5 ways to choose a university

5 ways to choose a university

July 30, 2017   application, education, options, search, university,

Choosing a university is the problem that every student has been faced with. One can think that there is nothing difficult to find a university to study in, but this naive idea disappears when you actually need to send applications to universities. There are a lot of good and not so good universities, which makes it very difficult to choose a few to send applications to. Moreover, different people look for different experiences: some people want to socialize more, others -- to study. All personal preferences must be taken into consideration.

Before your final decision, you must understand that university is not the most important thing in life. Even in the worst university you will be able to study, socialize, and get some plans for the future. Don't forget, that you must like what you are doing, don't overwork or you will bury your talent forever. Choose carefully, and always try to have a good life right now. Of course you must think about the future, but not to live in the future.

Here are 5 most common ways which people use (most of the time without realizing it) to choose a university.

#1 Guessing

The simplest and dumbest way to choose a university. You may have heard that some university is not that bad, your friends studied or are studying there and they told you that the university is good, it's not far from your parents' house, etc.

In some cases, it can be a valid way of choosing a university. If you don't care about the society, education, or anything else. If you have a group of friends who study there, your parents' house nearby, and a city that you feel comfortable in, then I guess it's a valid option.

#2 By location

The most common way to choose a university. The simplest example is a statement "I want to study in the US," when a person doesn't care about the university itself, but the fact that it must be located in the US.

Another common scenario can be seen in cold weather countries and cities, where people try to go to universities in the south, where it's warm all year long. A lot of people want to study in California because of this reason.

There is a common sence in choosing a university this way. If you don't like the place where you live, you can always apply to a school in another country or city, which you like and find a job there after the graduation. So, it's not as much a process of choosing a university, as it is a process of imigration to a place you want. By far, the easiest and the most reliable way of immigration to many countries.

#3 Ranking

For those people who cares about their opportunities after graduating from the university, may want to choose a university depending on its prestige. There are three most known and respected ranking systems in the world:

1. QS World University Ranking
2. Times Higher Education World University Ranking
3. Shanghai University Ranking

Personally, I chose my university using exactly this method. To be honest, it is not the best way to find a university: good academic education and job opportunities are not everything in the world. By choosing an academically strong program in a good university, you may deprive yourself from having a good time and enjoying the life, which is very important as a matter of fact.

Moreover, not every well known university has every field of specialization, so there is a chance that you will do not what you want to do, but what you have to do. In this case, life will become miserable very fast and for long. Rank of a uniiversity is truly a very important variable to take into consideration, but definitely not the most important one.

#4 Depending on the Field of science or professor

This way of choosing a university is pretty much the same as the previous one except that here you are concentrating not on your future perspectives, but on your academic results. If you are planning to become a professor in a university or a researcher, then this is definitely a notable option for you.

Otherwise, if a university is a little bit more than just a place with books and lectures for you, then you probably need another method to choose your dream school..

#5 Using logic

This method is truly the best one in terms of the result: you will be able to choose a university depending on your needs, which will give you the best outcome. Unfortunately, for such a perfect university you must pay with your time and effort. To be able to find your future alma mater, you will have to look at all possibly properties of universities: location, cost, academic programs, sports, type of community, financial aid, size of college, campus activities, etc. Sometimes searching for this information is very difficult, so you must be ready to spend a few months of permanent hard work to be able to find something that you may like.

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4 facts about why Russian education is good, but nobody wants to study there?

4 facts about why Russian education is good, but nobody wants to study there?

July 29, 2017   education, facts, Russia,

Russia is not a kind of country which associates with a good education, but, as a matter of fact, the education in a few universities is complete and extremely complex. Most of the time, not all students can successfully finish their programs. The list of such universities is not huge, but it's possible to find at least 2-3 good quality universities in main big cities.

If you compare the level of knowledge among ordinary Russian and European students, then I tend to say that Russian students are better and wider educated. The difference is that students in Russia study not only specialized subjects but a lot of other "unnecessary" ones. For example, every mathematician in a university will be required to study history, sociology, philosophy, and even life safety fundamentals. I agree that they are not able to excel these subjects, but at least they listen to lectures and learn main concepts which gives them a wider area of thoughts.

Unfortunately, Russian education is not perfect and in this article I provide 4 reasons why students try to avoid studying in Russia.

