Each year, top ISET students receive promising offers to continue their education at some of the best universities in the world. Ala Avoyan, the valedictorian of the ISET 2012 class, is currently completing the first year of Ph.D. studies at New York University (NYU). Two of her classmates, Givi Melkadze and Giorgi Mekerishvili, are planning to join her next year having just received fully-funded offers from the economics departments of Georgetown University and Pennsylvania State University, respectively. Although Givi and Giorgi are both still waiting for the decisions of other top-ranked western Ph.D. programs, these offers serve as excellent starting points for their success.

Givi and Giorgi are the first ISETers to take part in the so-called “Third Year Program” with ISET and the ISET Policy Institute (ISET-PI). This program provides a few top ISET graduates with the opportunity to apply to top Ph.D. programs with the full support of ISET’s senior international faculty. While senior professors write strong support letters, ISET covers the cost of standardized tests, such as the GRE and TOEFL, reimburses all application fees and postage costs.

As “third-year students”, Givi and Giorgi had a chance to do a bit of their own research, work with ISET-PI on interesting policy projects, contribute to the ISET Economist blog and take online math classes to get ready for the “boot camp” experience awaiting them in the US. And they were paid a decent salary while doing all these fun things!