Schlarship Students from Russia and Eurasia

Does your school want to diversify its international boarding population? Is it in a position to offer scholarships for excellent students from the countries of Eurasia?

Education-SI is now in a position to introduce to you students from such countries as Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Armenia, and Serbia, who meet the following qualifications:

• Highly motivated grade-10 or grade-11 students
• Strong English abilities—no ESL program required.
• Adaptive and mature students. Accredited transcripts and recommendations.
• Multiple interests. Each student will have completed a thorough application process involving English testing, interviews, recommendations, and role-play situations.

In addition to being excellent students with strong English skills, each will have scored highly in factors that are proven to ensure success during an academic year abroad, including Sense of Self, Positive Regard for Others, Tolerance for Differences, Communicativeness, etc.

How the Program Works: Your school indicates a geographic preference (if any) for home-region of students (country, province, rural vs. urban hometown). In February and March, your school will receive two or more application packages for each student you are willing to admit. Schools many enroll no more than two FES students/school. You will be able to contact student by phone, Skype or email, if desired. The Application Packages includes: application, essay, test scores, references, transcripts, medical forms, interview results. School makes selection and issues I-20. Education-SI will assist with visa application. In most cases, student will require a full boarding tuition. Student will pay for visa costs, health insurance, airfare and some miscellaneous fees. Education-SI will provide pre-departure orientation and, as needed, on program support. In most (but not all) cases, schools are asked to arrange homestay or alternative accommodations during vacations and breaks.

How Students are Identified: Students are recruited through a scholarship program that was established in 1993 to enable Eurasian secondary school students to attend public schools in the United States for one academic year. Originally funded the Freedom Support Act, the program is extremely competitive. As many as 30,000 applicants from throughout Eurasia compete for 1,000 spots. Because funding for this program is limited, many excellent candidates are not selected and are designated as Semi-Finalists or Alternates. They include:

• High-Achievement students that program organizers fear will be insufficiently challenged at a US public school
• Students with relatives in the US or Students from highly-competitive regions (Only a limited number of participants from a given city or region may receive a scholarship).
• Students of a certain gender (the program has strictly enforced gender quotas). These students comprise the pool, from which application packages can be sent to your boarding school for consideration.