From Limassol to Cambridge: One Exness scholar’s engineering journey

Long before Cambridge was on the horizon, Mara Rotaru was already taking her first steps toward engineering. 

Growing up in Limassol, Cyprus, curiosity formed a big part of her everyday life. She watched her dad take apart computers and appliances to understand how they worked, while her mum regularly challenged the family with maths problems and interesting questions at the dinner table. 

That curiosity eventually led Mara to Lego Robotics and the First Lego League, where she discovered that engineering wasn't just about building things. It was about solving problems, testing ideas, learning from mistakes, and trying again.

When the world got bigger

In 2019, Mara traveled to Houston, Texas, to compete in the First Lego League World Championship.

Walking into the competition hall was overwhelming. The robots were extraordinary, the research projects were sophisticated, and the students around her were passionate and driven in a way she’d never encountered before. While her team didn't place as highly as they had hoped, the competition left a lasting impression.

More than anything, it gave her a glimpse of what a culture of curiosity and innovation looks like on a global scale. It opened her eyes to possibilities she hadn't considered before and made her realize that the world was much bigger than her immediate surroundings.

Making Cambridge possible

A few years later, Mara received an offer to study mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Cambridge.

The excitement was immediate. So was the uncertainty.

While earning a place at Cambridge was a major achievement, the financial reality of studying there was another challenge. After being turned down for several scholarships, she wasn't sure whether it would be possible to attend.

That changed when she received support through the Exness Fintech Scholarships program, which helps talented students pursue futures in technology, engineering, and innovation.

Cambridge stopped being an abstract milestone and became something real.

Learning how to learn

Starting university was exciting, but it also came with a steep learning curve.

Like many students arriving at Cambridge for the first time, Mara wanted to make the most of every opportunity. On her first day, she signed up for 30 clubs.

"30," she laughed when she remembered it.

It didn't take long to realize there was a difference between exploring new interests and trying to do everything at once.

The academic side brought its own challenges. Mara quickly learned that engineering intuition isn't something you arrive with.

“It’s a bit like developing an ear for music,” she shared, explaining that intuition is built through practice, experimentation, and constantly asking not only whether an answer is correct, but why it works in the first place.

She had also come to Cambridge without Further Maths A-level, meaning many of her peers already had a strong foundation in some areas. Rather than seeing this as a setback, she used it as an opportunity to better understand how she learns, what motivates her, when to push herself, and when to take a step back.

Lessons from her journey

Mara shared some of her experiences at Doers Summit Limassol 2026, where she spoke about shaping your own learning journey and becoming someone who keeps learning and adapting.

For young people with big ambitions, her advice is simple: break those ambitions down into smaller steps.

"A big ambition is only overwhelming when it stays abstract,” she explained.

So map it out, make it visible, and identify the first concrete step you can actually take.

While Mara also talked about using AI as a mentor and assistant, she believes the most valuable growth still comes from connecting with people.

"Use the time and energy you save to go and find your people," she said.

Real mentors, genuine conversations, humans whose thinking genuinely lights something up in you. AI can accelerate your learning, but people will change the direction of it.

The path forward

As a recipient of an Exness Fintech Scholarship, Mara hopes her story encourages other young people to pursue opportunities they may once have thought were out of reach.

As she put it, "The path reveals itself in the doing, not the planning."