“Coming from Russia, starting at ISA was a big change, and there were many differences from my previous school.
“However, despite the cultural differences, everyone was so friendly and eager to get to know me and make friends.
“I joined in Grade 10, the equivalent of S4, and the diversity of the IB encouraged me to explore subjects outside my comfort zone, such as Spanish, while continuing to nurture my passion for mathematics.
“I attended a specialised maths school in Russia, and I love the subject so much I helped younger students through tutoring. I also competed in the prestigious British Mathematical Olympiad (Round 2), where I was ranked among the top 25 maths students. I was also proud to be a gold medallist at the International Economics Olympiad 2023.
“I received offers from both the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics and believe the small class sizes and high-quality teaching at ISA helped my learning.
“The small class sizes make the classes more interactive and mean that the teachers have more time to help each student individually, allowing them to be more flexible and tailor the lesson structure to fit each student.
“I hope to pursue a career in quantitative finance, combining my love of maths and programming to develop clever algorithms that optimise investment strategies and use machine learning to make informed trading decisions in the stock market.
“ISA encourages you to be your own person and is very welcoming. It suits people of all different personalities, with their own academic goals, and provides an environment where you can decide for yourself your goals and what you want to excel in.”
