Experience Cambridge
Our Vision
The idea
The University of Cambridge has been attracting the brightest minds from around the world for over 800 years. Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, Oliver Cromwell, Hugh Laurie, Francis Bacon, Ian McKellen, Alan Turing– to name a few who have come to Cambridge to develop their potential and fulfil their dreams. Would you like to do the same?
Cambridge is one of the most inspiring and life-changing places in the world. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most misunderstood, riddled with myths that present the university as elitist and inaccessible. Even though Brexit has complicated matters slightly in the past few years, the university is much more attainable than you may think; there are now many new scholarships and funds created specially for EU students– don’t hesistate to contact us for more information!
We strongly believe in demystifying the university and the application process, which is why, every year, we offer the unique opportunity for Czech and Slovak students in their penultimate year of secondary school to visit the city for four days through our student-run programme, Experience Cambridge!
What to expect
As the saying goes, it is better to experience something once than to hear about it a thousand times. And so we would like to offer you the opportunity to visit Cambridge this February and get a taste of student life at one of the world’s top universities. Following a selection process intended to mimic the application process of the university itself (see below), successful applicants will be invited to Cambridge, where they will be mentored and guided by current Czech and Slovak students studying at the university. If successful, you will be given the unique chance to experience lectures and academic supervisions, to tour the city, visit different historical colleges, attend a formal dinner and much more! We hope the trip will prove to be an amazing, unforgettable experience that also provides useful tips and background for your future university application!
In order to make Experience Cambridge accessible, it is completely free of charge for the applicants. To find out more about the selection process and criteria, see more details below.
Who are we looking for?
Are you a Czech or Slovak student in your penultimate year in secondary school? Do you have excellent grades in the subjects you would like to study at university? Is your grade average 1.5 or less? Do you take part in extracurricular activities that demonstrate the passion you have for your field of interest? Are you interested in applying for an undergraduate degree in the UK? If your answers to these questions are ‘yes’, apply to our programme Experience Cambridge! Persuade us that you are the right person for our programme, and we can promise you an unforgettable Cambridge experience. We believe that your potential is the only thing that matters.
The Project
Timeline
Selection process
Our selection process consists of two parts and takes place throughout November and December. It is made with the intention of mimicking the University’s admissions process.
Part 1: The electronic application form
If you match the criteria above, begin by filling in the form on this website. The deadline for submitting your answers is the 30th of November.
For the second part of the selection process, we will pick the most enthusiastic, hard-working students whose answers in the application form clearly demonstrate a passion for the subject they are most interested in pursuing in the future.
Part 2: The interview
The interviews will take place in mid-December via a video call. They will be carried out in English. The main purpose of these interviews is to get to know you, to learn more about your academic and non-academic achievements and your motivation, so you have nothing to worry about, just persuade us that you are truly passionate about the area of your interest. No preparation is necessary, but you should come expecting some academically challenging questions.
We aim to let all the interviewees know of the outcome of their interview by the end of December, though there may be a slight delay.
Apply
It is a denial of the divinity within us to doubt our potential and our possibilities.
— James E. Faust
Our Team
Organisers
Vojtěch Tvrdík is an undergraduate student reading Computer Science at the University of Cambridge.
Co-Founders
Simona Blašková studied Politics and International relations (HSPS) at the University of Cambridge and is the project coordinator for Slovakia.
Martin Výška completed PhD degree in Applied Mathematics at the University of Cambridge and is the project coordinator for Czech Republic.
Partners and Sponsors
Our Patrons
We are very proud to introduce the patrons of our project.