Matt McGann '00 | August 02, 2006
"MIT '10: Ervin Puskar"
BG High Grad Gets Full Ride to MIT
Amy Bingham / WBKO
A former Bosnian refugee is going to the nation's number one engineering school on a full scholarship.
18-year-old Ervin Push-Kar has always been strong in math, and now it's paying off. He's preparing to leave for Boston on a full four-year scholarship to MIT.
Ervin arrived in bowling green ten years ago from a refugee camp after being forced to flee his home in Bosnia. While he's proud of his scholarship, he says it's not his biggest achievement.
Push-Kar has been a regular at Western's Vampy Camp, a program for verbally and mathematically precocious youth. His teachers say it's amazing what he's been able to accomplish with his talent.
Altogether, Ervin's education at MIT is worth nearly $200,000. He's considering a double major in math and chemical engineering.
[n.b. also see the story's homepage for a link to the news video; click on the picture of the video camera]
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Sweet. Another Kentuckian. Welcome, Ervin.
Posted by: Jessie on August 2, 2006 11:04 AM
Haha, I don't know that I'd say an MIT education is "worth" $200,000.
Certainly the sticker price is in that range. But I think it's *worth* a lot more than that. :D
Posted by: Mollie on August 2, 2006 07:31 PM
wow congrats!
mollie, here i was thinking that it was worth nothing: "priceless" is the key word. (Bryan's gonna hate this mastercard allusion ;P).
Posted by: Phil on August 2, 2006 08:16 PM
Nice, he must have been a great achiever to get a full scholarship, I wonder what the competition must have been like for that, any guesses? ;p Congratulations Ervin, see you in the fall ;)
Posted by: Aziz '10 on August 3, 2006 12:47 AM
Aziz, the short answer is none ;)
Remember, MIT doesn't give merit-based scholarships. At all. Ever. So he either got it all based on need, or got it from outside sources.
In any case, props to him. That's quite a story.
Posted by: Michael Borohovski on August 3, 2006 02:31 AM
congrats ervin. i'm actually workin this summer at the corvette plant in bg and heard about you from plant people.
yay kentucky.
Posted by: chuan zhang on August 9, 2006 12:33 PM
Hello Sir
I am Harsimran from India. I'll be applying to MIT for the fall 2007 session.
I have a few questions:
1. Do AP exams ensure advantage in the admission process? In India, AP Exams are not part of standard school curriculum’Ķhow can a student take these exams in India?
2. Does applying for financial aid hamper our chance of admission in any way?
3. How can I access your answers to queries posted in Feb 2006 ?
4. A special circumstance indigenous to (most) Indian students : Here in India, schools are a formality in Classes 11th and 12th. The IIT-JEE and AIEEE entrance examination syllabi is a lot different from what the CBSE prescribes in the school for Classes 11th and 12th. To prepare for the IIT and AIEEE examinations, most of the students go for private tutorials. The attendance in school is a formality. As a result, the Extra- Curricular chart falls down in Classes 11th and 12th as most of the activities are organized by school. Olympiads etc are an exception as even private participation is allowed. How does your selection committee view this scenario ??
As a personal example, I have loads of extra-curricular activities till class 10 ’Äì leadership qualities, art(glass painting, shading, natural and still-life), quizzes, debates, rifle shooting etc. But the participation is not so good in Classes 11th and 12th. What do you suggest I should do at this point of time so that my admission is not hampered in any way?
Thanks.
Hoping for an early reply
Posted by: Harsimranjit Singh on August 10, 2006 03:53 AM
