International Undergraduate Applicants to Compete in Olympiad for HSE Scholarships for 2019 Academic Year
On August 10, online registration opened for the 2019 International Youth Olympiad. The winners and prize recipients of the event have the chance to receive a full or partial scholarship to study in one of HSE’s bachelor’s programmes.
Who is the Olympiad for?
Foreign citizens, individuals without citizenship, and Russians living abroad have been invited to participate in the Olympiad. They are all in the 10th or 11th grades (11th or 12th for those in a 12-year programme of study) and are graduates of foreign educational institutions or foreign university students under the age of 30.
Additionally, foreigners who are under the age of 30 and currently live in Russia may also participate in the Olympiad.
Sixteen Categories
The Olympiad for the 2018-2019 academic year is taking place in 16 different categories.
The in-person portion of the competition features the following categories: Asian and African Studies; History; Cultural Studies; Mathematics; Law; Psychology; Contemporary Politics; Social Sciences: Man, Society, State; Physics (a new field this year); Philology; and Philosophy.
The remote portion of the Olympiad will take place in Design, Journalism, Foreign Languages, Mathematics, Media Communications, and Advertising and Public Relations.
For the first time ever, all tasks in this year’s Olympiad will be presented in both Russian and English. Three categories of the competition – Philology, Design, and Advertising and Public Relations – will take place exclusively in Russian.
What are the advantages of competing?
Winners (first place) and prize recipients (second and third place) of the 2019 International Youth Olympiad who are applying for an HSE bachelor’s programme for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years have the opportunity to receive a full scholarship if they have not received a full ride from the Russian government, as well as partial scholarships that cover up to 70% of yearly tuition.
How can one prepare for the Olympiad?
A series of webinars started in May of this year to prepare students for the Olympiad in various categories.
This is a good opportunity to receive methodological recommendations (which subjects to master or which literature to read) and determine which HSE undergraduate programmes are best suited for those who participate in the competition’s various subject areas.
The webinars also look at the structure of the Olympiad problem sets and go over typical mistakes participants made last year.
The Olympiad’s website features demos of problem sets, as well as methodological materials and videos from the online seminars.
Where can you learn more?
Updates will be made to the 2019 International Youth Olympiad website regarding the schedule of the in-person and remote competitions, the locations and addresses of the Olympiad, as well as the rules and terms of the different categories of the competition.
Here is what past winners who currently attend HSE have to say about the Olympiad:
Denis Molodtsov (Bulgaria), Winner of the 2017 International Youth Olympiad, International Relations Bachelor’s Programme
The International Youth Olympiad takes place each year at School No. 133 in Sofia, where I study, and as someone who loves a challenge, I took part in it for three years in a row. The Olympiad is an excellent opportunity to test your knowledge of different disciplines and general culture. I really liked that the majority of the tasks in the Olympiad word focused on reasoning. This helped me be more confident in expressing my opinion in Russian and taught me how to structure my writing. Additionally, I had the opportunity to get acquainted with different majors at HSE – Political Science and Philology. Thanks to the Olympiad, I saw the gaps in my education and understood what I need to improve on, all while also learning a lot.
I didn’t have a single doubt in choosing a university. Because I had participated in the International Youth Olympiad, I knew that HSE was a serious university that offered a top-notch education where I could grow not only professionally, but personally as well. It was hard at the beginning of the academic year – a new city, new people, and at first I didn’t know how to get to the school or where to get my student ID card, but they helped me out. I want to thank all of the staff at HSE for their patience and all of the information they gave me.
The major I chose is difficult, but interesting. Each subject is a small challenge for me, but at the end of the year I see how much my horizons have broadened, and I know I’m on the right path.
Maria Eremuta (Latvia), Winner of the 2018 International Youth Olympiad, Sociology and Social Informatics Bachelor’s Programme (St. Petersburg)
I found out about the Olympiad from HSE representatives at an education exhibition in Riga. I registered on the website, chose the fields that interested me, and took a risk and participated. The hardest thing was pulling together all of my knowledge and skills and putting them into practice while solving the Olympiad’s problem sets. You have to approach a lot of the questions creatively, and you have to be able to reason and look at things from a different angle than you’re used to. The Olympiad gave me the opportunity to test my knowledge, believe more in myself, and get into HSE, which I had heard a lot of good things about from my cousin. She has studied here for a year already and is very happy with everything. If it weren’t for the Olympiad, I probably would have had to apply to HSE through the Russian embassy’s quota in Latvia, meaning I would have had to take entrance exams.
I’m expecting the academic year to be very positive, and I’m excited to study the subjects that interest me in more detail and meet new people. I also hope to learn a lot of new and interesting things and experience the diverse student life there. Of course, with the new academic year approaching, I’m really concerned about getting settled in a new city – St. Petersburg – as well as where my dorm room will be, who my roommates will be, etc. I hope everything works out okay!