Ioana is a second-year student in the Dual Degree programme between Sciences Po Paris and Freie Universität Berlin. She graduated from one of the prestigious high schools in Bucharest and led her delegation at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. She tutored for the Roma Policy Center and worked at Kiss FM Romania. She is the year representative at the Sciences Po Nancy campus.

Elena is a second-year student in PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at Oxford. She practices academic debating and has competed at both the World and the European Championships. She was part of the editorial team of an arts magazine and did philosophy research at Oxford. She is passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation.

Constantin studies at Bocconi with the Bocconi International Student Merit Award. He is an economics tutor through AcademicPrep and a mentor in CoachMe programmes. He completed internships at CEC Bank and Compass Lexicon. This autumn he will start a Master in Financial Analysis at London Business School, aiming to work in finance, the energy sector or the circular economy.

Oana is a second-year Medicine student at the University of Milan, in Italy. She studied in Romania until the 10th grade, where she won prizes at the national stages of the Mathematics and Chemistry Olympiads. In her free time, she gave private maths lessons to talented students. She completed her final two high school years on a scholarship at King William's College in the UK, for the International Baccalaureate. In mentoring she also covers Humanitas, La Sapienza, San Raffaele and the University of Bologna.

Ioana Alexandra is a tutor specialised in biology, chemistry, medical school admissions and entrance exams. She is now in her first year of graduate entry medicine at St Andrews. She graduated with a BSc in Immunology from the University of Glasgow in 2023, after attending Mihai Viteazul National College in Bucharest. She has taken 3 A-levels, the Romanian Baccalaureate, plus the GAMSAT and UCAT.

Raluca studies Economics and Business Economics at the University of Amsterdam. In high school she was secretary general of the largest MUN conference in Romania and took part in international conferences in the UK, Hungary and Germany. She now organises a career event at her university, with over 600 participants.

Matei studies Economics and Finance at Bocconi, as one of the Undergraduate Merit Scholars. He is an analyst at Bocconi Students Capital Markets, covering EMEA. He was active in an accounting startup that raised over $100,000 and qualified the firm for the InnovX final. He is a Super-mentor at Upgrade and teaches maths for the SAT.

Dragos is a second-year student in Economics and Social Sciences at Bocconi, Milan. His main academic interests are economics, public policy and journalism. He writes for the politics and news sections of the university newspaper and is active in the European Students' Association.

After UWC Red Cross Nordic in Norway (full scholarship), Bianca studied philosophy and modern languages and literatures at Kenyon College. She was a contributor to the literary magazine The Kenyon Review and a mental health peer counsellor. She spent a year in Tokyo, then returned to Kenyon as a teaching assistant for the Japanese language. She is interested in social justice, films and nature.

Francesca is an Upgrade mentor specialised in Career Counseling and the US admissions process. She graduated with a BS in Clinical Psychology from Tufts University, then an MS in Clinical Psychopathology and Development at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is now pursuing a PhD in Clinical and Social Psychology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Her approach is holistic: she asks the right questions, offers empathy and understanding and guides through feedback.

Daria studies Natural Sciences (Physics) at Cambridge. She completed an internship in Laser Plasma Acceleration at CEA Paris. Impressed by the research and the Parisian joie de vivre, she started a master's in General Physics at Paris-Saclay. Her hope: to contribute to the changes that quantum computers will bring.

Alex is a third-year mathematics student at Cambridge. He is passionate about pedagogy, serves as a student ambassador and teaches at maths camps. He won 4 gold medals at the Romanian National Olympiad and a silver medal at the Tuymaada Olympiad. He has published articles in national and international mathematics journals on number theory and geometry.

Ana-Maria is a second-year BSc Aerospace Engineering student at TU Delft. She attended Andrei Șaguna National College in Brașov, got involved in academic societies and took part in International Physics tournaments, winning multiple awards at NASA settlement design contests. She works part-time as a propulsion engineer at Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering, developing a reusable launch vehicle.

Alex is a second-year student at École Polytechnique, Paris, with a double major in Mathematics and CS. In high school he took part in Mathematics Olympiads and won 2 bronze medals. In Paris, he completed a research project on random trees and maps. Hobbies: football, music, history and long evening walks.

