, I feel so embarassed now… I decided to mention my hair color as it is not that frequent and influenced my social life pretty much, and I am sorry if it looks stupid… Just wanted to share all the details that come to my mind!
No. This is frankly a very odd idea. No one at a US college cares about your hair or your voice. Unless you are somehow monetizing your hair and voice, it is not relevant so don’t consider it again.
And in the event this is a serious post, I agree with others that you don’t have much hope for getting full FA at a US college. There are plenty of excellent colleges in the UK that will be much less expensive. Germany offers free tuition at some of its universities and apparently has many classes taught in English. Try investigating those options.
Oh, thanks, I had also thought that there might be a person who somehow operated with this detail to intrigue the comission, but now I fully understand how gullible it is. Endlessly unintellegent of me, I am sorry.
As I have mentioned before, I have no little opportunity to pay. Studying in Germany requires having money for tuition fee per semester, living, housing. There is DAAD, but it is for Master’s Degree mainly.
Anyway, thank you very much! I do appreciate the time you have dedicated to me! Thank you for clarifying everything. I guess I have sunk in daydreams way too much…
If you by any chance are a Ukrainian displaced by the war (I assume you would have said so but kids can be weird) there may be programs in various European countries to help you. In reverse if you are a Russian citizen you may be caught by some policies against Russian citizens.
If you have a Russian passport it is highly unlikely you will be permitted to study in Western countries, many Russian students have been expelled as a result of sanctions due to Russian invasion of Ukraine. I am not an expert, do your own research, but lots of articles on this. Perhaps some Russia ally countries like Poland would admit you. Here is just one article. Russian university students face possible EU restrictions
Are you an exceptional artist? If so, instead of applying to a typical American university, you might apply to an arts school that requires and bases admission primarily on your portfolio. Unfortunately, such schools rarely give generous fin aid students to international students.
I think your odds of getting a full ride anywhere are extremely limited. However, if you still want to try and you are an extraordinary artist explore merit awards at various visual arts schools.
I stand corrected. My larger point that the Russia sanctions make admission to a US or Western European school stands, though again I flag it for research by OP, not an expert in this area as you can see from my mistake about Poland.
Very very unlikely that they’ll cover all your expenses. The visa (if even available to a Russian citizen right now) will cost several thousand dollars, and I’ve never heard of a school covering that.
F-1 Student visa is ~$500, not several thousand. There are some instances of students having all of those things paid for- but the only ones I know of are extraordinary students going to the most selective of colleges.
OP, the hard fact of the matter is that you are hoping to be gifted hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is a rare thing to get that, and the competition is fierce.
