From Yekaterinburg to Edinburgh: how from a regular school I got to one of the best universities in the world on a scholarship

How it all started

I was born in Yekaterinburg. I am the third child in an ordinary family with average income. My mother raised me.

I have had a love for learning since childhood. I entered the simplest school, and in the second grade I moved to the lyceum, where I studied until the seventh grade. When the first Olympiads started in elementary school, I immediately wanted to participate in them, I quickly began to succeed, I was fascinated by the competitive aspect.

The first subject I delved into in high school was mathematics. It was possible to participate in Olympiads, go to math camps, develop in this direction, and I really liked it. Then I thought that maybe I like art and literature more. And she began to maintain a balance between the exact sciences and the humanities.

I constantly participated in all sorts of Olympiads. You get involved in the Olympic movement. All-Russian level Olympiads begin in seventh grade. Then I opened the list of items, went through it and realized that I was interested in everything, I liked everything. As a result, in my first All-Russian Olympiad, I participated in 10 subjects and, it seems, I became a prize-winner in four, and a winner in four.

Nobody forced me, I wanted to try everything myself, to test my strength.

Probably there has always been in me perfectionism: I wanted to be first, get better grades, strive higher, test myself. I was very upset about the fours. At the same time, in high school I did not perceive studying as some kind of social elevator. I just really liked studying, I did it with pleasure.

It seems to me that there is some kind of innate talent and love for learning that helps to achieve results. But family influence and personal perseverance are also of great importance. I knew people who could study a lot and for a long time, but I did not have such perseverance. I rather learned quickly. Until the seventh grade, my studies went well on enthusiasm alone. In high school it became harder and I had to put in more effort.

Before school, my mother worked with me a lot, took me to a music school, English courses, supported my theater hobbies, music. At school, she did not interfere in my studies, did not scold me for my grades, did not check my homework, did not put pressure on me. For as long as I can remember, I believed that school was my responsibility and I should study on my own, because I needed it first of all.

How I got into a school for gifted children

When I was in seventh grade, my mother and I decided that I could go to some strong school. After all, studying was easy for me.

At that time I became a prize-winner olympiads in physics, and without exams I was accepted into the Specialized Educational and Scientific Center at the Ural Federal University. This is one of eleven strong schools at universities in the country where high school students study.

At the same time, advertisements for Letovo in Moscow began to appear on the Internet. It was a school for gifted children. But then it was just opening, it was some kind of new, incomprehensible format, and going there even looked a little adventurous.

This is a private boarding school for students in grades 7–11. That is, upon entering there, children leave home and live there in school dormitories, spend time on campus, and engage in extracurricular activities there.

Making a choice in favor of a new unfamiliar school and a new format was very difficult, especially for my mother. We discussed for a long time where it would be better for me to go, but in the end the choice fell on Letovo. I think it was hard for my mother to decide to let me go. But, probably, in order to move forward, sometimes you need to take very bold steps.

Entering Letovo is difficult; it is a long process that begins in the middle of the school year. You spend so much effort on admission that when you pass the selection, you no longer want to give up this opportunity, you no longer have any doubts whether to leave or not.

To enroll to school, you need to go through several stages. First, basic testing in school subjects. If you pass it, you are invited to the second stage, which is proctored, and there you are given more complex Olympiad-type problems. If you have passed this stage, you are invited to an interview. You go through an interview, a psychological game where they monitor how you interact in a team, what leadership qualities you have, and so on, and an interview in English.

Education in Letovo is really expensive. Now full board costs 280 thousand per month.

But the financial situation of the family at school does not matter at all.

When a child arrives, nothing is known about who he is, who his parents are and what their financial status is. We are accepted only based on the results of our entrance exams. Then, every year, parents send their income documents to the scholarship fund, and depending on the family’s income, the grant covers part or all of the child’s education.

My mother paid only part of the amount that she could afford (tuition was cheaper back then). But I studied with a lot of guys from all over Russia who were on full scholarships. That is, it turned out that the main thing in school was your brains and the desire to learn, everyone found themselves on equal terms. Anyone who is interested in it has the opportunity to study there. You can enroll in a school for gifted children without money.

How life was organized in Letovo

Letovo operates according to the format of American-English boarding schools. There is an emphasis not only on training, but also on additional education - there are a lot of all kinds of clubs right on campus.

Much attention is paid to the community of teachers and students who become like-minded people. You can constantly come up with some of your own projects, share creative or academic ideas with teachers and try to implement them.

A lot of our activities were aimed at developing critical thinking, the ability to think and reflect, generate and present your ideas, as well as soft skills. This was the main difference from a regular school.

Assessments at Letovo were based on several criteria: understanding, practical work, reflection, and so on. This helped not just to cram, but to deeply understand the processes, and stimulated me to constantly come up with something and prepare some kind of research.

The program included Olympic preparation. At the All-Russian Olympiads you can earn money decent money. The winner of the all-Russian stage receives 500 thousand rubles, the prize-winner - 300, the participant - 100. During high school I earned 700 thousand in environmental science. I took part in the Olympiad three years in a row simply because I was curious. Twice I didn’t prepare very thoroughly and received 100 thousand as a participant. And for the third time she got down to business and became the absolute winner in Russia, earning 500 thousand.

There were guys who studied with me who earned 1.5 million or more at the Olympiads solely with their minds.