Cezara attended ICHB, as part of the mathematics olympiad class. She took part every year in the national stage of the Mathematics Olympiad, winning a gold medal in the 10th grade. She qualified twice for the EGMO selection tests. She completed a cryptography course at the Stanford Summer Institutes. At Polytechnique she focuses on both mathematics and CS.

Mirtill studies at NYU on the Abu Dhabi campus, a family tradition: her siblings attended NYU and earned degrees in social sciences. She specialises in peace and economics. Because of her family's military and diplomatic involvement, she completed her earlier academic stages in the USA, the UK, Spain and Hungary.

Graham graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University with a degree in Science, Technology and International Affairs. He carried out fieldwork in Moldova and Poland, collecting accounts of the Einsatzgruppen crimes in WWII. After Georgetown, he worked at a political consulting firm in the 2018 and 2020 US elections.

Paula was born in León, Spain. She is a Fundación Amancio Ortega scholar, which gives low and medium-income students the chance to study in Canada or the USA in the 11th grade. Because of Covid she took online courses at MIT and Cambridge. She speaks English and Spanish and is learning French. She is now in the Double Bachelor's Degree between Sciences Po Paris and Columbia, at the Reims campus.

After graduating from the social sciences track of Gheorghe Lazăr National College and being accepted at 9 universities, Mara started the Dual BA Sciences Po × Columbia, Political Science with a focus on the Mediterranean and the Middle East. She is learning French (B2) and modern Arabic (A1). She is passionate about education: after collaborating with Upgrade as a student, she became a mentor.

Ina is a final-year student at the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, following internships in architecture and exhibition design. Her passion for architecture emerged after 2 years of fashion design, followed by 3 years of architectural drawing. She has exhibited projects at the Bartlett Summer Shows and was a writer/editor at B-Asia Magazine. She completed internships at architecture firms in Bucharest and London.

Tudor started Medicine at Christ's College Cambridge in 2021, in the 6-year MB BChir programme with an intercalated BA in year 3. Alongside his Cambridge Medicine offer, he also received a Cambridge Trust scholarship and the International Award for Medicine from Christ's College. He is International Students' Officer in the Christ's College JCR and vice-president of the Cambridge Romanian Society.

Teodor is an international merit scholar in Economics and Finance at Bocconi, Milan. His interests: finance and mathematics. He is a laureate of the National Economics Olympiad. He chairs an educational reform committee in the Romanian Senate. He organises conferences with academics, diplomats and business leaders. He won a poetry prize at Tinere Condeie.

Irina is a second-year Biomedical Engineering student at the University of Groningen. She is interested in studying Medical Imaging in detail. She has been a mentor at Upgrade for almost a year and enjoys working with motivated students. Universities she covers in mentoring: Fontys, TU Delft, TU Eindhoven, Utrecht University and the University of Amsterdam.

A certified Coach and Trainer, with a background in Human Resources and Business. Denisa delivers development programmes in individual and group formats, helping young people and professionals build careers through self-awareness and authentic self-expression. Studies: Bachelor and Master in Hospitality, International Tourism and Business Management at Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca and the American Hotel Academy in Brașov.

Sandra is a former student of Sf. Sava National College. She graduated with a BSc in Neuroscience from the University of Warwick and is now doing Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She has been passionate about psychology, medicine and neuroscience since high school. She placed 7th internationally at Brain Bee 2021. She volunteered at the Monza Brain Institute.

Daniel graduated with First Class Honours in Experimental Psychology from Oxford and is now doing a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of York, in collaboration with Oxford. His interests: epistemology, how organisms learn, behavioural and computational neuroscience. He has worked as an admissions tutor at Upgrade since 2024 and teaches academic writing and undergraduate tutorials at York.

An experienced mentor who has recently helped students get admitted to Columbia, NYU Stern and the World Bachelor in Business (USC × Bocconi × HKUST). Fully funded studies: USA (Williams College, BA Politics & Anthropology) and the Netherlands (University of Amsterdam). He specialises in designing educational interventions for young people from developing countries.