#1 Lack of respect for students

What most Russian universities lack is the respect for students: unfortunately, the vast majority of professors and administration workers don't care about students or whether they fully understand the material or not. This behavior makes it difficult for those who want to achieve knowledge in difficult topics because the time is limited, but there are a lot of assignmets and deadlines. Fortunately, most professors are very interested in talented students who are interested in science, and they try to provide a special attention to these students. From my experience, if you are studying in a university which level is above average if you are interested in science and show it to your professors, then with just a little luck you will be able to go through university years without major problems.

But it is not the worst scenario if a professor explains material in a difficult, unstructured, or even careless way. You can find a lot of situations when professors don't care about their students at all: they can skip their classes when they want, sleep on classes, or exams, be late for 40-50 minutes, and so on. 

#2 Unnecessary difficulty

It turns out that Russian schools, especially physics and mathematics school, are way too difficult for students to study in. There are so much information, assignments, and projects, that students physically don't have enough time to learn and understand everything. In this case, people start learning everything by heart without understanding what they learn, which ends up in a total misunderstanding of everything that they are supposed to understand.

#3 Terrible studying environment

If you try to compare the overall environment between US universities and Russian universities, then there will be simply nothing to compare. Most university buildings in Russia are very old, ugly, and pretty much fall apart from the inside. Moreover, the equipment in universities is mostly pretty old, even though they try to renew it, which makes it sometimes difficult to work, slowing down the learning process. 

#4 Poor job opportunities

The biggest problem that every Russian student faces is the lack of job opportunities after the graduation. Russian education is valued neither in Russia, not in any other country. In Russia, there is a very big problem with jobs' offers, which doesn't let all graduates work in their fields of study. But I honestly don't understand why Russian diplomas are not valid in other countries in the world. Maybe it is because not that many people speak English fluently. It's true, but I don't see it as a reason for not giving the education a credit. 

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How to write a letter of recommendation

How to write a letter of recommendation

July 27, 2017   application, bachelor, letter, master, recommendations, university,

Every university in America or Europe requires a student to have at least one recommendation letter from a professor, teacher, or employer in their application.

The thing is that this concept of writing recommendation letters for students and employees is not spread in all countries or universities. Sometimes teachers and professors are willing to sign recommendation letters, but not to write them. A lot of my friends from Russia, Algeria, and Vietnam asked for a recommendation letter and ended up writing it themselves.

If this is your case, then you are extremely lucky, because you decide what to mention in the recommendation and what to elude. There are several rules to follow when you write a letter of recommendation:

1. Write about your best qualities: how much a hard worker you are, how social you are, that you are a problem solver, that you achieve your goals and don't give up.
2. Lie! Show how perfect you are even if you are not. Add all best qualities to your persona. Write about something extraordinary that you have never done, but what will represent you as a better candidate for the program. Write about all events, school or university clubs for other students that you organized, about how much you have done for your previous educational institution, about how perfect you are comparing to your classmates.

Here are five examples of letters of recommendation.

Recommendations for a Bachelor degree student

     I am writing this reference at the request of (student) who is applying for (university). I have known (student) for three years in my capacity as a teacher at (university). (student) took English from me and earned superior grades in those classes. 

     As (student's) professor, I have had an opportunity to observe (student's) participation and interaction in classes and to evaluate (student's) knowledge of the subject matter. (student) is an outstanding student in all respects. (student) has proven that through hard personal work as well as teamwork, (student) can accomplish tasks in a courteous and timely manner. 

     In addition, not only did (student) always excel at (student's) home assignments, (student) also always tried to base all (student's) projects on a business or economic topic. One perfect example of (student's) outstanding work was (student's) presentation and a research paper about the Dot-com bubble. The original assignment was to write a simple story and to tell it to the class in order to practise difficult tenses. Instead of a simple story, (student) decided to understand a challenging topic in economics, which sometimes uses quite complicated vocabulary. Hitherto to those my students, who have the same assignment, I give this particular example of a truly splendid work.

     Based on (student's) grades, attendance and class participation, I would rate (student's) academic performance in my class as superior.                             

     In conclusion, I would highly recommend (student) for this academic program. If (student's) performance in my class is any indication of how (student) will succeed, (student) will be a positive addition to the program. (student) is well equipped to grow from challenges that (student) is presented with. (student's) language skills, teaching ability and aspiration for the business industry prepare (student) beautifully for your program.

