“Keep the Content Coming”: Woman Shares How She Got R3 Million in Funding to Study Abroad, SA Wowed

• Bertha Tobias, a first-year PhD candidate at Oxford University, revealed how she secured over R3 million in postgraduate funding
• Both her master's degree and PhD at Oxford were fully funded by the Rhodes Trust, one of the world's most competitive scholarships
• She shared three key steps that helped her win the scholarship, which carries a 0.7% global acceptance rate

Bertha Tobias is a first-year PhD candidate at Oxford University. She recently took to TikTok to share how she managed to fund not one but two postgraduate degrees at one of the world's most prestigious universities without paying a single cent. Her master's degree in Sustainability Enterprise and Environment at Oxford cost over R1 million. Her PhD, which runs for three years, costs more than R700,000 annually. Together, the two programmes amount to over R3 million in tuition. The Rhodes Trust covered all of it.

3 steps that won Bertha her Rhodes Scholarship

Read also

Nigerian woman living in the UK turns down R4 million offer to relocate permanently to Nigeria

The Rhodes Scholarship is widely regarded as one of the most difficult to win, with a global acceptance rate of just 0.7%. Yet Tobias walked viewers through exactly how she approached the application process, and her advice was surprisingly straightforward. She told her followers to stop chasing every scholarship available and instead spend time studying the mission of a select few. Understanding what a scholarship stands for, she explained, puts applicants in a far stronger position to write a compelling application.

Her second piece of advice was about storytelling. Tobias encouraged applicants to build a personal narrative that connects their individual passion to a purpose that goes beyond themselves. Scholarship panels, she said, are looking for people with a reason, not just results. Her third point was perhaps the most powerful: do not self-reject. Many applicants talk themselves out of applying before they even begin, convinced the odds are too steep. Bertha argued that the only guaranteed way to fail is not to submit.

Watch Bertha break down her funding journey in the TikTok video below:

Viewers praise Bertha's advice

Commenters on Bertha's TikTok were inspired by both her achievement and her willingness to share the details openly:

User @angy_uumati said:

"Smarty pants, I like youuu! Keep the content coming 😊."

User @Emms wrote:

"Young, talented and hard-working 💐."

User @Marvella 🤍 called her:

"You're a star, ma'am!"

Read also

Cape Town's Good Hope Centre sale sparks debate over highest bid and future of historic landmark

User @Unforgettable added:

"Thank you so much for sharing 🫶🏾."

User @🥀Laylay responded:

"👏🏽👏🏽🙌🏽."

3 Briefly News education-related articles

• A university student shared a video presenting four completely free, high-quality study websites designed to help all students succeed academically.
• A young man who scored straight A's in matric shared a detailed breakdown of his unique and effective study methods, impressing many social media users.
• A young man who scored over 90% in Grade 12 mathematics shared the effective study method he used to achieve his high marks, leaving social media users grateful.

Source: Briefly News