Our Vision

The idea

The University of Cambridge has an over 800-year-old tradition of attracting the brightest minds from all around the world. Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, Oliver Cromwell, Hugh Laurie, Francis Bacon, Ian McKellen, or Alan Turing. These are just a few of all the students who came to develop their potential and fulfil their dreams at Cambridge. Would you like to do the same?

We are more than aware that the students in the Czech and Slovak Republic possess great talents in various fields – whether it is the sciences, the humanities, or the arts. So far as we can judge, Cambridge is one of the most inspiring, challenging and life-changing places in the world. Unfortunately, it is also extensively riddled with myths presenting the University as extremely elitist, and unreachable. Most of this is not true, and the university is surprisingly reachable, even though Brexit has complicated matters slightly in the last few years.

Who are we looking for

As mentioned earlier, we are searching for the most talented and hard-working students from the Czech and Slovak secondary schools in their penultimate year. Do you have excellent grades in the subjects you wo

uld like to study at the university? Is your grade average 1.5 or less? Do you take part in extracurricular activities that demonstrate the passion for your field of interest? Apply, persuade us that you are the right person for our project, and we can promise you an unforgettable Cambridge experience. We believe that your potential is the only thing that matters. In order to make Experience Cambridge accessible to everyone, it will be completely free of charge for the applicants. To find out more about the selection process and criteria, visit the section ‘The Project’.

The Project

Timeline

Selection process

Our selection process consists of two parts and takes place in throughout November and December. It is made to mimic the University’s admissions process.

Part 1: The electronic form

First of all, you must fill in the form on this website before the 30th of November. The basic eligibility criteria for Experience Cambridge are as follows:

• You must be a Czech or Slovak citizen in your penultimate year at a Czech or Slovak secondary school.

• You should have excellent results in the subject you would like to pursue at the university.

• Your grade average should be 1.5 or better.

For the second part of the selection process, we will pick the most enthusiastic and hard-working students who will clearly demonstrate a passion for the subject they would like to study at Cambridge.

Part 2: The interview

The interviews will take place in mid-December via a video call. They will be carried out in English. Our main goal will be to get to know you, to learn more about your academic as well as non-academic achievements and your motivation. You have nothing to worry about, just persuade us that you truly are passionate about the area of your interest. No preparation should be necessary, however some academically challenging questions should be expected. We aim to let all the interviewees know by the end of December, however there might be a slight delay.

What to expect during the programme

As the saying goes, it is better to experience something once, than to hear about it a thousand times. Thus we would like to offer you a golden opportunity to join us in person to get a taste of studying at one of the world’s top universities. A Cambridge term is academically intensive, but also packed with social events and unique opportunities, and so will be your four-day stay in February. You will be mentored and guided by a current university student, who will show you their lectures, supervisions and you will also attend a formal dinner and go on multiple tours of historical colleges

We are aware of the impact of Brexit on your generation, perhaps the most pressing being the unattainability of UK student loans. However, there are now many new scholarships and funds specifically targeted at EU students – during the programme we will inform you about these and other ways of managing the financial situation. We believe that studying at Cambridge can be still feasible and is well worth the effort.

Apply

“It is a denial of the divinity within us to doubt our potential and our possibilities.”