   If you should need any additional information you can feel free to contact me at abc@abc.com anytime. 

    I am writing this letter to give my highest possible recommendation for (student) who was a student at (school) where I am in the capacity of the principal. I have known (student) for the last three years as an exceptionally talented student who showed exceptional qualities both in academic results and in the social life within the high school and beyond.

    From the first days of studying in high school, (student) showed himself not only as a responsible and academically talented person, but also as a socially active student. During the three years of the high school, (student) didn’t skip any school event. Moreover, in most cases, (student) was that person, who tried to organize these events in a way that everyone would like them and actively participate in them.

    All the teachers that have taught (student) witnessed how responsible and serious (student) is. In addition to such an important characteristic as a responsibility to (student's) work, (student) also is able to handle the pressure of deadlines very well. These qualities together with everyday hard work allowed (student) to excel in every subject and, as a result, (student) has been always the leader in every aspect and has held the highest position in (student's) class' rating for the three consecutive years. 

    On many occasions, (student) used to help classmates in various subjects, especially in English, History, and Literature. (student) was even able to organize (student's) own school club and to gather smart students together in order to help others to understand some difficult topics in school subjects.

    (student) is one of the most brilliant and kind-hearted students that I have encountered in my career. (student) has an extremely amiable personality and is popular not just among classmates, but among almost the whole high school as (student) shows great consideration and deep respect for everyone.

    In summary, I strongly believe that (student's) intellectual ability and enthusiasm for learning and working are qualities that will help (student) well in (student's) future studying and life. Without any doubts, (student) is the type of a student who has the potential for a great success at the college level. 

    I think (student) would be an outstanding asset to your program. I give (student) my highest recommendation.

Recommendations for a Master degree student

    I am delighted to recommend Evgenii Kolesnikov, with whom I had an opportunity to interact over the last 7 years as his math teacher prior to his enrollment in the university, and then as the consultant when he studied mathematics in the “Applied Mathematics and Computer Science” department at the Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University).

    Throughout this time he has demonstrated himself as an individual who is constantly working on self-improvement, striving to proficiency in his elected field. He does not stop once he achieves success, but puts forth maximal effort to continue developing. His work on computational gas dynamics deserves especial attention, and was recognized as the best work in his class. It is also noteworthy that Evgenii was the only student who met the deadline on turning in his work.

    Interaction with him gave me a great opportunity to better understand the aspirations and interests of the students who plan to continue work as scientists. His ability to get his bearings in the education process and select proper and interesting solutions allowed him to successfully grasp the complex education course of the university and establish his future specialization in science. He possesses the ability to clearly and precisely express his thoughts and views.

    I believe that all these qualities make him a worthy candidate to enroll in the Master’s Degree program of your university.

    As to his personal character traits, the first and foremost is his openness and interest towards his peers, hunger for knowledge and ability to share it with others.

    I strongly recommend Evgenii Kolesnikov for continued education in the Master’s Degree program of your university. 

    Evgenii Kolesnikov was one of the leading students of the “Applied Mathematics and Computer Science” department, and undergone his study at the Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University) from 2012 until 2016.

    As the dean of the faculty, I had to often interact with Evgenii in the professional capacity throughout his education. Over his time here and our interactions, Evgenii has proven himself a remarkable individual, showing high interest towards everything related to mathematics and physics.

    His ability to set goals for himself and put forth effort necessary to achieve them is quite admirable. He is capable of analyzing scientific information and efficiently applies it in his study. A great example is the term project he wrote in his 3rd year “SVD – decomposition and its practical applications” (see https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1609587.v1). It took him several months of tedious independent work in the area of linear algebra. But being goal-driven, he was able to grasp not only the theoretical and numerical analysis methods of linear algebra, but also how these methods could be implemented in practice.

    Evgenii is not afraid to undertake complicated tasks. He is known for his self-confidence, ability to solve problems, and readiness to start and complete new tasks in the best way possible.

