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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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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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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Writing a motivational letter for a Bachelor of Business Administration program

Writing a motivational letter for a Bachelor of Business Administration program

June 29, 2017   administration, application, bachelor, BBA, business, letter, motivation, university,

Previously I explained how I wrote a motivational letter for a Master program in engineering and a motivational letter for a scholarship.

A person who has a bachelor degree in engineering, natural sciences, or any other sciences has a field of interest or at least a subject which he likes the most. So, in this case, the person has at least an idea or a path, in which he must write the letter. 

Those people who are planning to apply for a BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) are in totally different situation: there is simply nothing to write about. Applying to the business administration program implies that you will apply the obtained knowledge in a business, but not all families have their own businesses, and in this case, it is quite challenging to come up with a topic for the motivational letter.

Because the idea of the letter changed, the structure changed as well. Now the letter is divided into the following parts:

1. A hook;
2. A long term goal;
3. An intermediate targer;
4. Why decided to study abroad;
5. Belief that you will succeed in studying;
6. Why you applied to this university;
7. Conclusion.

You can see that the structure is more complicated and the motivational letter is longer than the previous ones.

A hook

If you apply to a science program it is much easier to come up with an anekdote or a particular interesting problem which motivates you. When a program has such a broad name as "Business Administration", it gives you much more topics to write about, but at the same time it loses specifics, therefore, vast majority of people can not come up with a valuable concrete topic.

Here are a few topics which you can think about and write a simple motivational story or just your opinion:

1. Your family business: why is it bad and how you want to improve it;
2. A successful international corporation whose success motivated you to create something;
3. Some problem in any location which you want to solve (starvation, murders, crisis, depression, ...);
4. A simple quote of a businessman with your opinion about it (wheather you agree with it or not);
5. Your passion (activity or object) and how much you want to create a business, which will help people to experience those great emotions that you experience.

In my opinion, the "quote" topic is the easiest and, at the same time, very effective one. It can show your mindset, knowledge, and expertise in some field of business.

Unfortunately, I didn't know any quotes of famous businessmen which I could use in the motivational letter, so I googled it for about a half an hour (yes, apparently it is not the easiest task) and found the one of Robert Kiyosaki: 

Many people start a business only to make money. Just to make money is not a strong enough mission.

In my opinion, it is a very interesting deep quote and at the same time suites the spirit of any university. Most of the time universities don't like if a student's motivation to study is only earning a lot of money. In this case, it is possible to show that even though money is extremely important, it is not everything. It makes an impression that the applicant thinks further and deeper than simply about the income.

A long term goal

A long term goal is usually a big and, almost always, unsolvable problem, which worries a lot of people: in my case it is poverty, hunger, and unemployment. This section is the continuation of the previous idea, that the applicant is interested in serious problems and not only in money. It also shows that the person can analyze the situation and draw reasonable conclusions.

An intermediate targer

A huge unsolvable problem is very good, but everybody understands that it is unsolvable or almost unsolvable. So, it is of the most importance to reduce this huge goal either to a step of easier problems, or to a subproblem, which partly solves this problem or just in a small region.

The purpose of these two sections are to show your ambitions in global problems, but at the same time to demonstrate that you are able to think deep and analyze by concentrating on a smaller problem, because common sense and objective assessment of your capabilities are crucial skills for a business administrator. If the leader can not sensibly estimate a situation, then he is a fool, and most likely will not succeed.

In my case, I reduced the problem of hunger, poverty, and unemployment to improving lives of people in need by creating a big international company. I also added a few sentences about how the university can help me to do it. 

There is also another trick here. As you could notice, I used specific subjects: “The European Business Environment”, “Asian Economic Development”, “European Economic Development” from the program's syllabus. It was done on purpose, because it shows that the applicant made a thorough research on the university's website to understand if the program suits his interests or not. Most of the time universities appreciate the fact that you studied their website and all their documents: it shows that your decision was meaningful,  based on the knowledge, rather than a spontaneous haste in order to be accepted anywhere.

Why did you decide to study abroad

This part is an easy one. But it's necessary to provide serious reasons: "because I don't like my country and I want to immigrate" is definitely not a reason you want to mention (even though it can be the only thing that motivates your actions).

I will repeat again, the most important idea. Truth is necessary with your friends a family. In the outer world you must know how to represent yourself so other people think you are smarter than you are, more reliable than you are, and in general -- better than you are.

In my motivational letter I divided this part into two subparts:

1. The evaluation of local universities and their programs;
2. The evaluation of possibilities that will open to you if you study in the university with elements of flattery.

The first part is obvious and I will not even talk about it. On the other hand, the second part is not so obvious at all, and it requires a thorough thinking to write it. Again, the idea is to show your long-term thinking and analysis of serious questions. 

One of the most important things to perform is a "flattery". Without a doubt, everyone loves to hear good things about themselves. So, you must try to flatter as much as possible, but at the same time represent it in such a way, which doesn't let the readers think that you are flattering at all. So, your flattering must be logical, reasonable, and moderate.

