Overcoming all obstacles and finally reaching the other shore, watch the journey of the Cambridge girl in pursuing her dreams!

Date：2022-03-19   Author：admin

About Explore-stone

To meet the demands of Chinese families for more professional and refined application services for undergraduate studies in the UK, the Explore-stone project was born. Based on a vast amount of admission data, with a top-notch service team, abundant university resources, and scientific planning services at its core, we provide high-standard application planning and personalized services for students aiming to enter the G5 universities in the UK.

The Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge has a long history. With its rigorous scientific attitude and strong research team, it has always held an irreplaceable position in the field of electrical engineering. Among them, the Electronic and Electrical Engineering (EEE) program has ranked first in the UK in the latest TIMES ranking, but the strict admission requirements have also deterred many students.

Today, we have specially invited Cheng, a student who was admitted to the EEE program at the University of Cambridge, to share her unique application experience with everyone.

Student Cheng

Standardized test scores: Mathematics A* Advanced Mathematics A* Economics A* Physics A* EFL A

Applied major: Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Admitted universities: University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College London, University of Edinburgh, University of Manchester



Out of curiosity about foreign cultures and lifestyles, I have always had the desire to study abroad. However, aimless efforts are like a long march in the dark. Therefore, as early as my junior and senior high school years, I had already set my goals. I chose the UK because I prefer to focus on my studies rather than various social activities, and I yearn for schools with a long history and a strong academic atmosphere. Oxford and Cambridge, these two world-class academic institutions, have always been the dream schools for countless people, and I am no exception. Although the mathematics, physics and chemistry in junior high school were rather challenging, they gradually found their joy in high school. Moreover, their grades in mathematics and physics were also quite outstanding, so they chose the major of engineering.


During the process of applying for study abroad, whether it is time planning, choosing a school and a major, or the subsequent steps such as writing application essays and interviews, all require a great deal of effort to complete. However, I have focused most of my attention on my studies and projects, and thus cannot take care of the application process. At this point, I need a professional agency to assist me in completing the application process. I think the areas where I rely most on the agency are during the process of preparing for practical projects (for engineering students), writing personal statements, and getting ready for written tests and interviews. Among them, the first two points are the ones that are most likely to be overlooked by large institutions, and they are precisely the areas where I was relatively lacking at that time. Explore Stone has been of great help to me in these aspects. It not only provided me with valuable suggestions on practical projects, but also solved my anxiety and confusion when writing application documents.

I chose an experimental project I had done before as my PS material. However, the formation of PS is far from enough with just the material; it also requires multiple "processing" steps and meticulous refinement. Explore Stone was of great help to my PS draft. The document teacher, He Teacher, gradually guided me to improve the summer project and explained in detail the concepts and knowledge involved in PS that I didn't fully understand. Throughout the process, I gained a lot. From writing PS to fully grasping it, it's all thanks to him! The teachers also gave me great help during the interview preparation process. I remember that the day before the Cambridge interview, Teacher He was still helping me adapt in advance and kept following up on my latest interview progress. Thanks to the patient guidance of the teachers, I was able to handle the formal interview with ease. Throughout the entire cooperation process, from the document preparation to the interview and other links, the teachers of Explore Stone have been providing me with assistance with their patient attitude and professional guidance all the time. There was no feeling of being left to rest.

Looking back on my application season, although it seems quite a long time ago now, during this process, I met many outstanding people and also came into contact with knowledge that I had never delved deeply into before. I have grown both academically and non-academically. Looking back now, it was a very pure period of time. I still clearly remember how excited I was on the day I waited for the result of the Cambridge interview. I was fidgeting all day long. When I received the result, I squatted alone in the classroom waiting for the takeout. I excitedly shared my joy with two classmates from the neighboring class who came to visit. They also sincerely celebrated for me. That feeling was quite wonderful. What surprised me more was that IC offered me a scholarship of 1,000 pounds. Although I didn't choose it in the end, being recognized made me feel that all my efforts were not in vain.

As for advice to my younger schoolmates, I think the foundation for the application has been laid in the first two years of high school. Therefore, what to do during the application process is to try to develop your previous strengths and make up for some things that were very lacking before. The most important thing is to avoid being impetuous. Of course, the earlier you plan to apply, the better. However, if it's already too late, don't be blindly anxious. Just let things take their natural course. Besides, I feel that communication during the application process is also very important. Personally, I'm not the kind of person who is very self-disciplined. When I was applying, there were classmates from the same major who were applying to Oxford and Cambridge, enthusiastic senior students, and the intermediary teachers who were constantly following up on me, all urging me to move forward. With them by my side, my anxiety could also be appropriately alleviated.

Tutoring Review

When I first came into contact with Cheng, she had just graduated from the Oxford and Cambridge summer camps of her peers. At that time, the overall quality of her application essays was average and her academic depth was relatively low. Although an experimental project of an automatic pathfinding car has been carried out, when communicating with her about the project, it was found that there are many aspects that can improve efficiency and accuracy. I suggested that she enhance the project by replacing the photoresistor with optical devices to increase the response frequency and so on. At the same time, taking this as a starting point, I included the content of Lazavi's two books, "CMOS Integrated Circuit Design" and "Semiconductor Physical Devices", in the document to increase the academic depth.

To my surprise, she had a very high absorption efficiency for the principles of semiconductor physics, CMOS devices, and even the Czochralski growth method for wafer growth. I'm ashamed to say that when I finally taught her the lesson, I was preparing for it at the same time. However, for the study of some professional knowledge content, she has already reached the course level of a junior at UCL/IC. At the same time, she is also one of the few students who can fully understand the principles of CMOS devices through self-study.

I still remember that before the interview, she told me, "The teacher asked me to explain the principle of MOSFET devices to you and see if it's right." To my surprise, she not only accurately explained the application circuits of PMOS/NMOS and the small-signal model, but also had a very thorough understanding of channel length modulation, substrate electrofluid effect and substrate bias effect. If a well-prepared question happens to be encountered during an interview, then getting an admission is naturally expected.