Guest: Anuar Kul-Muhammed

Arsen: Hey everybody, welcome along to the latest edition of the OhMyEcon Podcast, it’s University Week! And what better way to kick it off than to catch up with last year’s Haileybury graduate, and now officially a student at University of Chicago, Anuar Kul-Muhamed. Anuar, how are you?

Anuar: I’m doing great, doing awesome. What about you?

Arsen: I’m doing great, thank you. I guess my first question since it is University Week at OhMyEcon, we thought it would be fitting to talk about your experience of going through this rather strenuous university application process. I think a lot of people listening to this podcast, among many of which are high school students who are going to be going through the exact same thing, would find your personal recount of your experience very interesting and useful. With that said, I would like to ask you - How do students identify their priority choice schools, like I would like to know how did you end up setting your heart specifically on Chicago?

Anuar: Good question. I applied to approximately 20 schools. So initially, I wasn't 100% certain that I was gonna get into UChicago. So I was just trying to capture the best universities for economics, for finances, and for stuff that I was interested in, and so I had a big list of schools. Usually they tell you, if you talk to our counselor, that you should distribute according to the acceptance rates. So have a few universities that are really selective as your dream schools, have the universities that are more realistic choices, as well as a few safety choices. That's exactly what I did - a third of my choices were safety, another third were schools with a realistic chance of acceptance, and another third were my dream choices. Fortunately for me, I got into one of my dream choices, Chicago. One of the reasons I chose it is because they are really good for Economics. They also have a very interesting core curriculum, which essentially means that every student there gets to explore, essentially every subject such as Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, regardless of your major and that kind of enables you to get a good grip on everything, especially if you're unsure in what you want to study and what you want to major in. That was another factor that attracted me to Chicago, and thirdly it's located in a major city. Chicago is the third most populous city in America, so I figured for someone interested in finance, there will be plenty of opportunities for internships and jobs during the summer or the holidays. They were also offering an early decision, although I didn't apply anywhere for early decision one because I was just too busy with retakes and so I saw that Chicago was available for ED2, and I went for it and it worked out. So that is sort of a breakdown on how I settled on Chicago.

Arsen: One of the interesting things that you mentioned is that American schools usually make you take all core subjects, which from my understanding, is not the case for UK schools. So, would you say that perhaps the American schools give students more time to explore what they would like to specialize in the future?

Anuar: Yeah, I would say so. I mean, I don't think every American school is like that. Certainly if you pursue a liberal arts education at a liberal arts school like I'm doing then, yeah. I think that's one of the major benefits of an American education. That's the reason why I decided to go to America, rather than the UK because in the UK, you kind of pick a course already, and then for the next three years of your life, you already have to be kind of chained to that course. You can't really change your mind.

You can obviously transfer, but that's a whole hassle. Whereas in Chicago, like right now I'll study Economics, but who knows. Maybe once I'm in my second or third year, I decided to randomly switch to Compute Science or to pre-Law. There's nothing stopping me from doing that. That is one of the benefits of a liberal arts education. In America, they give everybody an opportunity to explore everything and they understand that when you're young, you are not entirely certain on what you want to do in the future. That’s definitely one of the main reasons for pursuing a liberal arts education in the US. You kind of have the time to explore everything before settling on that choice.

Arsen: What I find interesting is, it seems like now more than ever, a strong emphasis and focus is being directed towards things like academic fatigues, academic stresses, academic burn outs, which many teachers around the world are encouraging students to try and navigate for their own betterment. Given that Year 13 sort of “burdens” students with extra baggage of University admissions, how do you manage that extra stress, and do a good job of keeping your studies on point, while applying to top schools.

Anuar: That's a good question. I think Year 13 is without a doubt, the hardest year in your school life because you're juggling like three billion things at once. It is definitely difficult. I think everybody struggled a lot during that time, especially the application season. Personally, I remember it was a stressful time period for me. I guess, my advice would be to just start working as early as possible. So for example, right now you have the summer, and maybe you're proceeding with your extracurriculars but without a doubt like your workload right now is definitely more relaxed than it will be in Autumn and Winter. So I would say If you're going to engage in that application hustle, then get it started. Get it started as soon as possible. Start writing essay drafts, like right now and then by the time that you're applying you will already have a good portion of work done for yourself and then when school begins, you’re so busy with A levels, or SAT practice, or plenty of other things for you to be doing. The kind of application stuff; essay writings, getting ready for interviews, kind of becomes less of a priority which is why I would say my advice would be to focus on it during the summer so you can then focus on other stuff, when the school year begins. So I guess my advice would be to start as early as possible, so that you award yourself more of a relaxed schedule as the school year goes on.

Arsen: You said that Year 13, you sort of have to juggle three billion things at once. As someone who is going to go through that, starting this Summer, I also have a lot of stuff to do outside of school besides just the school endeavors. I would like to know, did you have to give up some of those activities that you would usually partake in, simply because you didn't have enough time for them, or because they weren’t at the top of your priorities at the time?

Anuar: Absolutely. You definitely have to make some sacrifices. I think especially during the December period, when you're applying and everything else is kind of no longer a priority. When the application process starts, that's the only thing you kind of care about, the only thing you tunnel your vision on. So definitely, you’ll have to sacrifice a lot of stuff.

