Абитуриент (abiturient) or поступающий (postupayushchiy) – an “applicant” to an educational program. The first one is more common and originates from the Latin abituriens (“one wishing to leave”) by way of the German Abiturient (“school graduate, applicant”). The second word is a participle of the word Поступление.
Поступление (postupleniye) – the process of applying to a university or school.
Вуз (vuz) – used as a synonym to университет (universitet – "university"). It originates from the abbreviation высшее учебное заведение (higher education institution).
Подача документов (podacha dokumentov) – the act of submitting documents to a university or school. When applying online, you may also come across the phrase подать документы (podat dokumenty) – “submit documents.”
Единый государственный экзамен or ЕГЭ (yediniy gosudarstvenniy ekzamen or yege) – the Unified State Exam (USE) taken by Russian high schoolers and used to apply to Bachelor’s programs. Typically, students need to take at least three exams to apply to a program (usually Russian Language, Math, and a third, program-specific, subject, like Informatics or Physics).
Внутренние вступительные испытания (vnutrenniye vstupitelniye ispytaniya) – “internal entrance exams,” a university’s alternative to the USE for those who can’t apply with USE scores (such as most international students). Applicants to Master’s or PhD programs may also need to take internal entrance exams. When taking those, you may need to study билеты (bilety – lit. “tickets”) – cards with 2-4 questions that are usually randomly drawn during oral exams.
Дополнительные вступительные испытания (dopolnitelnye vstupitelniye ispytaniya) – “additional entrance exams.” Some educational programs will have an additional exam to test applicants’ abilities. An example at ITMO is a creative competition for applicants to the Computer Technologies in Design Bachelor’s program.
Без вступительных испытаний or БВИ (bez vstupitelnykh ispytaniy or Be-Ve-Ee) – “without entrance exams.” This option is typically available to winners or runners-up in various olympiads, contests, and competitions for school and university students. For instance, among the contests held by ITMO that offer this opportunity are Mega Contest and Portfolio Contest.
Индивидуальные достижения (individualnye dostizheniya) – “personal achievements” that can gain applicants additional points. These can be given for sports achievements, wins in smaller student competitions, volunteering, etc.
Проходной балл (prokhodnoy bal) – “entrance threshold,” the number of points you need to have to enter an educational program. This depends on the ranking of applicants to a specific program by the amount of points they have.
Минимальный балл (minimalniy bal) – the “minimum number of points” needed to be eligible to apply to an educational program. These can be found on the page of the program on a university’s website.
Направление (napravleniye) – a “subject area” that unites several educational programs. For instance, the Bachelor’s program AI360: ML Native at ITMO is delivered within the subject area Applied Mathematics and Computer Science.
Образовательная программа (obrazovatelnaya programma) – an educational program.
Конкурс (konkurs) – “competition” or, in other words, rate of acceptance for a particular program (for example, 10 applicants per 1 tuition-free position).
Ранжированный список (ranzhirovanniy spisok) – a “ranked list” of applicants based on their exam scores and any points gained for personal achievements. These lists are published on official university portals and updated regularly over the course of the admissions campaign.
Зачисление (zachisleniye) – “admission,” as in being enrolled at a university. Another useful term is приказ о зачислении (prikaz o zachislenii), or “order of admission,” which confirms your enrollment.
Стипендия (stipendiya) – a “stipend.” All tuition-free students in Russia receive a stipend that can be used to cover some living expenses. There are also different competitions for additional stipends from various companies and foundations.
Портал Абитуриент (portal abiturient) – ITMO’s admissions website, available in English, where future students can learn about the application process in detail.
Good luck with your applications this year!
