CUHK#32 worldwide

Full tuition

“To me, writing is like drawing on a canvas. You use the language like a tool to influence the final picture. Before Agora, I had the ideas but didn't know how to build them. Now I actually have the tools to make them real.”

Shynbergen joined the online Pushkin Community in autumn 2025.

When he arrived, he believed the idea did most of the work in college-essay writing. If the concept was strong enough, the writing would carry it. That was not always true, and he could not pin down why some essays landed and others did not.

Agora shifted how he thought about the task and gave him tools to express himself more clearly.

What changed

"I liked that the classes were structured for deep conversations and actual questioning rather than just listening. I noticed my writing was getting better when I started focusing on the delivery. I realized that even a rough idea can look smart if you use the right sentences to get it across."

He also valued the workload: "There was a lot of homework, but it wasn't so overwhelming that I had to give up the little sleep I was getting while managing university apps, work, and studying."

Writing as craft

"To me, writing is like drawing on a canvas. You use the language like a tool to influence the final picture. Before Agora, I had the ideas but didn't know how to build them. Now I actually have the tools to make them real."

He went on to CUHK (ranked #32 worldwide) with full tuition.