Profile: Tair Forner Cotrin

I am an international student studying Film and Theatre at the University of Reading.

I graduated from St. Nicholas School in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with an International Baccalaureate diploma in May 2007.

Deciding on which course I want to study was a difficult task for me. I took a gap year after I finished school, and thought about it very carefully. In the end I decided to study Film and Theatre/Drama, and looked for the best places to study this course in the UK. The University of Reading was in the top 5 for this course.

I then saw that the university offered scholarships for international students with an IB diploma. Immediately after I applied to the University through UCAS, I also applied for the scholarship. For this particular scholarship my school had to nominate me. My headmaster wrote a confidential letter to the Finance Office with the nomination. It is supposed to detail both academic and extra-curricular activities.

I gained 41 points in my IB diploma, including completing the CAS requirements. Some of my extra-curricular activities included Modeling United Nations, the school's debate club, running club and French club, and I was a class representative in the Student Council and in the school's Action Committee, which aims to help underprivileged communities. The extra curricular activities, which I got the chance to do through the IB curriculum, were an essential part of my experience in the IB years and turned me into a more independent thinker, and made me more open minded, confident in speaking English in front of a large audience, and more aware of current social and political issues.

I am about to start my final term of my first year at Reading. So far this has been the most interesting year, with so many different, enriching experiences. I met a lot of people from various backgrounds and nationalities. My experience from being in an international school before helped me be more open minded and I was able to make a lot of friends from different kinds of places!

My course is quite small so I got to know most of the students doing this course, and the relationships with the teachers are very friendly. My tutor has always been very approachable, which is always very important, as whenever I have problems or questions regarding my studies, extra-curricular activities, or even personal problems, he is always very supportive and helpful!

Living in the halls is a great part of this experience; it allowed me to meet a lot of students and you rarely feel alone when you are surrounded by so many people – this helps a lot with homesickness! However at the same time, you have your own room and can also find some peace and quiet when you need some! Reading is quite a small town, especially if I compare it with Sao Paulo. This is quite nice as it is very quickly to get to the town centre from the halls and it is quite easy to walk from place to place. It is less intimidating and feels safer and easier to go around the town.

One of the main new challenges is to cope with living away from your family and managing everything on your own. Sometimes I did feel slightly overwhelmed with things I had to do and to take care of. These are things that I was always used to being done for me. The experience of becoming completely independent is hard but also very fun and taught me a lot about myself and gave me the confidence that from now onwards I will always be able to manage on my own in many different and perhaps difficult situations.

There is a lot of reading to do for my course, and one of the main skills I needed to improve was my time management. Finding the right balance between all the things that the University of Reading has to offer is very important! Once you find this balance, this would be the most amazing year of your life!

The International Baccalaureate Scholarship is an incredible opportunity for international students to come and study at the University of Reading, gain an excellent education, and experience life in the UK.