Masha's here to tell you the story of a girl from a small city in Russia who rejected studying CS at NYU Shanghai and decided to choose a linguistics major in Lingnan instead. Enjoy reading!

School Journey

I never knew what to pursue as a career choice; everything I did was acknowledged with praise, diplomas, certificates, applause, and so on. My efforts, desires, and high expectations of the family always made my success visible; however, the year of anorexia made it difficult to instantly come back to a normal life, so I forced myself to slowly integrate into the common life cycle with learning English first (then I periodically lost my mind in bio, chemistry, CS, and physics, but SPOILER, none of the subjects intrigued me as linguistics did). Eventually, the year of learning made it possible to become a student of the program of double dimplomas, Russian and American ones, at Aquinas International Academy. Until the 10th grade, I studied in a class with advanced STEM majors in a Russian school and was receiving credits in an American one. The journey became quite unique when I collected enough credits to, technically, finish the American school but had to study in the Russian one for 2 more years. In the end, I transferred to the accelerated mode of studying and finished two high schools in six months.

SAT & TOEFL Prep

I knew that the SAT is an optional test, but I still wanted to pass it because I was interested in the material it covers and, basically, didn't want to differ from other students, the majority of whom would pass it. I started preparing in 2 weeks because I wanted to pass it before it became digital, and the last registration day was in 2 weeks. Before the exam, I did it for 1000/1600, which caused me to want to jump out of the plane, which took me to Georgia (it is impossible to pass the SAT in Russia). My final result was 1340, and it was enough to be accepted at NYU (bro, I am also still shocked). Yes, I prepared myself for a good score on the SAT in 2 weeks, so take my only advice of using Khan Academy and the YouTube channels, such as Strategic Test Prep and Anna's Universe. Preparing for the TOEFL after the SAT is like taking a shower after an intense workout. I gave myself a month for peaceful preparation and passed it with 103/120. I truly liked the preparation and the exam itself, so I became the tutor for TOEFL. Now, my students are passing it with 90+, and some of them got admitted to TUM, CSUF, and Turkish universities. I also have a telegram channel with free materials, tips, and strategies for the TOEFL (@kukuhaeng), so you can find the advice and materials there. For the prep, you can always use YouTube channels (Test Success, Afro English Language Academy, English Proficiency Test Duolingo TOEFL IELTS Prep, NoteFull TOEFL Mastery), ETS student books (which can be freely found on Reddit and other websites with pirated versions), and Barron's Vocabulary student book.

Applying Documents Experience

About Essays: In CommonApp, I wrote all necessary essays: a personal essay, a community disruption essay, and an additional essay about COVID. Since I applied for several of the unis, all of them required some additional small essays (usually around 150–250 words). For NYU, it was the favorite quote essay; in my case, the lines from Russian classic literature; and, for Westlake University, it was the 'Why are you interested?' essay. Things I recommend preparing ahead of time include: recommendation letters from your counselor, two subject teachers, and someone from your non-academic environment, as well as transcripts filled out in CommonApp by your counselor.

Tips: Also, spend around a month thoroughly filling out your CommonApp since I started in around 2 weeks and was constantly in a rush. There are lots of places where you need to explain your situation in around 100 words, describe the current courses you take, all your activities, and so on. In Lingnan, Polyu, and HKUST, I did everything through their local online admission systems, which were pretty comfy even for scholarships. For instance, in Lingnan, you could write all essays as well as apply for certificates and diplomas in one place.

With an overall score of SAT: 1340/1600, TOEFL: 103/120, GPA: 3.80/4.00, Russian High School Diploma, American High School Diploma, recommendation letters from my Chemistry teacher, English teacher, and English language tutor, diplomas of ballroom dancing, indoor skydiving, and scuba diving, I got accepted with full scholarship in Lingnan and 60% cover in NYU Shanghai.

