30 May, 2022 | 14:58

Almaty High Schooler Gets Accepted Into 11 Foreign Universities

The list of acceptances include top schools, like UBC and KAIST

By Marina Rakhmatulloyeva

Qazaqstan Monitor: Almaty High Schooler Gets Accepted Into 11 Foreign Universities

17-year-old Alan Zhainar from the Physics-Mathematics State School has received acceptance letters from eleven universities with tuition offers to round up to $640,000, Tengrinews reports.

International contest winner

The boy grew up in Almaty, where he studied at the Physics-Mathematics State School. With his favorite subjects being physics, math, and ICT, Alan participated in multiple international contests and olympiads throughout the past years. The World invention Competition and Exhibition (WICE) was one of them.

“In year 11, my team had won second place in the computer science department. We came up with an app for communication among people ready to help those in need. The worldwide contest took place in Indonesia. More than 30 countries had participated.”

Alan also won first place at the IAACompetition, an international astronomy & astrophysics contest.

Eleven universities

Alan has been accepted to the following schools:

University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada)

KAIST (South Korea)

City University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)

Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong)

University of South Florida (Tampa, USA)

University of Alabama (USA)

Hong Kong University (Hong Kong)

Saint Louis University in Madrid (Spain)

Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hong Kong)

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong)

Miami University (Ohio, USA)

But despite the long list of choices, Alan made his decision fairly quick.

I’ve set my decision on KAIST in South Korea. Since the tuition fee is being covered, their education is mostly free. The university is really great; it’s ranked 41st in the world. I also like the country as it is safe. In terms of computer science, my major, KAIST is 35th in the world.

After studying, Alan plans on returning to Kazakhstan.

I’d like to return and work here. I really want our technology to progress faster. I like South Korea. It doesn’t have as many natural resources, but its technology is advanced. I would like to learn from this experience. The meaning of life lies in leaving something behind - not necessarily money.

Earlier this month, a 17-year-old student from Shymkent was invited to attend 34 world universities. Some schools are ready to cover his tuition entirely.

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