Tobias’ blueprint for grabbing opportunities
At 23, Bertha Tobias turned a 0.7% acceptance rate into an Oxford offer, becoming a Rhodes Scholar through sheer determination, curiosity, and self-belief. S
2026-08-192026-08-19By Paheja Siririka
At 23, Bertha Tobias turned a 0.7% acceptance rate into an Oxford offer, becoming a Rhodes Scholar through sheer determination, curiosity, and self-belief.
She said her secret wasn’t luck but a simple blueprint: know the opportunity, know the world, and know yourself. Tobias has decided to take this opportunity to engage with prospective students and applicants who would like to pursue academic opportunities by connecting with them on her social media platforms: YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
“I knew that I wanted to do a master’s degree in the United Kingdom, and I desperately needed somebody to pay for it because it is expensive. So, I got to doing some research as I became engaged with the process,” she said.
Tobias is a first-year PhD student at Oxford University and holds a Master’s in Sustainability, Enterprise and Environment from the same institution. She has taken to her various social media platforms to share information about all things with a focus on young people.
She is a Rhodes Scholar, and the Rhodes Scholarship is a postgraduate, fully funded scholarship to Oxford University.
She said it had a global acceptance rate of 0.7% and essentially covers tuition fees for either a master’s degree or a PhD at Oxford. She added that scholar’s study, while the scholarship covers their tuition and pays them a stipend. “The first thing I did was understand what the scholarship is and what it’s looking for. I tried to understand what the spirit is, what is the essence of this opportunity. I looked at the vision and values. I read the will of Cecil John Rhodes; I looked at his life and how the trust had been managed,” she said.
Tobias went a step further and looked at some of the press statements it had released, zooming in on its leadership, the ethos of its leadership, and what grounded its decisions, to develop as clear a picture as possible of the fibre of the scholarship.
She stated that the real takeaway was to truly understand the opportunity one is pursuing; whether it’s a scholarship or a job, it is crucial to know the institution, who leads it, and what it believes in.
“Immerse yourself in that ethos, not to reshape yourself in its image, but to genuinely align with it. Consider what they stand for. Who are these people? And then you fashion the spirit of your application to be aligned with their mission and their values,” she tipped.
“When I found out that I had been invited to an interview and that I had moved on to the next stage, I became obsessed with reading the news. I was reading newspaper articles. I was reading books about parts of the world that I had never thought about before, talking to my friends from different parts of the world, and learning what’s happening in their countries,” she said.
Self-awareness is important to Tobias: “I know myself. I have thought about why I want to do this, and frankly, I would still be fighting this fight even if I don’t get this opportunity,” she concluded.
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