International College of Economics and Finance

Best ICEF 2020 Students to Study at the LSE Summer School

Best ICEF 2020 Students to Study at the LSE Summer School

© LSE

The best 1st year ICEF students, Christina Drozd (1st place in the ranking) and Vladislav Dukhanin (2nd place in the ranking, won the right to study at the LSE Summer School in 2021.

In the 2nd year, Alexander Vlasov again became the best (1st place in the ranking for both 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 academic years, and winner of the ICEF Academia program). Alexander has already completed his training at the LSE Summer School in 2020 in an online format.

It is not only the best rated students who study at the LSE Summer School courses, but also the winners of the ICEF Academia program, which annually brings together the strongest and most motivated ICEF students. In 2019/2020 ICEF the Academia winners are:

1st course:

Vladimir Averin

Arslan Shakhnazarov

2nd course:

Ekaterina Ivanushkina (who was also the winner of ICEF Academia at the end of 2018/2019 and annually is one of the best on the course)

Neil Sheriff

Alexander Vlasov, 2nd year student, LSE-2020 Summer School

Alexander Vlasov, 2nd year student, LSE-2020 Summer School

This year, due to the pandemic, the trip to the LSE Summer School could be postponed to the next year or substituted with an online course. I didn’t want a visit to London to interfere with my internship after my 3rd year, so I chose the second option and was pleasantly surprised. Even in this format, the course was very helpful and structured my knowledge of corporate finance. , although the live communication, of course, was not enough. To be honest, studying at the Summer School will not give a strong ICEF student fundamentally new knowledge of a higher level that he could not have received at his College. However, participation in it helps to better understand their knowledge, and also has value for the portfolio and is a positive signal to admissions commissions and future employers that the student who received this grant is able to thrive in a competitive environment.

For me personally, the main source of such success and motivation is the results that I can achieve. We must pay tribute to ICEF: this is the place where all the conditions have been created so that efforts are not wasted, and you reach the set bar. It is quite natural for a person with ambition to compare himself with his environment; I constantly look at other ICEF students and alumni and get inspired by their success stories.

Two factors help me stay at the top. First, motivation. I know that there are students on the course who are no less capable than me, and I clearly understand why I need a high GPA and rating. All this is important for the master's degree and for the industry I want to get into - Investment Banking and Private Equity. Secondly, the ability to write exams, which does not necessarily coincide with mental ability. From working under pressure and focusing on a specific task, to my own exam routine - how much to sleep, what to wear and how to arrange things on the table during the exam. All of this also gives me some advantage.