    One of his positive personal traits is that he is happy to share his knowledge with colleagues. He is able to simply and easily explain complex topics, which made him popular among his peers. A testament to that is the fact that he was allowed to deliver several lectures during the course of his study, which included lectures on the theory of heat conduction, numerical analysis methods in gas dynamics, interaction between MPI and CUDA, and numerical analysis methods of SVD in linear algebra (https://www.youtube.com/user/Rjktcj456rjktcj/videos?sort=dd&view=0&shelf_id=0).

    He has great desire to pursue future academic and pedagogical career. I am delighted to recommend Evgenii Kolesnikov for continued education in the Master’s Degree program of your university, and am certain that if given the opportunity, he would use it to its fullest potential and demonstrate his professional and personal qualities. 

    I happily recommend Evgenii Kolesnikov for enrollment into the Master’s Degree program, with whom I worked on scientific research over the last two years. While in his Bachelor’s degree program, Evgenii specialized in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, but he also demonstrated great interest towards research in analytical mechanics and celestial mechanics. Under my supervision he completed the course of analytical mechanics and some parts of the celestial mechanics, while he worked diligently and continuously. I even scolded him on occasion for working too much. I am certain that he will display remarkable effort in studying in the Master’s Degree program.

    Evgenii has a mathematical mindset. He strives for in-depth understanding of the subject, and meticulously studies the mathematical proof, while solving a vast amount of problems. His passion for abstract knowledge has to be limited by applied problems. Due to his persistence, he has substantially increased his knowledge in analytical and celestial mechanics and became a leader in his class. His graduate thesis, dedicated to the problem of numerical investigation of the uncontrolled drift of the Earth satellite under the gravitational pull of the Moon, is recognized as one of the best in his class (https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3464087.v1). I would also like to note that Evgenii is in the top-3 students at the “Applied Mathematics and Physics” faculty of the Moscow Aviation Institute (he is in 3rd place).

    Evgenii is active in sports. Since 5 years of age he has been involved in combat sport, and even became a ranked athlete. I am certain that his organization in studying and remarkable work ethics is driven by his sport discipline.

    Evgenii is an exemplary and responsible student; an honest and reliable friend. He has positive influence on his peers, does not run from problems, and is self-confident. I strongly recommend Evgenii for enrollment in the Master’s Degree program of your university. 

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Реально ли поступить в университет за рубежом?

Реально ли поступить в университет за рубежом?

July 09, 2017   Высшее образование, ЗаРубежом, Институт, Образование,

Многие люди во время обучения в старших классах школы, после ее окончания, после окончания бакалавриата или даже магистратуры сталкиваются с идеей того, чтобы продолжить  свое образование за рубежом, ведь именно зарубежное образование, а особенно Американское и Европейское, исключительно ценится в России.

Следовательно, многие школьники и студенты потенциально хотели бы подать документы не только в Российские вузы, но также и в иностранные, однкако,  в силу не знания процедуры подачи документов, какие документы нужны, и как все это работает, подавляющее большинство из них отказываются от этой идеи.

Подача документов действительно достаточно сильно отличается от того, к чему мы привыкли в России, однако в ней нет ничего сверхъестественного и особо сложного. К основному набору документов, которые абитуриенты отправляют в приемную комиссию бакалавриата или магистратуры надо перевести на иностранный язык и отправить вместе с копиями на русском языке. Дополнительно к этим документам вузы требуют в обязательном порядке мотивационное письмо, в котором необходимо указать причину, по которой вы хотите учиться именно в выбранном вами университете. О том, как писать мотивационные письма я рассказывал здесь. В Американские вузы, также как и в некоторые Европейские, требуется сдать определенные международные экзамены, которые в 99% случаев являются ACT, SAT, GRE или GMAT. Конечно, в любой иностранный вуз требуется предоставить документ о достаточном владении иностранного языка, в случае английского, в большинстве случаев -- это экзамен TOEFL или EILTS. 

На этом требования в принципе заканчиваются. Да, следует учитывать, что во многие хорошие (топовые) вузы, процесс подачи документов заканчивается в начале зимы, поэтому все документы необходимо подать и решения принять за год, до начала обучения.

В том случае, если человек не стремится достигнуть чего-то сверхъестественного, то вузы среднего и низшего эшелонов принимают заявки наобучение и документы вплоть до начала обучения.

Таким образом, хоть процесс поступления несколько и отличается от привычного нам, в нем нет ничего сложного. Плюс ко всему, каждый человек должен понять, что не надо быть гением или очень умным для того, чтобы учиться за рубежом.

