Success stories #1: Nina Fořtíková
Our new blog series, Success Stories, interviews students at Oxford and Cambridge. High school students often struggle to imagine what daily life at these universities is like, what successful applications look like, how such students spend their time, etc. To help with that, we are bringing you interviews with current students and graduates, helping you discover these universities from an insider’s perspective and gain tips from students who successfully passed the admissions process.
In the first edition, we interviewed Nina Fořtíková from the Czech Republic, a first-year student of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge.
Aspiro: Hi Nina, thank you for accepting our invitation to our Success Stories series! Could you please introduce yourself? Which university and course are you enrolled in?
Nina: My name is Nina. I am 18 and currently in my first year at the University of Cambridge where I am studying Land Economy. I am at Newnham College, which is an average-sized college only for girls and non-binary people and it is right opposite of the main humanities site in Cambridge, so it is fairly close to most of my lectures and supervisions.
Aspiro: How would you explain what Land Economy is to students who have never heard of it?
Nina: It is an interdisciplinary course, which means that it combines a lot of different topics and disciplines together. In the case of Land Economy specifically, these are Law and Economics. Later in the course, I will have the opportunity to focus either on sustainable development, real estate or finance. It is a really fascinating course especially for anyone who wants to focus on more applicable content and not just pure academic theory within Economics or Law. I would also say that it takes the most interesting parts of both Economics and Law and combines them which is great.
Aspiro: What do you enjoy about Cambridge and how do you spend your free time there?
Nina: One of the things that I didn’t really expect which turned out to be really awesome is living within a college. Prior to coming here, I thought that most of my friends would be studying the same subject as me, but it turned out that I found most friends within Newnham. By living in a college, I got to meet people studying a variety of subjects. The atmosphere is very friendly since there are not too many people so you get to know everyone quite quickly. I spend most of my free time with my friends through societies as well as just doing other activities. I am part of the Czech and Slovak Society as well as the European and German ones. I also attend a lot of events organised by the consulting, investment banking and Cambridge Women in Business societies. One of my favourite societies is the Wilberforce Society which is the oldest student-run think tank in the UK where I get to participate in the writing up of research papers and policy proposals which is really interesting. Other than spending time with friends or in societies, I am at the University Library chasing their cat, Odysseus.
Aspiro: Where do you come from? Do you think you faced any specific challenges as an international student?
Nina: I am from Prague, Czech Republic. I went to an international school there for most of high school. I did the IB and before that the IGCSEs so I was fortunate that I did not have to deal with any language obstacles or other problems because the IB is very international and therefore accepted by universities worldwide including Cambridge. However, many of my friends did their national baccalaureates so doing the IB definitely isn’t a must. I would say the main obstacle in applying as an international student is finding relevant information about the course and getting the grasp of what it is actually like to study here. This is because not many people from your country end up studying abroad and when they do it might be hard to keep in touch with them. It is also difficult to find people that are studying the course that you are interested in as some of the subjects offered might be quite unique. It is also why I was very happy when I got to meet Terka, because she filled in all the gaps that I would otherwise have when considering applying to Cambridge (Editor’s comment: Terka is currently tutoring for Land Economy applications here at Aspiro Admissions).
Aspiro: What do you think was the key for you to get your university offer? Did you receive any additional support from your school or from anyone else? What did you do outside of your studies to prepare a strong application?
For me, I think the activities that I did outside of school made the difference in my application. Since Land Economy is not a subject that would be offered by any high school and lots of the topics covered are not part of the syllabi, I think it is crucial to go beyond the curriculum and look for opportunities outside of school to learn more about the subjects covered in the course.
There were two people that helped me with my application the most. Firstly it was Terka, who I met through a mentoring program. She really helped me with my application by giving me feedback on my Personal Statement and then we also did a few practice interviews. However, we spent a lot of time talking about her time at Cambridge before I even submitted my application. I would say now, in hindsight, that was also crucial since I had a good idea of what the course is like. Having the opportunity to talk to her about any questions I had and her experience also helped me decide that Land Economy was a course that I really wanted to study so I was then also really motivated to put a lot of effort into my application. The second person who helped me was my debate coach Alex, who also gave me feedback on my PS and did practice interviews with me. He also taught me how to debate, which is a skill that is quite useful for the interviews so I would say that helped a lot as well.
Outside of school, I tried to read a lot of current news and affairs to stay up to date on any topics that are relevant for Land Economy. I also undertook an internship at the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Economics Institute where I saw how research is done and got to witness lots of the processes that go behind the scenes when policy papers are published and then later implemented. I was part of another program by Microsoft where I had the opportunity to participate in a lot of conferences and policy proposal sessions with different companies, IGOs and NGOs regarding online safety of the youth. I then also did some activities within my school and some student organisations more generally. I think that these experiences showed that I was interested in Land Economy and that I was passionate about what I want to study, which I think is an important aspect of the admissions process.
Aspiro: What advice would you give to prospective applicants to Land Economy, as well as to Cambridge more generally?
Nina: As I already mentioned, I think it is important to show your interest in the subject and clearly present any achievements within the field. This is really important as it helps your application stand out among all the strong candidates that have similar grades as you. Cambridge is a research-heavy university, so if you are interested in potentially going into academia or other kinds of research, it is great if you can show that through the application and especially if you have any experience with it.
For Land Economy more specifically, I would say focusing on outside of school readings and activities is crucial. The interviewers want to see that you are interested in the key aspects of Land Economy and therefore just focusing on work you did within your high school subjects might not show your interest well enough.
Aspiro: Thank you so much for your time and advice!
Feeling inspired to start your own journey to Cambridge?
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