Karina Bobusheva, Presidential Scholar of 2015: "GPA reflects diligence, not intellectual abilities"

June 26, 2015

Karina Bobusheva recently graduated in business administration and completed a minor in psychology. Alike all presidential scholars of the graduating year 2014-15 in total - she has shown excellent, even outstanding, academic achievement during her study at AUCA by maintaining a GPA superior to 3.8 (out of 4). Karina shares her successful student’s story of completing a Bachelor degree at the American University of Central Asia.

“This ‘Presidential Scholars’ award means that all my sleepless nights, long hours of studying, missed parties, and worries about my grades were acknowledged and were not a waste of time! I feel happy to have been named a Presidential Scholar, and it makes my parents and close ones proud. It is also another great certificate to add to my portfolio.

I was born and raised in Bishkek. In 2010, I graduated from school number 13 with honors and a gold medal. The choice of a university was pretty straightforward for me, because I have an elder sister, who is an AUCA alumnus, so I was already quite familiar with the special features of AUCA: its spirit, traditions, study process, etc... So, AUCA was my first and only choice of a higher education.

When I entered AUCA the tuition fees were only about half of what they are right now, but it was still a pretty large sum of money. I knew that I will need a full scholarship. For that, one option was to win the first place in the Republican Olympiad in either math or English..., and I did. I already won the Olympiad in English in 2009, but so that it would count for the scholarship, I had to participate to the competition again in 2010. This time, my goal was clearly to win this merit-based scholarship for AUCA, and I succeeded! I was able to study 8 semesters at AUCA free of charge. It was a great relief for my parents.

The choice of my major was a long process. When I was in middle school, I really wanted to study law. I have a strong sense of justice and want everything to be fair. My father approved this choice, but I became discouraged by the thought of having to thoroughly study and know all the different codes and to write vast amounts of long papers. My second choice was psychology but I was worried about the lack of job opportunities in that field. Finally, my elder sister, who had graduated in business administration, advised me to major in BA and pursue my interest in psychology as a minor. That is exactly what I did, with absolutely no regret.

My AUCA life was certainly a special period. I cannot say that I was very active in AUCA’s extracurricular activities because I devoted almost all of my time to studying. However, I tried to get a taste of everything. I participated in the fun and crazy Spirit Week, dressed up for Halloween, was an Orientation Week volunteer during my sophomore year, joined the Flash mob club, volunteered on Open Doors Days as a representative of the BA department, and became a member of the Business Clinic during the senior year. There were lots of opportunities around but I focused on what was more interesting for me. One should devote enough time, effort, and persistence to succeed, and this is one of the important lessons AUCA taught me.

In my junior year, several of my group mates and I participated in the “Business Brain Busters” Case Championship organized by the Development and Partnership Foundation and the founders of Business Clinic of Central Asia. Through this event we have learned a lot about management consulting and applied our skills and knowledge in solving business cases. Later, during the spring semester I started working in a local internet start-up founded by an AUCA alumnus. It was a great experience for me. I learned new skills, met and worked with cool people, and learned about myself, what I am capable of doing. I worked there for about half a year. When classes started in September, I decided to focus on my studies and the senior thesis. I joined my group mates from BA-111 and became a consultant in the AUCA Business Clinic. There, we worked with local clients who had real businesses and helped them solve problems in operations, marketing, management, and finance fields. Also, during that last year, my three group mates and I participated in an international business case competition “Creative Shock”, organized by the University of Management and Economics in Lithuania, which was also a very useful and memorable experience.

Although my cumulative GPA is not a perfect 4.0, it’s pretty close to it – 3.94. My “worst” interim GPA during my freshman year (3.89), and after that it kept growing to 4.0 during the last five semesters. I think the key in reaching and maintaining a high GPA is your personal mindset, setting a goal and telling yourself that you can and will do it. How you approach the task is often more important than your abilities. My advice is to be hard-working and persistent. Always study the syllabus thoroughly to know what is expected of you and on which tasks you should focus your attention and don’t lose it, make an electronic copy if you must, just keep it at hand. As the saying goes, “small steps lead to big changes”, so take one assignment, paper or reading at a time and build up your knowledge. It should be noted, that your GPA is not a perfect representation of your intellectual abilities, it just shows how diligent (and, sometimes, lucky) you were in your studies, so don’t stress over it too much. On the other hand, a good GPA is important if you want to apply to a Master’s program overseas or work in an international organization, so don’t take it too lightly either. In the end, enjoying the study process, exploring ideas, asking the right questions, and gaining knowledge is much more important than a couple of numbers in your transcript.

I am grateful to the Business Administration department and all our lovely professors, who invested their time, efforts, even love and care in us and provided with quality knowledge, skills, ability to think critically and analytically, solve problems, and manage projects. I am also thankful to have been a student of the wonderful professors of Psychology department, who provide great support and encouragement to their students. After only 4 years at AUCA I have also gained great friends and acquaintances. Particularly, I am very happy and grateful for having met my lovely group mates, BA-111! We share a lot of good memories and experiences together and have developed great bonds which, I hope, we will keep alive for many more years. The person I was before AUCA have undergone a tremendous transformation. I became more confident, independent, and focused on continuous personal growth and development. These were truly life-changing years.

What I liked the most about AUCA is that it is not only a place to get education, read numerous books and write endless papers. It is also a place where you can shape yourself, discover your hidden talents in various spheres, find new hobbies, make lots of friends from different countries, and form beautiful memories. It is really like another planet or state inside a state, where the possibilities are endless and the only limits are your own. AUCA gives quality education and an overall well-rounded development to its students, which is what makes it so unique.

I will always remember when the struggles to finish our diplomas on time during the last few weeks of the last semester. My BA group mates and I often stayed in the university until 10 pm every day, writing our senior theses. The night before submission we worked until 11 pm. That night, two of our BA professors, Jean-Baptist Jault and Simon Nadeem, also stayed up late helping us and other students with our diplomas. It was really touching that professors would take on their personal time long after working hours have ended. Another unique memory is from my sports classes at AUCA. I chose Iaido, a Japanese art of drawing and attacking with a sword. Learning how to properly sit, draw and respect the sword, act, and even think like a samurai was a very cool and unforgettable experience, especially when we held a real sword and could feel its weight and hidden power.

My future plans include working for a few years to gain professional experience, improve personal skills, and understand which sphere of business I am really interested in. Then, I will probably get a Master’s degree somewhere overseas and continue my professional growth. I will also try to visit AUCA and some of its events just for the sake of feeling again its unique spirit, and meet old, and, maybe, new AUCA friends.”

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