Belief that you will succeed in studying

Whenever you do anything, you must have a positive thinking about what you are doing: if you don't believe in your success, it will never happen. Write about how much you believe in achieving everything and even more. Prove that based on your experience, knowledge, and hard working abilities you will overcome all problems and difficulties.

And again, by accepting the difficulty of your intentions, you prove that you sensibly estimate your goals and, therefore, you are a smart and mature person. The secret is in what and how you write. 

Why you applied to this university

This is the longest, extremely important and one of the most difficult sections of the motivational letter. For each university this section will be totally unique, but the idea of this section is to show why you think this university suits exactly you and why not any other university: provide examples of your research about the

1. University (why the university is so good: strong science program, program that you need, qualified professors, internships, society); 
2. Location (why you want to live in this particular location: beautiful, clean, safe, quite);
3. People (maybe you like people's mentality: friendly, supportive, thoughtful); 
4. Traditions (celebrations, events);
5. Religion (the religion of your preference is prevailed in the area);
6. Food (you like the local cuisine);
7. Lifestyle (quite and slow lifestyle or, on contrary, noisy and active);
8. Quality of life (developed country/city/area);
9. Hobbies (the city and people allow you to develop the hobbies you are interested in);
10. Opportunities (a lot of companies, startups, and other opportunities where you can take part in).

In my case, I mentioned four points: accreditation (the education is recognized in the USA and Europe), improvement of language skills (improving German language skills) and those skills which are necessary for a business (team work and leadership skills), quality of the city (frequently ranking among the world’s most livable cities).

Conclusion

The conclusion is nothing more, but final words about how the university is perfect, how many opportunities it will give you, and how much you want to study there.


Now you have a complete motivational letter, which shows your knowledge, explains your passion for studying, why you want to be accepted to this university on the program you applied for, and that you are a reliable student who is interested in serious topics.

Letter of Motivation to UIBS Zurich

(Bachelor of Business Administration program)

       Robert Kiyosaki promotes an idea that “Many people start a business only to make money. Just to make money is not a strong enough mission.” For me, business is a tool to create a product or a service, that will improve people’s quality of life or make their lives more convenient. Some people will say, that it is almost impossible to change people’s lives, but “not everything you try can be done, but nothing can be done until you try.” And with this mindset, I am applying for the Bachelor of Business Administration programme at the Zurich campus of United International Business School (UIBS).
       My goal in life is to be useful for people, to improve their lives, for me that is the ultimate success. I live in Nigeria, the country which is mostly not developed, where people don’t have a steady income or satisfactory quality of life: poverty, hunger, and unemployment are well-known and widely spread problems in the country. As a result of what I’ve seen and experienced, I have a strong idea of what I want to achieve.
       Currently, the goal I try to reach is to start and develop my own international business in the middle east area and Africa, which will improve the economic situation of countries and, at the same time, improve lives of people in need. I want to collect the information from classes like “The European Business Environment”, “Asian Economic Development”, “European Economic Development”, and use the gained knowledge of European and Asian business and economic strategies and solutions, which have been studied for years, in the middle east and Africa to develop those countries and, therefore, to improve the quality of life there.
       After doing some research into Nigerian universities and their business programmes, I realised that this country cannot offer me the education I need to achieve my goal. The level of specialisation here is quite poor and teaching methods are mostly oriented on theoretical knowledge which, in my opinion, is nearly useless when it comes to real-life work.
       Looking at my future, I understand that the only way to be successful in today’s business world is to make it in an international context. Because UIBS is an international university with branches in different countries: Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, and Japan, a lot of students from all over the world transfer to different countries to study and, therefore, you provide an outstanding network of people from all over the world. I will be able to use this opportunity to create a bigger social network which will be very useful in a real business to solve complicated international problems. In UIBS, I will also learn how to communicate with people from different backgrounds to achieve the best working results which I believe will be the next big step in my development.
       I understand that studying in a university abroad is going to be the most challenging step in my life so far, but because of studying for 9 months in New York on a “University Preparation” program at EF, I learnt a lot about high quality education, met a lot of people and cultures, gained important insights into such areas as global business and international affairs, that now I am positive that I can withstand any problems I will face and make the most of the knowledge and experience gained through this study programme. I hope to contribute my talents and efforts to your university and become a worthy member of the team.
       The decision to apply to the branch of UIBS in Zurich is not a rush act, but rather a result of a thorough research among a wide variety of universities from all over the world in which not only was the quality of education process taken into consideration, but also opportunities for the personal growth and the quality of life in the city where each university is located.
       First, UIBS provides a top notch education: BBA program in the branch of UIBS in Zurich received accreditations from the ACBSP and ECBE, which means that the education is recognized in the USA and Europe.
       Second, studying at your university will significantly improve my English skills. As one of the most important languages in the world, English will help me to form new connections and expand my social network to a global level. The fact that the university is located in Zurich will allow me also to master my German skills and, as a result, knowing and fluently operating four languages: Arabic, French, English, and German will allow me to develop a better social and business network.
       Thirdly, the BBA programme majoring in Global Business and minoring in Small Business Management will help me to develop myself as a team player and cultivate the leadership skills necessary for my future career. I will learn to be responsible not only for myself, but also for the whole team which is essential for a business manager.
       Finally, Zurich is the top 12th best student city according to “QS Best Student Cities 2016”. Not only is it the largest city in Switzerland, it is also one of the wealthiest in Europe, which means that Zurich is clean, safe and immaculately maintained, frequently ranking among the world’s most livable cities.
       In conclusion, I think that the harmonic combination of theoretical and practical knowledge that is provided in the BBA program at UIBS Zurich together with a unique international society of smart prospective students will give me the framework to utilize my full potentials both in studying in UIBS and in my personal business after the graduation.

