Martin F.

• University of Cambridge (Trinity College), human, social and political sciences
• Cambridge

I'm an Austrian fresher at Trinity College in Cambridge.   Getting in was really tough. I am one of six freshers at Trinity who were selected out of a pool of 52 applicants and the decisive factor for me making it was intense interview preparation. More on that in the sections below.     Before coming to Cambridge I did what is called civilian service in Zambia as an alternative to doing compulsory military service, which still exists in Austria. Being there I taught IT on a full-time basis and also set up a library. Two years before that I was on a year of student exchange to South Africa, doing my Grade 11 there.      I am proudly a first generation at university and I had to work very hard to get to where I am today. I therefore want to help dedicated young people from all backgrounds making their ambitions come true by directing their hard effort.

            Having gone through the application process successfully myself only about a year ago, I know how daunting the whole thing is from outside. Trust me, it gets a lot less intimidating once you have insight into how things work and into what to expect and what not.      My approach is somewhat more holistic than just improving your interview skills. I want to break the wall of uncertainty by telling you what to expect, how to best prepare and then I'll actually help you prepare. That last bit is essential. Never forget that I can only help you to prepare yourself adequately, YOU need to do the work!

            I have worked as professional IT teacher for several classes on a gap year in Zambia.  Beyond that I have extensive experience in tutoring English as a foreign language.

            I try to engage a lot in the cultural life here at Cambridge, which is amazing, so I go to talks and discussion groups on all sorts of topics about 3-5 times a week, depending on the workload I have.  Beyond that I row four times a week and am part of several climbing and hiking societies.  I also do both Arabic and Mandarin Chinese at the University's language centre.