Introduction

Hi, my name is Silvia, and I'm from a small village in the Republic of Moldova. From a young age, I remember always hearing about change and trying to improve my community, which I believe has strongly influenced me.

For the first six years or so, I studied at a small school in my town with around 200 students; however, I realized I wasn't satisfied for a couple of reasons, including the lack of English classes. So, I moved to a larger school and finished middle school (9th grade in Moldova) there. In 9th grade, I also realized I wanted to attend high school abroad, so I applied to the FLEX program in the U.S., but I wasn't selected. Then, I started 10th grade focusing on STEM subjects at the same high school, which followed the Moldovan National Curriculum.

Applying to high school study abroad programs

In 10th grade, I felt determined to do my best, so I applied to several programs at once: the FLEX Program and ASSIST Program, which both offer a year in a U.S. high school; HMC, which makes it possible to study for two years at a boarding school in the UK; and UWC, which offers two years of an IB curriculum at one of their international schools. That year, the UWC campuses available to Moldova were in Dilijan, Armenia; Adriatic, Italy; and Changshu, China.

The FLEX Program was already popular in the Republic of Moldova, but UWC was not, and I learned about it from a friend.

I was accepted to all the programs I applied to and took some time to consider my options carefully. While the FLEX Scholarship was fully funded, UWC Changshu offered 80% off tuition, which still came to around $20,000 total for the two years.

My profile

My GPA was around 9.6/10; however, I think that other aspects of my application have also played a big role. During my school years in Moldova, I was very involved in various extracurricular activities. I served on the National Council of Students and as President of my local Council of Students. During that time, I was quite active, largely because it was a period of transition from books to digital media. I participated in discussions on this topic, which was very relevant at that time, with government officials such as the Prime Minister.

In addition, I volunteered for a local organization focused on entrepreneurship and sustainability, where I had the opportunity to take part in many fun projects. One of them was developing my own idea of helping my village through clean-ups, and I even won a grant to implement it.

I participated in international conferences as both a participant and a facilitator; for example, I attended a Youth Conference in South Korea online and received an award of recognition from the Minister of Korea. For two years, I participated in Girls Go IT, first studying HTML and CSS and then becoming a facilitator for the program. I also received an award for my involvement in a program called Global Youth Facilitator, where I gained experience in NGO policy-making.

To make the most of the opportunities my school offered, I participated in the History and Romanian Language and Literature Olympiads and qualified for the National level.

I think that the interviews for all the programs I applied to had a huge impact on my application, and I’d say that the most important thing is being yourself, not trying to create a perfectly scripted image with a lot of self-praise. Instead, the first thing to remember is to stay human for the very reason that the people reviewing your profile are… also human!

Why UWC?

First of all, UWC’s value of creating changemakers deeply resonated with me and made me think, “That’s an ideal space for me!” Another thing I liked about UWC was its international environment with students from different countries. I also knew that UWC had partnerships with many universities, and I thought I’d have a better shot that way at securing a scholarship for attending university,

An essential factor for me was that the National Moldovan Committee negotiated the offer from UWC Changshu to 90% off tuition, meaning my contribution would be $5,000 per year. At that point, I thought that it was doable and went forward with UWC. Housing and food were included in the tuition; however, I paid for my flights from Moldova to China, and I also had to decide what to do for the winter holidays, as staying on campus was not an option.

Life at UWC Changshu

Undoubtedly, UWC Changshu is a competitive environment, yet I knew that I didn’t want to go to UWC solely for grades. I was interested in the international experience, including getting to know young people from all around the world.

The first year was a bit hard, mainly because I didn’t fully realize I was signing up not only for a UWC experience, but also for an IB experience, which is considered one of the most demanding curricula in the world. Although my grades were good, it was largely about self-consciousness and comparison. IB students need to choose six subjects from different categories. The difficulty level varies, so you can choose SL (Standard Level) or HL (Higher Level). I took HL in English Language & Literature, Theatre, and Philosophy, and SL in Math Application & Analysis, Chinese (Introductory), and Chemistry. After my first year, I decided to study during the summer, which helped me raise my grades by several points.

The main challenge was balancing academics, extracurricular activities (one of the requirements for getting your diploma), and social life. UWC offers many ways to explore what you like and supports your hobbies. During my first year, I joined a MUN club, participated in an initiative where I taught sign language to children from local Chinese schools, and played badminton. In my second year, I learned dance from an African cultural perspective and served on the Peace and Sustainability Council for MUN. I also participated in a sustainability hackathon at the University of China and got first place.

During my final IB exams, I stayed calm, and when I got my results, I was quite satisfied. Finally, allocating the right amount of time to everything is the real challenge, along with not worrying too much.