The idea behind Polaris Mentors was born among a group of Oxford and Cambridge alumni. We realised how much more support students from other countries at top universities had received before getting in - in the form of mentoring, career advice services at their schools and just by beeing better connected with alumni. Looking back on our own experience a lot of us also did not initially believe that we could study at these institutions supposedly reserved for geniuses when in reality their doors are open to any hard working and independently thinking student.
This made us think that students in Latvia would greatly benefit from talking to mentors and understanding what it really means to apply to world’s top universities. To clear up misconceptions, to understand their expectations and to help students believe in themselves. To achieve this we set up a network of approximately 50 menotrs who are graduates of leading universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, London School of Economics and Harvard. Most of our mentors have received their education in the United Kingdom, though we are looking into expanding our network to mentors with degrees from American, French and German universities among others. Among our Senior Mentors and supporters we have accomplished alumni of leading universities - Lolita Čigāne, Marija Golubeva, Roberts Ķīlis, Vjačeslavs Kaščejevs and Daniels Pavļuts.
The organisation was founded by three enthusiasts:
This made us think that students in Latvia would greatly benefit from talking to mentors and understanding what it really means to apply to world’s top universities. To clear up misconceptions, to understand their expectations and to help students believe in themselves. To achieve this we set up a network of approximately 50 menotrs who are graduates of leading universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, London School of Economics and Harvard. Most of our mentors have received their education in the United Kingdom, though we are looking into expanding our network to mentors with degrees from American, French and German universities among others. Among our Senior Mentors and supporters we have accomplished alumni of leading universities - Lolita Čigāne, Marija Golubeva, Roberts Ķīlis, Vjačeslavs Kaščejevs and Daniels Pavļuts.
The organisation was founded by three enthusiasts:
- Alisa Matjuka who studied architecture at Cambridge,
- Marta Luste who read Philosophy and Politics at York before completing her MPhil in Politics at Oxford, and
- Mārtiņš Vaivods who studied Politics at Cambridge before moving on to do an MBA at Harvard.