Cost to apply: The only resource I used for my CommonApp was the guide by Olesia Ermilova, which costs around $10. For NYU, I spent a CommonApp fee of $80; Lingnn, Polyu, and HKUST cost around $15 each; for Westlake, $75; CSS Profile was $25; TOEFL now costs $290 as a home-based iBT from Russia plus $25 to send it; around $250 in Armenia and Georgia; and $150 in Turkey; SAT was for around $150 plus $14 to send it; but, obviously, the flights to Armenia and Georgia were not free as well. Okay, you also have to pay returnable deposits since you agree to study at a university, and they usually give you from a week (Lingnan's case) to a month (NYU): for Lingnan, it was $10,000 for the approval of a full scholarship, and for NYU, it was $500. The decision date for NYU was the 14th of December, and for Lingnan, it was the 31st of January since I also attended January non-local scholarship interviews.

Major & University Choice

By the time I applied for documents, I wasn't sure what major to choose, so I applied to different universities with different majors. Unfortunately, all of them accepted me, so my plan to let the universe choose instead of me failed. In Westlake Uni, I applied for bioinformatics; NYU was CS; Lingnan, Polytechnic of Hong Kong, and HKUST were for English Linguistics. Even though I spent 4 years studying advanced math, physics, and CS, I did it only in order to get external motivation, whereas linguistics remained my intrinsic interest. I used to consume as much book and grammar information as possible any time I was presented with an opportunity. Finally, left alone for a gap year, I started teaching English, which was not a matter of earning money or work experience; it was literally a vital need to keep my mind adequate. Truly, I love mastering the precision of language; learning about the origins of words; finding logic and patterns in grammar; reading very boring, huge texts; adore orally expressing my thoughts; and making other people master it. Also, I've just started tutoring but have already helped lots of people learn the language and pursue their studies abroad. Many of them continue to have lessons with me after passing the TOEFL. The whole situation is already pure magic, and I want to see what it will be like in the future. Again, linguistics is my only native interest, which doesn't require any external motives, and my life shows that even though I tried to hide and betray myself of the love of linguistics, I eventually returned to it. Lingnan became my primary choice since it is a liberal arts university with lots of professors whose work I became interested in.

Scholarships

I received $52,000/84,794 at NYU for Early Decision and a full scholarship of $22,370 per academic year (covering tuition, hostel, and partial academic and living expenses) in Lingnan for Early Decision too. The process for NYU was clear enough: you dedicate around 2 hours to the CSS profile, and the need-based grant is automatically applied. For Lingnan, it was a bit more interesting since you had to attend the scholarship interview where they asked you, "Why did you choose your major?" and "What differentiates you from others?" and some questions specific to your major. The results of the acceptance and scholarship were sent the next day after the interview. Also, Polyu offered me the admission interview with a question pretty similar to the scholarship interview question of Lingnan, such as "What makes you interested in applying for the program of English?"; "Since language is your intrinsic interest, what particularly interests you?"; "What teaching methods do you use as a TOEFL tutor?"; and "Since you mentioned CS, would you like to apply for our secondary major of CS to pursue your career in computational linguistics?" Eventually, I chose Lingnan, Hong Kong, but I still have no idea how much I need to survive on top of my scholarship (so, guys, if you have any information about expanses in HK, let me know too).

What's next?

As a freshman exploring Chinese culture, I can say nothing about it yet, but I will attend an in-person visit in Lingnan next week, so you can check the details on my telegram channel with TOEFL prep (@kukuhaeng). With my experience of a Shanghai in-person visit at NYU, I can say that this quiet and clean city looks like the metaverse, with prices slightly lower than in Moscow. Also, I am planning to write some new stories once I explore some unusual and interesting things in Hong Kong and as soon as I receive admission decisions and receipts of STARTS scholarship and non-locan scholarships in Polyu and HKUST. But for now, here is my admissions journey. I will be glad to answer any of your questions; don't hesitate to ask! Thanks for reading to this point!