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Is Harvard that good?

Is Harvard that good?

June 28, 2017   education, harvard, price, science, university,

Harvard is the desire and the dream of millions of people, but is it really such a good university? I will try to analyze this university from different perspectives: science, education, socialization, and reputation. 

Before I start explaining my point of view, I must say that I am not and have never been a student at this university, so you can be skeptical of my opinion.

Reputation

I will start with the easiest part: the reputation of the university. Of course, it is the most famous university in the world and, therefore, it has an unlimited reputation. It can be seen at least in world university rankings that Harvard is one of the top 3 universities in the world according to almost all rankings.

Ranking	Position in the World
QS World University Ranking 2017	3
Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2017	6
Shanghai University Ranking 2017	1
Best Global University Ranking 2017	1
Reuters University Ranking 2017	3

Because the university is so highly valued, all students who studied at Harvard are extremely valuable as well. None of them has any problems with finding a well-paid job (above $100,000 annually) or creating their own businesses.

In this sense, Harvard is a perfect example of a university, which gives its students a very high status in the society. Hence, in terms of reputation, Harvard is a dream school.

Science

This section is much trickier than the reputation. Without any doubts, Harvard has very good schools: Harvard Medical School and Harvard Law School. But what about natural sciences? What about engineering? Of course, Harvard is not a bad place for engineers, but definitely not the top one. Personally, I was surprised and even shocked a little when I saw Harvard in the top 10 best universities in the world in engineering. In my opinion, there are much better universities in the world in this field, just simply because those universities specialize in this field. 

So, one thing can be said for sure: Harvard has a very strong science program, but it physically can't have top-notch programs in every field of science. Therefore, every applicant must be sure that there is a science program, field of study, and professors of his particular interest. Harvard is a powerful university, but limits are everywhere.

Education

This is another very interesting topic to discuss. Of course, Harvard has a perfect education, but is it the best one as everyone thinks? You must take into consideration that those people who have studied there are extremely talented and smart. So, is it the merit of the university that those people end up being successful and smart? I don't think so. 

Classes diverse in difficulty a lot: there are those which ordinary people won't be able to take at all, and it's not the merit of the university or professors that students study faster and easier. 

So, at the end, I think that the education is really good, but it's not something out of this world, there are a lot of other universities with the same level and quality of education.

Socialization

I guess the society at Harvard is the biggest advantage and disadvantage of the university. Harvard is pretty much a group of people who position themselves as leaders in everything: they were leaders, best students, most perspective at their high schools, so the university is nothing more but a pool with sharks who are ready to kill each other when the time comes. 

On the other hand, because almost all students are from elite families, you will have very powerful friends and acquaintances from all over the world: some of them will become CEOs of international companies, other have their future in politics. 

In this case, everyone chooses what he likes more: having a powerful network, or reliable friends. The second option is definitely not for Harvard.

Worthiness 

Now, the most important question: does Harvard worth it?

To be able to think about this question, we must first find out how much the education at Harvard cost. After googling this question for a while, I found out that the annual tuition fee starts from $45,000. If you include the rent, which is at least $16,000 annually per bed in a dorm and a little amount of money, about $10,000 annually, for personal spending and entertainment, you will end up paying more than $70,000 each year. 

Tuition and Expenses	Cost (2017-2018)
Tuition	$45,000
Fees	$4,000
Room + Board	$16,500
Subtotal - billed costs	$65,500
Books	$1,000
Travel costs	$3,000
Personal expenses	$10,000
Health insurance	$3,130
Total billed and unbilled costs	$82,630

In my opinion, the price doesn't correspond to the outcome at all. There are a lot of perfect European universities which provide the same level of education and science, if not better, but literally 80 times cheaper. 

So you can compare how expensive it is to study at Harvard, I will give you an example of how much it costs to study at ETH Zurich, which is a top 8 university in the world according to QS World University Ranking 2017.

Tuition and Expenses	Cost (2017-2018)
Tuition	$1,180
Fees	$882
Room	$5,300
Subtotal - billed costs	$7,362
Books	$1,000
Travel costs	$720
Personal expenses	$10,000
Health insurance	$3,000
Total billed and unbilled costs	$22,082

As you can see, it is almost four times cheaper to study even in the best university in continental Europe. I hope you understand that differences in education and science in all universities which are in top 10 are negligible.

Conclusion

In conclusion I want to say that the beauty and power of Harvard are in the network that you create there, but definitely not the education itself. If you think that paying more than $250,000 per four years almost exclusively for a business network worths it, then Harvard is definitely a place to go, otherwise, there are a lot of other strong universities (sometimes even stronger in terms of education and science) for much cheaper a price.

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