Teodora is a third-year law student at Trinity College Dublin. She has experience with law school admissions in the Netherlands and Ireland. Her interests: corporate law and finance. She speaks English and has a solid foundation for advising on admissions to Law programmes in Europe.

Daria is a SAT Math instructor and a BSc International Economics and Finance student at Bocconi. She has experience at the National Bank of Romania and Banca Transilvania. She is a winner of the M&A competition organised by Kitra Advisory. Her interests: economics, finance, DCF valuation.

Iulian is a third-year student at Bocconi University in Milan, in International Economics and Management. He is interested in finance, quantitative analysis and how data-driven tools improve decisions. He has a strong entrepreneurial streak. Alongside his studies, he composes and performs music, which has strengthened his discipline and ability to collaborate. He also covers IE University.

Darien is a second-year BSc Economics and Management student at Bocconi, with experience in economics and finance. He has knowledge of cultural adaptation across different countries and how to handle language difficulties in a new environment. In mentoring he also covers ESADE, IE University, Rotterdam School of Management and Stockholm School of Economics.

Daria is a third-year student at EADA Business School in Barcelona, in Business Administration and Artificial Intelligence. Her interests: finance, innovation through digitalisation and management. With a strong entrepreneurial streak, she enjoys exploring how emerging technologies create impact. She is passionate about discovering different cultures and stepping out of her comfort zone. She also covers ESADE and IE University.

Paul is a second-year Medicine student at the University of Groningen. Passionate about medicine and chemistry, he worked on a research project at the University Medical Center Groningen. He took part in multiple chemistry competitions in high school and qualified twice for the extended team for the International Chemistry Olympiad. He covers: TU Eindhoven, La Sapienza Rome, Maastricht, TU Delft, UvA, Bologna, Milan.

Born in Belgium, with a Ukrainian father and a Polish mother, Emmanuel later moved to the United Kingdom. His international education sparked his passion for aviation. The combination of his passion for engineering and very good grades led him to Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft. At Delft he took part in numerous projects, including a test flight in a laboratory aircraft. He is an avid musician.

Diana is a third-year Medicine student at the University of Groningen (Medical University of Groningen). She completed 2 research projects she is very proud of. She has a deep passion for health and research. In the future she plans to pursue an MD/PhD track. She is active in extracurriculars: Dutch, pilates, coding. In 2024 she won a volleyball tournament in Groningen. She also covers TU Delft, UvA, Bologna, Milan, Padova.

Daniela is a certified coach with a Bachelor and Master in Psychology from Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca. She has a deep academic background in human behaviour, cognitive processes and the psychological foundations of career coaching. She helps you discover your strengths and make career decisions aligned with who you are.

Iulian is a third-year student at TU Delft, in Computer Science and Engineering, with a minor specialisation in Quantum Computation and Communication. He mentors CS and mathematics for universities across Europe, with specific expertise for TU Delft and TU Eindhoven.

Riana is a third-year Clinical Psychology student at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She has experience in a research trainee program, volunteering in a biofeedback laboratory and an exchange at Ca' Foscari Venice. She was admitted to Glasgow with an Excellence scholarship, but chose Erasmus. Her specialisation: forensic and legal psychology.

Cătălina is a second-year Master's student in Politics and Economics, specialising in International Trade at the University of Bologna, where she also completed a BA in International Relations and Diplomatic Affairs. She holds an additional degree in Foreign Languages (Translation and Interpreting) from the University of Bucharest. Professional experience: the Italian Trade Agency Warsaw and the Embassy of Romania in Italy.

Andreea is a second-year Nanobiology student at TU Delft. She is passionate about engineering with a focus on medical applications. She took part in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition, representing Romania. She has a minor in Computer Science.

Ariana is a PhD researcher in Comparative Literature and a tutor at the University of St Andrews UK. She graduated with a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford (2022) and an MLitt in Comparative Literature at St Andrews (2024). For over 3 years she has been an Upgrade tutor for humanities, university admissions UK/EU/USA/Canada and TOEFL/IELTS/CAE.