Home town university best choice after national search

She and her family moved to Lincoln when she was eight and Petra attended the town's primary and high schools.

When it came to pursuing tertiary study, she felt it was time for a move. Deciding she wanted to study property, she began exploring options around the country. 

"I met with people in the industry and did lots of research when making my decision," she said. All signs pointed to Lincoln University as the best choice.

"I ended up choosing Lincoln for three main reasons: scholarships, recognition and success of the course in the industry and the impression I got at Open Day.

"I'm now working as a graduate commercial property valuer in Christchurch for CBRE."

Petra studied the Bachelor of Land and Property Management (Urban Specialisation), majoring in Finance and minoring in Marketing and will be receiving her degree at Graduation on 12 May in the Christchurch Town Hall.

"The practical work component of the degree was invaluable in securing my graduate position and receiving the inaugural CBRE Chris Barraclough Scholarship.

"I began work experience in my second year of study. In my final year, I worked 10 hours a week plus full time every holidays.

"This gave me invaluable experience and meant I was a lot more employable when I finished my studies. It also helped with insight in deciding what career path to take," she said.

My degree was well aligned with the industry, and my friends and I all had amazing jobs for international companies part way through our final year.

While Petra had cast her net wide, she committed herself when she found the right spot, spending her first year in the Halls of Residence on the Lincoln campus.

"It’s the best decision I've ever made and would recommend it to everyone. I loved my time at Lincoln. It attracts a really genuine bunch of people and I have made life-long friends."

She said the smaller scale of the university meant you could develop relationships with your lecturers and tutors.

"These people want you to succeed and having these relationships to leverage off really helped guide me through and achieve the grades I wanted.

"I was also a part of the Future Leader Scholarship Programme for three years of my time at Lincoln. It helped me grow as an individual outside of what I studied and be a part of something bigger than myself," Petra said.