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Make your own magical egg!
Posted by Bohdan Oryshkevich on November 26, 2002 at 11:48:04:
In Reply to: Re: This anonymous is only partially correct. posted by oleg on November 26, 2002 at 00:35:10:
The anonymous Oleg stated that the Osvita centers in Ukraine have better lists than I do. Then he should go there for lists of colleges to apply to. The lists that they provide are far better than his but not as good as ours. Afterall hundreds of students have applied through our program. I have posted the links to lists of colleges on this page before. You cannot ask for information from the program you denigrate.
I have done careful research on scholarships at Business Schools and have been personally informed about full two-year scholarships at some of the best schools in the USA. I was surprised by this. But there is no doubt that this is true. I have attended MBA Forums to research these issues. I personally know a student from Ukraine who has completed a full three year JD degree with a FULL financial aid package at a very, very, very top law school in the USA.
No school is receptive to students from Ukraine. Ukrainian students have to meet the standards that have been set and compete and impress more than students from other countries.
The fact that a student from Ukraine studies at a particular college does not imply that it offers a full scholarship to international students. There may have been a private sponsor; there may be some special program or some funds from Ukraine. I personally know several students from Ukraine who are paying their own way through college. One did so by working as a programmer. Parents from Ukraine provide part of the funds in some cases. Some students obtain loans from Americans. One student sold bonds for investors in his own education. Some schools may offer athletic scholarships to international students. We do not list those. We have the feedback of tens of students. So what may appear as a full four year college scholarship may not be so.
The colleges that we list offer full four-year scholarships as a matter of policy. There is no point in listing a college, which may occasionally admit a student from abroad with full financial aid.
Our list is available only to those who participate and become citizens of the program. That is the way we have to be. We need people to contribute to the effort and we need to create a culture of sharing and cooperation and mutual learning. There are all sorts of opportunists in Ukraine who pride themselves on getting something for nothing. Some of these even go out to destroy the programs that go out to help them. We promote citizenship. My ultimate aim would be to have the students work for the program before they earn the benefits of it. That is in a practical sense difficult to do.
I generally do not deal with anonymous people. Anonymous people want something for nothing. We have had such people try to enter the program and we are best not involved with them. In order for students to apply to our program, they have to submit very complete information about themselves. We are trying to instil transparency, responsibility, and cooperation amongst our students. Anonymous people are likely only to bring disrepute to Ukraine. They are likely to sabotage the efforts of others. They are not likely to do anything for Ukraine. Scholarships worth $140,000 per four years imply responsibility. Absence of responsibility is a fundamental problem in the Ukrainian mentality. That is the reason why Ukraine is totally underrepresented in the elite universities of the USA. The Bulgarians have developed a fundamentally different culture of cooperation, which we are trying to recreate within the Ukrainian context.
The anonymous Oleg has made his first impression. As we say in America, there is only one opportunity to make a first impression. I guess that Oleg can try to appear under another identity.
Bohdan A. Oryshkevich
usa.usa@attglobal.net
:
: : This anonymous poster is only approximately correct.
: : Actually, many of the colleges listed above are wrong. Many others are missing. Our list approaches fifty colleges or more. Much better lists are available in Ukraine especially in Kyiv than this author presented. But less so in the provinces where our students come from. Our students share these lists with their schools and friends. They are not secret.
: : THERE ARE full scholarships for MBA students and for lawyers. There are even scholarships for MD PhD students. However, we do not work with graduate students at this time because of limitations. Our program is well known and respected in the Osvita centers in Ukraine.
: : We also have lycees, gymnasia, and prep schools around the world where students from Ukraine can win scholarships and from which our students from Ukraine can apply to colleges. Our students have attended lycees in Canada, the USA, England and Switzerland for one or two years. From these lycees which use English, our students apply with support of the lycee. Most importantly, we provide ten years of expertise and the encouragement to the students who can make it. If you are applying in competition against some of the brightest students from around the world to highly selective places you can use all the help that you can get especially if it is FOR FREE.
: : Actually, our program is very good in increasing colleges admissions. We increase the odds to a plurality of the chances of students to enter these and other those we select. Last year four of the eight who applied came to America or Switzerland to study. Two are applying after one year. One of our students in 2002 was the first student from Ukraine to have won a scholarship to this elite American college. We are hoping that a majority will win scholarships to colleges after they spend two or even three years applying.
: : We select the students with promise after they apply to us as if to an American college. We test their English in their home town. We give them a two-week seminar on how to apply. We provide them with extensive materials. We pay for their exams in Ukraine and provide support for their work. We mail out their SATs and TOEFLs to colleges. We provide everything they need to apply except their own work. We provide testing several times so the investment in a student can go into a thousand dollars. Occasionally we find sponsors for travel and for other expenses. We invest upto $1,000 per student. WE CHARGE NO MONEY WHATSOEVER FOR ANYTHING THAT WE DO.
: : We ARE increasingly known in American colleges. We provide brief recommendations of our students. We will also inform colleges if they do something dishonest. This year American colleges will be informed of our website.
: : We regularly have to reject students who are very, very bright but exaggerate their credentials. This year we rejected a student with a TOEFL of 670 or so who wrote her own recommendation.
: : Ukrainian students have developed a bad reputation for entering with false and other documents. So we are working to correct that reputation. We are not influencing the application but pre-screening the students. Colleges will be increasingly grateful for this.
: : We take students from smaller cities mostly but not exclusively. Our four students who came to America and Switzerland this year are from Vinnitsa, Myrhorod, Poltava, and Dnipropetrovsk. Others are from Sevastopol, Kerch, Enerhodar, Haidach, and Donetsk. Some spent a year in the USA with the FSA and could not find any information on the program.
: : Our students do extremely well. We currently have students from our program at Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, and Rockefeller Universities in graduate school. Another student just finished a Ph.D in MIT.
: : Students from Ukraine win scholarships on their own. Many have to borrow the money to apply and against greater odds win a scholarship. Our students take the SAT in Kharkiv every year and there are virtually NO OTHER students taking exams in that city which covers all of Eastern Ukraine when it is available there. By having the USA/USA Program we make certain that students who win scholarships SHARE THAT INFORMATION WITH their younger equally talented peers. Sadly, many Ukrainian students once they win that information. Others sabotage the applications of others.
: : We are also making every effort to make their education relevant to Ukraine.
: : Nothing is secretive about our program. It is common knowledge. It is one thing to know aerodynamics and another to create a successful airplane. The most practical advice is also the most useful.
: : I would recommend that this anonymous poster share his name and expertise with us. That would boost our efforts. Alternatively, I would recommend that he shed his anonymity and share his success with other students by starting a program of his own and doing a better job than I do. I could use some competition. I want to retire from this.
: : It is better to build a program than to expose it.
: : The reality is that Ukrainians are suspicious of this program and Americans admire it.
: : Our website http://www.ukrainianscholarships.org also provides significant strategic information on how to apply to American colleges. People from about thirty countries visit it every month.
: : I welcome any criticism out there.
: : Bohdan Oryshkevich
: : usa.usa@attglobal.net
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