Egle Jancauskaite

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Not everyone’s path to higher education runs smoothly, as Egle Jancauskaite found out when she arrived from Kaunas, Lithuania at the age of 14. Her parents had been in Britain since Lithuania’s admission to the European Union in 2004 but Egle arrived halfway through what should have been the first year of her GCSEs.

“I had been to London once to visit my parents but didn’t know much about what was ahead of me when I arrived. The term had already started so I couldn’t enrol at a school straight away and had to attend a specialist English school which did not do GCSEs. I did eventually get a place at Eastleigh School but I had missed so much time already that it was difficult to catch up.”

Although Egle successfully completed her GCSEs, her results were not an accurate reflection of her ability. She is re-sitting some of her GCSEs alongside her A2 exams this year and is grateful for the opportunity to show what she is capable of at Tower Hamlets College.

“Half of my family seems to have gone to this college so I certainly knew it had a good academic reputation. I have a brother and a cousin here at the moment and another of my cousins, Agneta, was part of the Aim Higher programme here in previous years. I have made some great friends here and the quality of the facilities is very good.”
Egle is studying towards A Levels in Accounting, Business Studies and Economics and wants to go on to study at Nottingham University before embarking on a career in Finance in London.

“I know I need good grades in certain key numerical subjects if I want to work in the financial industry so that is enough motivation in itself. As part of the Aim Higher programme, I have found out so much about the industry through events like Careers in the City which was an informative afternoon at City University. I am also part of a mentoring scheme and I meet up with someone from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) once a month for help with any questions I have, my personal statement for UCAS and with practical issues from a case study I prepare in advance and then present.”
Egle was nominated by her Accountancy tutor to participate in the peer tutoring programme for accountancy for which she was paid and received a certificate. She is also a class representative for her tutor group and attends student council meetings to raise any issues on their behalf.