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18-year-old Pascal Atzler from Hünfeld has an offer of a place to study at Oxford. But the joy is dampened by sharply increased fees after Brexit. Even the scholarship he won doesn't apply there.
Fulda – A year and a half ago our newspaper reported on Pascal Atzler's victory in the national computer science competition. In the meantime, he was able to enjoy international success – and an offer of a place to study at Oxford. At his school – the Winfriedschule – people think highly of him. His teacher and deputy headmaster Ingo Höpping has known Pascal Atzler for years. He never doubted that the high school graduate had a realistic chance of being offered a place at the University of Oxford. Because: “How many people of his age group can demonstrate similar success?”
The 18-year-old from Hünfeld secured a bronze medal at the Baltic Informatics Olympiad (BOI) in Poland last April. At the International Informatics Olympiad (IOI) in Bolivia, Pascal Atzler received an “Honorable Mention”. The qualification for the Computer Science Olympiads is already demanding: it consists of three courses and two five-hour programming competitions per course. Atzler was able to qualify again to take part in the BOI this year in Finland.
Hünfeld high school graduate secures place at Oxford
At the last national mathematics competition, the student won first prize in the second round and thus made it to the final round. The fact that he also completed an early degree in computer science, prepared for his Abitur and was able to secure a coveted place at Oxford almost sounds like a side note. He works on the lecture content of his early studies on the weekend; the competitions usually take place during the school holidays. “That’s how it works,” explains Atzler matter-of-factly.
Pascal Atzler only considered studying at Oxford after attending an information event on studying abroad as part of the Federal Mathematics Competition. “In addition to Oxford, universities in the USA would also have been interesting, but due to the current situation, this option was out for me,” explains Atzler.
The application process was intensive, the competition was fierce: In addition to Atzler, more than 500 people applied for the mathematics and computer science course, only 90 of them received an offer of a place. The fact that Atzler was accepted by Balliol College of all places is particularly remarkable – there are only about six new computer science students there every year.
When the response from Oxford arrived, Atzler was on an IOI course. “I took out my laptop on the bus to the train station to check whether I had been accepted or rejected. That was an interesting experience,” the high school graduate remembers with a laugh.
High fees: Studying at Oxford would cost around 70,000 euros annually
Now that it is clear that he has been accepted at the renowned university, there is only one major obstacle standing between Pascal Atzler and his studies at Oxford: the tuition fee. Due to Brexit, fees for students from the EU in Great Britain have increased dramatically. The equivalent of more than 70,000 euros per year would be spent on his studies.
“Money is a problem,” laments the 18-year-old. After winning the national computer science competition, he won a scholarship to a university of his choice – however, this only applies to universities in the EU and Switzerland. He has already written to companies about funding, but nothing has come up so far. It is currently unclear whether studying at Oxford will be feasible.
Pascal Atzler leaves it open as to what will happen to him in the long term. He could basically imagine a research career, but: “First of all, I want to go to university because I'm interested in the subject. Then I'll look further.”
