A small Budapest institute, renowned for guiding Hungarian students to Ivy League universities, now faces an existential crisis as U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed visa ban jeopardizes their academic aspirations in America.
The Milestone Institute, which has successfully placed graduates at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia since 2010, now counsels its ambitious scholars to wait patiently through the policy uncertainty while continuing to nurture their borderless aspirations.
"Our goal was and still remains to be a catalyst for social change in Hungary. And we thought that the best way to do that is to gather the talented and ambitious kids here, help them reach their full potential," said Andor Kelenhegyi, director of Academic Studies Milestone institute.
Kelenhegyi helped found the institute 15 years ago. Back then, getting a spot at Harvard seemed unattainable.
Today, Milestone sends a student every year. Students started in Hungarian public schools and ended up at places like Yale, Columbia and other prestigious universities around the world.
Since 2010, this program in Budapest has helped open big doors, sending Hungarian students to Harvard. But now, with the new U.S. visa rules for foreign students, some are starting to wonder if their dreams of going there are still within reach.
For one Harvard alumnus, the proposed ban isn't just a policy; it's a message that echoes far beyond these walls.
"Definitely, it's a very bad thing. I mean if you fight against education and if you are to lower the international connections in this world of ours, in our global world, it's definitely a bad thing," said Andras Vagvolgyi, a Harvard alumnus.
But teachers at this institute remind the students to be patient
"It's a 400-year-old institution with a lot of support and a lot of knowledge in how to handle problems. [We tell them,] wait and see how things are, hand-in your application and your are able to make a decision a year from now. If you get an offer, you can still decide not to take it or to take it," said Kelenhegyi.
For now, these students don't know if the road will lead to Harvard, or somewhere else entirely. But in this little corner of Budapest, they keep studying and believing. Because dreams, even in uncertain times, don't stop at borders.
US visa ban casts shadow on Hungarian students' Harvard ambitions
