London School of Economics Laudes Best Double Degree Programme Students
Students of the Data Science and Business Analytics double degree programme receive awards and letters of commendation for their academic achievements.
There are three categories of awards in the University of London's grading system for international programme students:
- Academic Achievement Award. Awarded to students who achieve outstanding results in all exams of the year. This is a special award and consists of a certificate, a reward, and a letter from the Vice-Chancellor of the University of London.
- Letter of Commendation. These are awarded to the highest achieving student in every specialisation in the year's exams. A certificate is attached to the letter signed by the Chairman of the Examinations Committee.
- Top Scorer (highest grades). This category recognises students who have achieved the highest marks in the international programme subjects.
This year there were only three awards for academic excellence in Data Science and Business Analytics undergraduate programmes worldwide; all three went to students from our department:
Natalia Krauze
Fourth-year student
For me, enrolling on DSBA is still a mystery and a "lucky" coincidence. Initially, I was planning to enrol on a physics-related programme, I took the exam in physics and never thought about programming and data analysis. Then, following the example of my elder brother, I decided to take another look at the MIPT programme, which he had graduated from. When I applied to HSE University I was told about DSBA's first intake. It was said that there would be a lot of maths and statistics, so I decided to take the risk! Now I have no regrets and by the end of the fourth year, I can say that I like my area, my coursemates and the prospects of the programme.
I love starting to learn something new, which is why I have a million completed courses - from UX/UI design to cooking. I love learning from the university life perspective, especially that feeling when the exam and sleepless nights are behind me and I can see the result. The first year was the hardest, with a multitude of fundamental subjects - I didn't get it and my grades suffered (so much so that I even transferred to another programme in an emotional rush, but ended up going back). Most of all I like working on my term papers and projects. I have been very fortunate to have had fascinating projects and supervisors the whole time. So far, everything I am now able to do is thanks to the experience of working on a project in my second and third years.
My classmates shared the news of the award with me: they said that they had received the usual congratulation letters from the LSE, so I decided to check my mail... Not finding the letter, I quietly went on with my work, because I thought that I had not been lauded. Later, I did find it in the spam folder, did a quick run through it and was then asked to send my bank card details, which I was surprised to find in any of the others. I started to read and it turned out that the letter congratulated me separately and gave me a cash award for my academic success. To be honest, I was shocked and thought it was a joke until I checked with the study office. I certainly thought that I wrote the exams well, as the remote format benefited us and we were prepared, but I did not expect such recognition. Immediately I shared this with my family and friends, we laughed together - because now it already looks funny the fact that once I wanted to change direction and I end up showing such results. Of course, everyone is very happy and proud of me.
The award did not affect my future plans in any way. I will continue to study and maintain a high GPA for admission to the master's programme. I hope that this award will count in the admission process. And I decided to spend the money I received on new equipment for my studies.
Lika Lomidze
Fourth-year student
When applying to HSE University, I chose between the ICEF (International College of Economics and Finance) and DSBA programmes, and I am very satisfied with my choice. Studying at the Faculty without a strong background in maths and programming is a big challenge, but thanks to the help of my excellent classmates and teachers, with effort, I managed to make some progress. The program itself includes a wide variety of subjects, ranging from architectural programming to management, which doesn't limit the students' choice of career path.
After learning that I and other students have received awards, I was very pleased that all our efforts in the third year have not been in vain. There were many difficulties in the preparation because we are the first students to graduate from DSBA, but our awards is a clear example that HSE University students always achieve only the best results, in spite of everything. The rewards for effort certainly only motivate us to move forward and achieve greater success, so I am very grateful to UOL for the award I received.
Yunying Pei
Fourth-year student
I enjoy learning, as in the process I get to know a lot of useful things, become more experienced and understand more complex concepts. It gives me a lot of pleasure and I become more confident and motivated.
During my studies, I particularly enjoyed subjects such as statistics and machine learning. I often have to apply the knowledge of these subjects in my studies and they are very practical. Moreover, we are taught about the latest and most state-of-the-art research in our classes. Now we are also studying financial subjects, and in the second year, we had economics. I think that these subjects are also very useful for our own development.
Receiving the award was an unexpected surprise for me. I'm happy with my results in the London exams, but I had no idea that I would win such an award (to be honest, I didn't even know it existed before). I'm very happy and I want to thank my teachers and friends who helped me with my exam preparation.
I am planning to apply for a master's programme in the near future. I think that winning the award will certainly be a plus for my studies in the future, but having the good ability is much more important than the award, and I will keep trying to outdo myself.
Ten DSBA students received letters of commendation (out of 12 such letters awarded worldwide):
- Karina Demchenko, fourth year
- Anton Ivanov, third year
- Daniil Karzanov, fourth year
- Rustam Karimov, third year
- Mikhail Ovyan, fourth year
- Tigran Ramazyan, fourth year
- Ilya Sobakinskikh, fourth year
- Korney Tomaschyk, fourth year
- Fedor Ushakov, fourth year
- Matvey Schilov, a student in London
Tamara Voznesenskaya
First Deputy Dean
Students on our young programme ranked highly at the University of London from the start, scoring the highest marks in statistics, as well as business and management, in the world from their first London session last year. This year they improved their score and took all the top awards given by the University of London to students in our field, and most (10 out of 12) of the second level awards (Letters of Commendation).
The traditionally strong foundation in mathematics and programming provided by the Faculty of Computer Science distinguishes our students from their peers at other University of London partners and helps them to achieve the most. We are proud of their academic achievements and wish them more success! We also congratulate teaching staff for their excellent results!
Congratulations and best wishes for continued academic success!