Ava Cherepanova (Ukraine)

PROGRAMME: Bachelor's in Business Administration
LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Ukrainian, Russian.

Why did you choose to study this programme?

To be quite frank, I’ve always had this spark in the business field, literally since childhood. I would try to come up with a business even in primary school, and in middle school, and let me tell you the scale was only going up :)

When I went to college I studied psychology, but it wasn't quite doing the thing for me. That’s when I came across a series where the main actress was working in marketing, and that was the year I dropped college year early and went to my first university back in Ukraine to study Marketing. But here was the catch: can I really aim high in marketing not in an English-speaking environment? The personal answer for me was no. That was the pushing point when I also realised that I don't want to study Marketing solely - it was the business field overall, including Management, Analysis, Banking, and so on.

So here I found myself looking for an English-taught programme that covers everything I need it to. Here is when the University of Tartu came in handy! I was generally so amazed by all the descriptions of the program that I wasn't even looking for second or third options - I applied to BBA straight away. If I got in, perfect (which I did), but if I wouldn't, I would have just applied next year.

So far I am quite satisfied with the programme, since there are both quite easy subjects and quite some challenging ones that keep my brain intact. Since it is already my second year, I can tell you that I've had quite some opportunities to use my gained knowledge already. I can't wait to keep learning and go chase my dreams!

Why Estonia?

I always knew about Estonia because my mom was actually born here and raised until she was 7 years old. We were traveling here here and there, but it was always 1–2 weeks maximum. When I was looking for a business programme, it turned out that one of my Estonian cousins actually studied here and highly recommended the University of Tartu. I did quite some research, and let me tell you, the Delta building pictures kind of bought me right in that moment. Since staying in Ukraine, and especially in Odesa was highly dangerous, I had no hesitations about moving to Tartu, also knowing that it has a high ranking in safety among Europe overall.

If I am being honest, it took a lot of time for me to get used to living in such a small town compared to Odesa. But it is my second year now, and I've got quite a balance with living here and traveling to some big cities ;) I cannot tell you enough how refreshing it was to feel this constant safety everywhere. Especially the fact that you run into people you know at least 2–3 times a day is so incredibly nice and fun! It is also so nice for me to finally be able to see my extended family within a span of 1–2 hours!