this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2024
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There was a game show in Russia in 2000s where high schoolers had to answer ridiculously hard questions about Ancient Greece in order to enroll into MGIMO, a prestigious state university of foreign affairs, which was near-impossible to enroll in any other way (e.g. entrance exams) if you weren't a child of a top-level government official.
The contestants had to sit as the audience first and answer some pop-up questions before even having a chance to actually participate in the game show, and then win in a series of games (like quarter-finals, semifinals, finals...)
It really does look like modern job application process where you have to participate in a series of never-ending interviews and test tasks
It sounds like something out of a YA novel. If that theme continues, the nepo babies that got in through enrollment have a derogatory term for the kids who got in through the game show.
Come to think of it, yeah, sounds also like a Korean drama about bullying or social inequality :)
On a more serious note, there is only one public person I could think of who has enrolled into MGIMO through the game show, that's Alexey Navalny's aide Kira Yarmysh (there is even an episode of the game with her on YouTube; she lost that year and won a year later). I don't remember her mentioning any animosity towards her because of her participation.
Incredible find, thanks for sharing