Arsen: We have got a university counselor at our school, as you know. Mr. Stockermans, who particularly specializes in US universities. I think a lot of people who have not yet gone through this process of applying to top-end universities, overlook the importance of seeking communication and guidance from such figures. Talk about the impact that he has played in your university application process, in terms of approaching essays in the right way, listing the correct extracurricular credit, and other stuff of this nature.

Anuar: Yeah, Mr Stockermans is an immensely helpful person in school, and in general whenever you need guidance and especially during the application process. I think he just has advice for everything. Anytime I have any question, every time I'm unsure about something. Like, obviously there's tons of material online. I've been doing tons of research online but still, it's very useful when you have somebody just in the sixth form room that you can talk to any time and just get some guidance, get some advice, you know, show this essay, get his opinion on it, maybe show him this activity list, ask him what he thinks about that. He's just a great counselor all around

and I think that if people aren't taking advantage of having such a useful presence in the sixth form, they absolutely should. I think, every single person in my Year 13 class that has been going through the same process would agree with me.

Arsen: Your long-time classmate Alikseniia has recently done an interview with Forbes. What I found most interesting about this interview, is the point at which she says that she has really developed her passion and love for law and defending the civil rights of people through MUN and Debates. You are going to be studying Economics in Chicago, so I was just interested at what point in your academic journey did you get the realization and go, “Yeah, I want to do this at university” What sort of ignited your interest in Economics?

Anuar: To be perfectly honest. I don't think I've had a moment in my life, where I was like, “yeah I definitely want to study economics in college”. That is one of the reasons why I am going to the University of Chicago to seek liberal arts education. So whilst I am certainly interested in economics, it's really interesting that I don't recall a specific moment when I was like, “yeah, I definitely want to study this in the future”. In truth, I definitely have passion for Economics, I’m looking to explore everything that Chicago has to offer. In addition to Economics, I will also be studying Philosophy, History, Political Science, even some of the Stem classes. I'm just looking forward to exploring everything that I can in that liberal arts college. And I think it's fine. I think that's fine if you are unsure as to what you want to do in the future. I think most 17, 18 year olds aren't really sure what they want to study and dedicate their whole lives to.

Arsen: You said it, most 17 and 18 year olds, don't really know entirely they're not, they're entirely sure as to what they want to pursue in the future. So, from that point of view, going to America would seem like the obvious choice to provide more flexibility, more versatility. However, I think the main concern that parents of students have with sending their children to America is the distance. Obviously having lived in Kazakhstan for a long time, moving to America is a significant transition that a lot of parents would not be too enthusiastic about their children making simply because of how far America is, and how different it is to what they are used to. Just tell me about your experience of having these conversations with your surroundings regarding you going to America. Did they immediately give you the “green light”, or did they hesitate? Just because of how far away it is as opposed to the UK, or the rest of Europe?

Anuar: I mean, it certainly is more far away than the UK or Europe, but I wouldn't say Living in America is much more dangerous than living for example, in the UK. I think obviously when you're in a new culture, in a new city, it's definitely going to be a little bit scary, and it's understandable if your family might be worried for you. Obviously the distance is big, but for me and my family there was an understanding that the US is a place of opportunity. The education is unparalleled, there are only a few universities in the UK and Europe that can really compare to Chicago. I think especially if you're looking at outcomes after college, I think American definitely is unparalleled in that metric. I think that for me, the number one priority was the academics and what, you know, employment opportunities that students from my college received, and sure maybe it is far away, and maybe it is a little bit dangerous, but ultimately it didn't really matter that much for me and my family trusted me at the end of the day. This is kind of like the first time you are an adult, and you’ll be leading an independent life. In general, I think America from a social perspective, it's very accepting of new cultures, new people, and Chicago is a very multicultural place. There's a ton of international students. And in addition to international students, there are also lots of different ethnicities, much like it is in the UK. So, I don’t think it is much more difficult to adjust to life in America than it is in the UK, or in Europe. If anything, Europe may be more difficult because unless you are going to the UK, people will be speaking their native language which isn’t English, so I think if there are parents worried over sending their children to America, they may be over exaggerating with them.

Arsen: You said you applied to around 20 universities in the UK and US. How much different are the application requirements for the UK compared to the US?

Anuar: UK, is a lot less time consuming as they only require a personal statement out of you. In the US they want two, maybe even three essays from you, along with the Common App essay.

Arsen: Obviously the responses from universities tend to take some time and during this time of uncertainty so to say, applicants impatiently await the final verdict of the schools they have applied to. So I am just wondering, when you do finally receive a letter with their response, what goes through your mind at that very second that you are about to open this letter and find out your fate at that particular school? What sort of emotions do you feel at that moment?

Anuar: I guess the emotions depend on what decision you get. But in my case, I didn't experience that a lot because once I got into Uchicago, which was because I applied Early Decision. So I got my decision in like February, which is earlier than most get which is in March or sometime during the Spring. After I got into Chicago, I withdrew all my other applications to other universities. It was nice that I already knew that I had gotten to Chicago while everyone was still waiting for their results patiently. I wasn’t really even thinking about it. I opened the letter, and was obviously very happy once I saw I was accepted. After that is out of the way, life kind of gets much simpler and less stressful, because there is a pretty significant element of stress. Not knowing where you are going, which university is going to accept you, which isn’t. That is something you think and worry about everyday. Once you get accepted, everything is more calm for you. Thankfully for me, it was just one letter which I opened, and I got in. And after that, that’s all that mattered.

Arsen: We appreciate you making the time for this interview, Anuar, and we all wish you the best of luck in Chicago and all your future endeavors!