Honest, detailed journeys from students who got in — their grades, essays, scholarships, mistakes, and advice. Search by university to find people who went where you want to go.
Studies at UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology), South Korea
From Astana, Kazakhstan, from a very ordinary school — School No. 72. Founded a nonprofit, ALGA BUSINESS, and ran 3 large-scale startup hackathons reaching 500+ school students, with a prize fund of over $2,000. Co-wrote a research paper on the startup ecosystem of Central Asia with a researcher from Georgetown University (USA) — the work won 2nd place at the RNPK (national research conference) and earned an invitation to represent Kazakhstan at the international O. Zholdasbekov conference. Was admitted to Harvard's summer program (HVTSP) on a full scholarship. Interned at a U.S. logistics startup, Cinesis (previously Skywaze), on the marketing team. Captain of the school volleyball team.
Studies at UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology), South Korea
Hi, my name is Askar and I'm from Kazakhstan — Karaganda, specifically. I studied at the local KTL/BIL school. From 7th grade I was a math olympiad kid, and over five years of competing my main awards were a Zhautykov (Zhauta) medal and a national-round (Respa) bronze. Pretty much all my extracurriculars were tied to olympiads — competing, teaching, or organizing.
My name is Alisher Zhangeldiyev, and I'm from Aktobe, Kazakhstan. I graduated from Bilim-Innovation Lyceum (BIL) for gifted boys in 2025, and I'm currently pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering in Artificial Intelligence at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou).
In high school I was active in robotics, olympiads, leadership, and sports. Robotics was a main interest — I was a coder and mentor in FIRST Robotics competitions. With my team, we became champions of the Republican FIRST Championship and placed top-three overall at the Central Asia FIRST Championship, among 2,500+ participants from nine countries. I also won a Gold Medal and became the absolute champion of the International Infomatrix-Asia Olympiad in Robotics, against around 500 participants from 10 countries.
Beyond competitions, I was Head of the STEM Department at the American Corner & Makerspace in Aktobe, organizing robotics, programming, and science camps for younger students. I co-founded my school's TEDx club and helped students build their public speaking skills. Outside academics, I was captain of my school basketball team and competed in chess at the republican level.
Studies at BNBU (Beijing Normal–Hong Kong Baptist University), China
From Kazakhstan, studied at Bilim-Innovation Lyceum (BIL/KTL). I was active in eco-volunteering, won a Silver Medal at Infomatrix, and took 3rd place at the national stage in science projects.
Studies at HKUST (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), Hong Kong
Born and raised in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. I graduated with honors from the Chinghiz Aitmatov Lyceum, then took a gap year to reapply to stronger universities abroad. I did competitive biology for four years, competing internationally and winning medals from bronze to gold — and last year I qualified for the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) in the Philippines. I also helped prepare problems for Kazakhstan's national youth biology olympiad, which added to my profile.
I'm from Kazakhstan and graduated from Nazarbayev Intellectual School in 2025. I started volunteering in 10th grade once I realized how much international universities value extracurricular involvement. I was part of a local environmental organization called NewWave, volunteered at the International Education Fair, and did Model UN. Later I tutored for Artful Futures, started my own English-speaking club, and managed social media for an educational platform. As a hobby, I filmed and edited vlogs for YouTube. I didn't have big achievements like olympiads, hackathons, or startups — my activities were fairly simple, but they reflected my genuine interests and involvement in my community.
