Story of our IB Scholarship Students

Read our article below to learn more about our IB Scholarship Programme... Giulia (Year 13) and Nora (Year 12), our IB cholarship students answered our questions to share their experinence of their fantastic achievement....

What motivated you to apply for our scholarship?

The idea of studying in a prestigious school such as BISB with a culturally diverse student body had appealed to me for years. I completed my primary education in Rome, the city where I was born and raised and subsequently I attended Hungarian secondary school for three years, after having moved to Budapest with my mother. Thus, I was already used to studying in different systems of education with different languages and also being surrounded by people from all walks of life.  This has fuelled my strong desire to further pursue my education in an international community where I could gain valuable new experiences, have the opportunity to ameliorate my English and most importantly challenge myself. I thought for long of how I could realise this ambitious plan, as unluckily I wasn’t in the financial position to take a gap year to study abroad or enrol in an international school. A Saturday afternoon, while surfing the Internet and looking for scholarship opportunities I bumped into the advertisement about the single IB scholarship BISB was offering to one outstanding student. I had already heard about the IB and I was thrilled to give it a try. Without hesitating for a single moment, I wrote my cover letter and sent my application that very day.

What did you feel like when you received the feedback you had been chosen for this scholarship?

I already felt so lucky to have been invited for the interview and the tests, but when I opened my email whose subject was “Congratulations Giulia”, I couldn’t contain my happiness, I stared at my acceptance letter in open mouthed astonishment. I immediately told my mother, who was so proud of me. I felt thankful to the school and extremely privileged, especially due to the fact that I was the only one chosen out of several interesting and talented candidates.

What was your plan for the future when you applied?

I did not have a precise plan as to what I wanted to study in the future and what I wanted to be “when I grow up”. I simply knew that by pursuing the IB diploma programme I would open myself to countless opportunities so that later on I would have a vast choice of what I could study at university. At the time I was fond of the idea of simply trying new subjects and finding my true passion. However, the world of Diplomacy and International Relations were already fields of great interest of mine, as I believe I am a very much socially-oriented person, and the opportunity of participating in Model United Conferences through BISB, first as a part of CAS then out of personal interest has raised my awareness of global issues and further deepened my interest towards these fields.

What subject are your diploma subjects?

I am taking Hungarian A Literature HL, English B HL, Business and Management HL, Mathematics SL, Biology SL and French Ab Initio. I have changed quite a few times my subjects in Year 12 before finding the perfect combination which I am now absolutely satisfied with, however I would not advise anyone to change subjects later than a few months after the start of the IB, otherwise it gets tough to catch up with the topics.

What did you expect from BISB before you joined this school?

I imagined BISB to be a school with wonderful facilities and teachers passionate about their work, with a multicultural and interesting student body. Even though I knew the IB was a challenging programme, I felt that pursuing this diploma would give me a head start in life, allowing me to go to a prestigious university and achieve much in life later on as well.

How did you like your 2 years at BISB?

My two years at BISB have been an enriching experience from which I have learned a lot, both on the personal and academic side. I am satisfied with all my subjects and my teachers and especially thankful to my tutor for always supporting me and encouraging me during both the fun and the hard times. Hard times, because I won’t deny IB gets particularly stressful in Year 13, with all the workload given by the coursework we had to do, on top of applying to universities and the exams coming up soon. This shall not scare anyone from doing the IB, as I believe hard work will all pay off in the end. Also, I have made friendships I am convinced will last for a lifetime. So I can say I really much enjoyed my two years at BISB, despite having gone through some challenging times.

Would you have had the same opportunities if you could not have come to study at our school? As far as I now you have got a scholarship to Abu Dhabi….

Yes, I have been offered admission with a full scholarship to NYU Abu Dhabi, my first choice university which is one of the most selective liberal art colleges in the world, where I would like to ready Political Science and Psychology. I feel extremely proud and privileged again about this achievement and no, I believe this may not have happened without the skills I have gained here in BISB, thanks to the IB Programme and my supportive teachers.

Giulia - Year 13 

What was your motivation to apply for our scholarship?

I applied for the scholarship because I knew that I needed education in English to pursue my goals in the future. I also heard about the IB program and its benefits from my friend who went to BISB. She told me how universities all around the world are quite likely to accept IB graduates and that this program generally prepares one for university. 

Another reason for applying was the fact that BISB is an international school: I really wanted to be a part of such community; it's not an everyday experience to meet students my age who are from different parts of the world and have very different life experiences and cultures.

Taking these aspects into consideration, I knew that I had to apply for the scholarship: for without it, I wouldn't have been able to come to this school.

What was your plan for the future when you applied?

 My plan has always been to study abroad after high school.

What did you feel like when you received the feedback you had been chosen for this scholarship?

 Until I actually went to the school to take the tests and do the interview, I didn't know how much I wanted this scholarship. After having seen the school, having met some of the staff and the students, I just knew that this is what I wanted all along. I was quite anxious awaiting the reply - I was checking my emails every five minutes. When I finally got the feedback, I couldn't believe what was in it and how much it was going to change my life. I had to read it over and over again to make sure I haven't misread anything - and after I made sure that I wasn't dreaming, I had to repress a squeal of happiness because I was on a lesson. 

What did you except from BISB before you joined this school? How did you like this year at BISB?

Because one of my close friends went to BISB (with a scholarship, just like me) I knew very well what to expect from the school, because she told me a lot about the program itself and the community of the school. Therefore I knew that I had to expect a very friendly and open atmosphere - but it still caught me off guard when I actually went to BISB and experienced this atmosphere first hand. In a lot of schools, you will find "family-likely community" written in the brochures, but in most cases, it isn't quite true. However, in BISB this helpful and supporting community is not just a slogen - if you get accepted to the school you will experience this yourself: people here actually do care; not to mention the cultural diversity of the school which will be an amusing aspect for people like me who have only went to Hungarian public schools before.

Undeniably a school like that has a very different attitude regarding basically everyhing and experiencing this change of attitude was an immense thing to live through and naturally it was hard getting used to, just like it was hard getting used to the academic demands. The IB program is indeed a challenging program but during the seven months I've spent in BISB I've learnt that challanges can be fun.

Nora - Year 12