But we were not trained only for the Olympic movement. Our lessons were in pairs, like at a university, usually 4-5 pairs a day. Then there was extra-academic workload. For example, I took ceramics and piano classes. In addition to two hours of physical education, it was mandatory to take another four hours of non-academic sports per week. It could be tennis, athletics, just a gym. In the evening we returned to our dorm, prepared our homework and spent time with friends.

The load was serious. I have nothing to compare with because I didn’t go to a regular high school, but my friends who went to other schools, spent less time studying. We were very busy. But it was a varied and interesting load.

Strong children from all over the country studied with us. I still remember what cool people surrounded me. These were not just academically strong people, but individuals who were super interested in everything.

There were many adults around whom I wanted to be like. Thus, mathematics teachers could stage theatrical plays and conduct musical evenings. And my literature teacher was also very interested in architecture and headed the school film club.

Looking at such people, you understand that a person has no limits, you can develop in different areas, combine an academic career with art, sports. I realized that I am inspired by people who do not focus on one thing, but achieve success in different areas, because they are interested in many things.

This is perhaps the main piece of wisdom that I learned from my school life.

How I entered abroad

From the tenth grade, we had two development paths to choose from at school: continue regular education or enroll in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program in order to receive an IB diploma at the end of our studies. This is an international diploma that is valued in universities around the world. When a school is accredited, based on its diploma, foreign universities immediately understand what, how and in what program you studied, what your grades mean.

Even though I didn’t think about moving anywhere as a child, in high school these thoughts began to come to mind. I had the opportunity to travel around England, see Oxford and Cambridge with my own eyes, and the idea that you could study there fascinated me. I thought that it was possible to enter the best universities in the world and I just had to try.

So I decided to enroll in the IB program and passed the exams in ninth grade.

The International Baccalaureate program consists of six subjects from different fields: mother tongue and literature, foreign language, science, arts, mathematics and social studies. It seems that this is not enough, but in fact you study these six subjects very deeply, and the load is very high. Plus, you have to do some kind of social projects all the time, conduct some experiments. All classes, except Russian literature, are held in English. In the eleventh grade they take final exams, which will help them enter a foreign university.

You start applying abroad at the beginning of the eleventh grade, when you don’t even have grades for the final exam. But there is an international system of so-called predictors - your teachers predict what score you will get at the end of the year, and this data is sent to various universities. In universities they trust the predictor. It turns out that you have an incentive to work not only in the last year of study, but throughout the entire program, to show your knowledge so that your teacher will evaluate your possible result higher.

You also write a lot of essays. In England, these are essays, mainly related to your field: you write why you are interested in doing this where you see yourself, what successes you already have in this area, all sorts of competitions, research, and so on Further. In America, you still write non-academic essays: about your friends, about a turning point in your life, about a situation when you are sad. We had a career consultant who helped us write these essays.

You can submit documents in any number universities. But whether you get in or not depends on a number of factors that cannot always be understood or predicted. I applied to 15 universities and had very good academic results. My prediction was 45 out of 45 with an average score around the world of 35, I had Olympiads and a portfolio. But in the end I received 14 refusals! Why is impossible to understand, it is not explained. It's very hard, it hits your self-esteem. I think I'm still coming away from it.

But in the end I received one offer from the University of Edinburgh, which was a relief.

How to study in Edinburgh on a full scholarship

I'm currently in my second year at the University of Edinburgh studying Medical Biological Chemistry.

This is an ancient university of the 16th century, which is located in the capital of Scotland. The town itself is very unusual, literally fabulous: there are stone buildings around, ancient churches, and a castle in the middle of the city. And the university is located in the city itself and is inscribed in its architecture. Most of our campuses are new, so you study less often in all these Gothic buildings, but you are still constantly in this atmosphere.

I remember how it took 30 hours to get here with transfers. I arrived by train from London and was on my way to my hostel and saw that the road was blocked. It turns out that the body of the British Queen was being transported in the motorcade, and I literally witnessed this on my first day in a new place. This was my first impression in the city.

At first, I really romanticized the fact that I was here, that I was in these stone buildings that breathe antiquity. Where great people like Charles Darwin studied. I thought how amazing it was, I had dreamed of such a place.

But this feeling passes pretty quickly, because you immerse yourself in your studies and stop being distracted by the romance around you. Sometimes I remember where I am and think: “Wow, six years ago I wanted to go to medical school in Yekaterinburg, and now I’m here.” And this is very motivating. You understand that you can really achieve a lot on your own. The main thing is not to be afraid.

Studies a lot, and it is, of course, complex. But you can independently choose some disciplines and the depth of their study. Plus, you have free time, which you can either spend on some social subjects, take electives, all sorts of clubs and clubs, work or do art, for example. They give you quite a lot of freedom here.

I study on a scholarship from my school. We have a program under which the school fully pays for tuition, room and board for graduates who are admitted to the top 20 universities in the world. The University of Edinburgh was 15th when I entered.

In the future I would like to live in London or Moscow. During my time at school, I fell in love with Moscow very much and I don’t discount the possibility that I could stay there. I would like to work simultaneously in science and in industry: in pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies.

It seems important to me that in our country you can develop not only with the help of money. Yes, it is not easy, studying requires love and time, but it can provide enormous opportunities. The main thing is to use them.