Personal statement of Nikoloz Pourmotamed

My lifelong dream has been to study in the United Kingdom. I was fortunate enough to have
the right role models in my life. My older sister has won a scholarship from New College
Nottingham (now Nottingham College), and she has grown to be the young professional that I
aspire to be.

My life has two passions - from an early age, I had this unexplainable urge to learn more about
the deep sea. It is shocking to know that 90% of the sea is unexplored. Yet, billionaires such as
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos think of space as a way of satisfying their egos. The depth of the
ocean intrigued humanity for eternity. Ancients explained the mysteries of the sea by creating
the gods that controlled it. Later humanity, knowing more about nature, created science-
fiction literary masterpieces like Jules Verne’s “80 thousand leagues under the sea”.
Adventures of Captain Nemo have inspired me to live my life to the fullest and explore the
deepest seas. Even Rudyard Kipling invites in his poem the British soldier to go to Mandalay:

"Where the flyin'-fishes play, An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!"

One of the things on my bucket list is to go down in Marianas trench and be the third person
ever to see the unknown of the deep! It is fascinating to me how living organisms can survive
and function under such a harsh environment and the evolutionary traits they pick up to
overcome extreme pressure and no sunlight. Take as an example, Vampire Squid - Its
bioluminescent organs and its special oxygen metabolism help it survive the lowest
concentration of oxygen. Another good example is the Frilled shark which gets its name from
the frilly appearance of its gill slits. One of the reasons I am fascinated by these creatures is
that they are very mysterious as there is limited information that marine biologists could
gather. Having such a little information about many deep sea creatures motivates me, even
more, to pursue this career to have an opportunity to fill the gaps in the research. That is why I
believe HMC could give me this invaluable opportunity to study Biology, Chemistry,
Mathematics, and Physics during my A Levels, which afterwards would pave my path to the
best universities in the world. With my hard work and persistence, on the one hand, and the
quality of the British education, on another, will allow me to succeed in my academic work.

My second passion is tennis. A Latin phrase states Mens sana in corpore sano, meaning "A
healthy mind in a healthy body". Hence, I believe to be academically successful one must
pursue sports. I have tried a few different fields, but none excites me as much as tennis. My
persistence with this sport paid off when I became a champion of the City Sports Open 2022,
which allowed me to become a number two player (moving up from 8th place) in Georgia
Under 16. In life, as in sports, I have the desire for success. If one thinks about it, the two are
not that different from one another. One thing should be clear - the goal. Also, the means to
achieve this goal are equally as important. Hence, I believe, among many other applicable
skills tennis has given to me (about those I speak later), the ability to pave my way to success
is the most important. In the past five years of being a tennis player, I have become more
concentrated, coordinated, and agile; and I believe these skills will become of use once I
pursue my career as a marine biologist and I have to do research in the field conditions.

In pursuit of my dreams, I had to overcome some fears. I must say, as a child, I had an awful
fear of swimming in the open sea; however, my interest in marine biology was greater than
my fears. Nowadays, swimming comes easily to me, whether it be in a swimming pool or an
open ocean. This came with its challenges, but as mentioned before, "Where there is a goal,
there are means". Therefore, I took classes and became a good swimmer.

But the question remains, why am I worthy of HMC? The answer to this question is very
simple. I believe that the knowledge and experience I have gained in my life have prepared me
for this moment. There is no question that moving to a different country at such a young age
must be challenging. However, one thing to know about me is that I love nothing more than a
good challenge, and that is why I play tennis. Furthermore, I am extremely motivated and
hard-working, and just like any child, I want to make myself and my family proud.