Success Stories: Feedback from 2017 Applicants (Graduate Study) — Информационный центр EducationUSA Russia

Preparing for admission to the Ph.D. program in the U.S.A. is a financially, mentally and emotionally demanding process, that takes approximately a year and a half of your life and many efforts. Experienced EducationUSA advisers are for help to find answers to each of these important student questions.

Do Not Give Up!

A
t the beginning of 2014, I visited Saint Petersburg’s EducationUSA Advising Center to discuss my academic goals with specialists and to create a personal timeline for admission. I was invited to participate in an intensive Admission Workshops conducted by local advisers. Through this effective online program, I learned how to work with different search tools and resources for conducting my research.

During the application process, I maintained constant contact with advisers, discussing correspondence with university professors and sharing her impressive progress in the application process. My participation in many EducationUSA events, such as EducationUSA Fair 2016, and my cooperation with EducationUSA professionals helped me to understand the basis of the U.S. academic culture and to build strong relations with the faculties. I noted that both the content of letters to university staff as well as the writing style are vital to start a productive dialogue with U.S. schools.

I
greatly appreciated EducationUSA’s support in receiving the nomination for admission financial aid. Opportunity 2015 covered all of my expenses needed to take the required exams, like TOEFL, GRE and application fees for four universities. Despite my outstanding academic background and high test scores, I did not receive any acceptances in 2016 academic year. But, I decided not to give up! I established friendly communication with professors, who helped me discover that I was very close to my reaching my goal and was not admitted due to the lack of one point in her TOEFL Speaking section score.

“I did not receive any acceptances in 2016 academic year. But, I decided not to give up! I established friendly communication with professors…”

pportunity 2016 supported my commitment and accountability, enabling me to successfully complete a new application process: retaking TOEFL and reapplying for the chosen programs. In the fall of 2016, I applied for the Ph.D. program in cognitive science to University of California, Davis, University of California, San Diego, University of California, Merced and University of California, Santa Cruz.A few weeks ago, I received a very generous offer from the University of California at Davis. Now I am busy with the visa application and preparing for departure. My advice to all prospective applicants – follow your dreams, never give up, think ahead, and trust EducationUSA adviser’s recommendations.

Tatiana Matyushkina

Opportunity, Love, and Success

I received the official letter of acceptance from Colorado School of Mines (CSM), which is one of the top universities with cutting-edge facilities, and professors, who are the world known experts in their field of research. Let me say about my path towards success.

I
graduated from the Department of Physics at Saint Petersburg State University and started considering getting a Ph.D. degree in near surface geophysics in the U.S. I looked on the internet and found the EducationUSA program, which attracted my attention. I started attending activities offered by the Center, went through 120 Credits program, volunteered during the educational fairs, applied for Opportunity Funds Program and won the grant, that covered all the expenses dealing with the application process.

My route towards getting good scores on TOEFL and GRE was not an easy one. The language did not come easily to me, and I had to work hard on reading tons of books and practiced every day. There were other students having the same issues, and once we thought, that it would be a great idea to prepare for the tests in a group. When the classes started, a new girl joined our prep group. I fell in love with her, and we started dating and married. We went through the application process to U.S. schools together. My efforts have been crowned with success, but Anna has not been lucky yet with her scores and will apply next year.

T he Colorado School of Mines (CSM) offered me $52K to cover all the expenses dealing with my study in the U.S., but it was not enough to support my wife, whom I love so much. I wrote about the situation to the professor, whom I had communicated before. Next day, he informed me that the university would give me additional funding in the amount of $5K.

“I am very thankful to Irina Nikolaeva, an EducationUSA adviser, who believed in my success. I am grateful to EducationUSA that supported my application process through Opportunity Funds program and intermediately helped me to meet the person of my life.”

I
feel absolutely happy now as my dream has come true. I will study in a great school in the U.S., and my wife will go with me. I know, that it is hard to combine study and family, but I am sure, that we will support each other and overcome all the difficulties that we might face. [/p]

Aleksei Titov