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Online courses, online universities, online education, MOOCs

Online courses, online universities, online education, MOOCs

July 06, 2017   courses, education, mooc, online education, university,

One year of studying in a language school in New York taught me that not that many people know about online education and MOOCs. Even if they heard about it, they know neither where you can find it, nor how it works. Therefore, in this article, I will try to explain what online education is, what types of online education you can find, how it works, how much it cost, and do you really need it.

In my opinion, online education as a whole can be divided into, roughly, four categories:

1. Online degree programs;
2. Professional development online programs & courses;
3. MOOCs;
4. Online courses & lectures.

Online degree programs

Online degree programs are ordinary Associate, Bachelor, and Master's degree programs which you can obtain online. Of course, not all universities provide online degree programs and not all programs can be obtained online.

Here are a few links to online degree programs:

1. https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education
2. http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-and-certificates
3. https://www.onlinestudies.com/Bachelors/Switzerland/
4. https://www.onlinestudies.com/Masters/Switzerland/
5. The one that I participated in: http://www.ansys.com/products/academic/online-masters-degree

As you can see, there are options to study in American and Europian universities. Of course, you can easily notice the difference in prices: American education is extremely expensive and online education is not an exception, the total education can easily reach $150,000. On the other hand, European online education is much cheaper and rarely exceeds $10,000, although it also happens and can go up to $50,000.

Personally, I applied and was accepted to Technical University of Madrid for an Online Master's Degree in Numerical Simulation in Engineering with ANSYS program. From what I experienced, I can say that online degree program is an online platform which is provided by a university, where you can find reading materials, presentations, videos of lectures, home assignments, exams, and all other necessary for education stuff. Like in an ordinary university, you have deadlines for submitting home assignments and tests. 

At the end of the education you receive a normal degree certificate, which confirms that you were awarded a Bachelor or Mater's degree in the program of your choice.

Professional development online programs & courses

Professional development online programs & courses can be either individual courses or a set of courses (programs). This type of online education is almost the same as the previous one with a difference that the program itself is shorter (only a few courses, or even only one), cheaper, and less valuable.

This type of education is perfect for those people who already have degrees and they just want or need to improve or broaden their knowledge in some fields.

Here are a few links to online degree programs:

1. http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-and-certificates/directory/undergraduate/certificates
2. http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-and-certificates/directory/graduate/certificates
3. http://online.purdue.edu/online-programs/not-for-credit-professional-development
4. I was planning to take one of the programs from this link (http://online.purdue.edu/online-programs/graduate-certificates), but, unfortunately, the education in America is so expensive that I wasn't able to afford it.

In my opinion, this is the most important type of online education, but, unfortunately, it's not that much developed yet. Mostly people are concentrated on MOOCs and online courses, because they can be created by almost any person in the world, whereas professional development courses require validation, due to the fact that at the end of the course or a program you receive an official certificate of professional education which has the same value as any other document from a university. Therefore, only universities or research labs have resources and abilities to create this kind of programs. 

MOOCs

The two following types of online education are the most famous ones. In my opinion, MOOCs became popular even earlier than simple online lectures. Each MOOC is a structured online course which consists of a set of lectures, reading materials, and sometimes assignments. All these courses are stored on specialized websites. There are a lot of websites which store MOOCs and, even, provide you their own certificates for completing each course. The price for each course varies between $20 and $200.

Here are a few links to the most famous websites:

1. https://www.coursera.org
2. https://www.edx.org
3. https://www.udacity.com
4. https://www.udemy.com
5. https://iversity.org
6. http://novoed.com
7. https://www.futurelearn.com
8. https://www.canvas.net

I personally used the first four websites and took courses from them. In my opinion, coursera and edx are the best MOOCs platforms nowadays. Not only do they have good quality courses, they also provide a lot of different types of courses for everyone, not only courses for programmers or businessmen.

Online courses & lectures

The simplest type of online education: either a set of video lectures or any other types of materials. Perfect representatives of this type are:

1. https://www.youtube.com
2. https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
3. https://www.khanacademy.org
4. http://nptel.ac.in

Although you will not get any certificate or evidence that you listened to a course, you can get a lot of very valuable information from these sources, which will definitely help you with your field of interest.

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