I liked the idea of UWC, of studying with students from all over the world. This is what makes UWC different from most other international boarding schools – they take 1-3 students from each country and in my class of 100 students, we had over 80 nations represented. It’s fascinating to get to know and become friends with other motivated young people from various religions, political camps, socioeconomic and other backgrounds – it definitely expanded my horizons.

In Lithuania (and for each country it’s slightly different), the selection process is run by the National Committee, composed of alumni and intellectuals from across different fields, and only a number of scholarships, usually 3-5, is available each year. In my year, there were two full scholarships, one for Italy and one for Armenia, and two partial ones. Since I needed the full-ride, I ranked both Armenia and Italy as my top choices, and later learned that UWC Dilijan, the Armenian college, had actually specified a gender quota for the committee – they needed a male student from Lithuania to keep the ratio roughly 50/50 male-female. Since the final round was me and 6 girls (out of around 200 applicants), that pretty much sealed it. However, the UWC experience, at least in academics, is pretty standard across the colleges, so, wherever you go, you can rest assured that you’ll be surrounded by international faculty and students.

Oh yes! The culture there is very different from ours back in Lithuania, with its own pluses and minuses, of course. I really enjoyed a form of “southern hospitality” in Armenia – everyone was very welcoming and friendly. Since Dilijan is two hours away from the capital and a rather small town, not everyone there had encountered foreigners from such a diverse list of countries, and the locals were thus very curious to get to know us. Walking down the street, you could get invited to people’s homes for barbeques, expect to be treated to special delicacies (on the house) at restaurants, etc. Armenia also has a very rich history and culture, and I loved exploring its cities, monasteries, wineries and more!

I think it was my essay and my sincerity during the interview. I wrote my essay from a very philosophical standpoint (the prompt left ample room for this), which raised many interesting questions for the admissions committee and made for wonderful conversation during the interview. When asked provocative questions by the members of the committee, I spoke my mind without hesitation or much deliberation on whether my opinions conformed with the UWC mission and vision. While I had, of course, studied the UWC core values and had a good grasp of the expectations for ideal candidates, I felt that remaining true to myself was important, and could even prove refreshing for the committee, which was probably bored from hearing all too many carefully rehearsed answers, what the candidates thought the committee would want to hear.

I also sought out people who had gone to UWC before from my personal network and had them read my essays, help me practice for interviews. I am grateful for their time and help, as their comments proved invaluable and gave me much more confidence going into the experience, as I had a pretty good idea of what was awaiting me.

Most definitely. First of all, it was a very interesting and a very educational experience. Secondly, UWC has a very strong brand among top global universities and without it on my resume, I don’t think I would have made it to Yale. Finally, for me, the UWC experience really started only after graduating from the college, as then you become part of the alumni community of more than 60,000 graduates all over the globe. This helped me a lot in networking, meeting new people and traveling – for example, before visiting a certain location, say Havana, Cuba, I’d reach out to the alumni FB group, announcing my arrival, and would immediately have 10 alumni living there reach out offering to host me, show me around, or just to hang out, which always proved a very delightful experience.

Do it! The worst thing that can happen is you get rejected (and the chances for this, as for any worthy and selective opportunity, are high). However, even in this case, you’ve challenged yourself, gained valuable experience, as the selection process for these programs can be thought of as a mini-simulation for the university selection process awaiting you down the line, and met very motivated, like-minded students. In my case, I had applied to ASSIST the year before and was rejected. However, in the interview rounds I met another student, who told me of UWC, and was actually the girl selected to go to UWC Adriatic (Italy) the following year. Without having tried my luck with ASSIST and failed, I wouldn’t have gotten to know about UWC or gained the experience to allow me to succeed later.