Cambridge offer for Romanian teen came to UK to be a rocket scientist

Flying high: Bogdan Vicol is set to study engineering at Gonville and Caius college
Mark Soanes

A Romanian teenager who moved to Britain less than two years ago for a better education has been offered the chance to study at Cambridge University.

Aspiring rocket scientist Bogdan Vicol, 18, arrived in Britain in May 2017, almost a year to the day after the country voted to leave the EU.

He moved after learning students were winning places at top universities after studying at Newham Collegiate Sixth Form. For two years running, 95 per cent of students at the selective academy were offered places at Russell Group universities.

Bogdan said he had his doubts about leaving his home country in the wake of the Brexit vote, but knew it was his best shot at getting a “top-class education”.

Bogdan has already gained an A* in A-level maths and will be sitting exams in further maths, physics and chemistry in the summer. If he gets the required grades, he will be studying engineering, specialising in aerospace and aerothermal engineering, at Gonville and Caius, Cambridge, from September.

He said: “Brexit was definitely a concern at first. I didn’t know if I would be able to stay in the UK or if I would be eligible for any university funding.

“But my parents and I knew that to get a top-class education, and the best chances in life, I had to come to the UK.”

Bogdan was taken in by a family friend who lives in Ilford. “It’s been lonely at times ... But when I got that letter saying I had been accepted to Cambridge, I knew it was all worth it,” he said.

Bogdan is from Bacau, a city in north-east Romania, where his parents run a furniture distribution business.

He added: “To one day be able to say ‘hello, I’m a rocket scientist’ will be quite something.”

Newham Collegiate principal Mouhssin Ismail said: “Bogdan has done outstandingly well … He left his home and life behind to achieve his ambitions, which was a brave thing to do.”

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