Hi there, i'm a student in England at the moment about to go into my final year and really fancy the idea of doing a Masters programme in either Canada or the States. Does anyone have any experiences of how 'easy' the immigration side of things is? How long student visas last, funding and that sort of thing. The application and acceptance is something i'd have to decide and deal with myself, but if it's a no-go then there's not much point looking into it if you see what i mean.
Easy?!?! I know several international students, and there are a variety issues that come up, most depending on what you are studying. For you, I suspect the visa will be much of a non-issue, unless you are not an EU citizen. Also, a big word at US Universities is "diversity." Unless you are applying to Harvard or Yale Medical or Law schools, I suspect that acceptance will not be much of an issue.
I am very much an EU citizen. They seem to accept you if you can prove you'll be able to afford the tuition fees and have a valid decent passport, from what i have gathered so far.
A lot also depends on the department and the university. Either way, any college large enough to offer a master's program will have a person or persons who can help you navigate the visa issues. Contact the graduate admissions office, and they can direct you to the specific person. Also, most research universities offer tuition scholarships and stipends to all or most (again, depending on how well the department is funded) of their graduate students. In those cases, proving that you have financial resources is not important; rather, acceptance into a specific program and receiving a funding package is what's important.
The one i have contacted so far is Temple in Philly, they offer a masters program in the same course i am following here. But it all needs to wait until i get back to Uni here before i can really arrange anything officially, my university will have it's own people to help out. Thanks for the input!! Much appreciated.
No problem. BTW, Temple is a research university, so they should have some money to give you if you're accepted into your program.
I looked into study abroad in England cause I wanna do grad school there and then after that stick around and live there and have a family there and a job there and a life there and all that fun stuff. I looked at the Home Offices website earlier in the summer just to get a general idea of how you're able to study there, i think it was easier for me to just become a british citizen than it was to go over there and study. On the temple note though it's a really good school. My mom did her undergraduate there and she really liked and it's my backup school. The city campus isn't in the best area but i've never heard of anyone having extensive problems with it. As far as I know though it's a good school filled with a lot of really cool people. I've never met a temple student I didn't like
There's a school in South (i think) London called Richmond, it's an American college meant for Americans (and foreigners in general) studying in England. But is priced like an American college rather than a UK one. One of my US-based friends is looking to go there, she's doing Art so maybe it's an art school. In my first year where i am now we had an American girl stay with us for 6 months studying at my university (www.brighton.ac.uk). So there are programmes you can do and the universities are helpful. Just have to get the right person to talk to.
Well I'm planning on doing a 5 year double major in music and international studies and my first choice has all the students go off and do a project on or off campus all january and has a special study abroad program just for london (very originally called the london program) so if i went to study abroad it'd have to be in two areas and a conservatory would have to be nearby or a school with a kick SS music program or else it winds up hurting me cause i'd wind up neglecting one of my two majors which just causes problems. As far as pricing i looked at it for the royal college of music and the royal academy of music, it said for both something along the lines of 6,000 pounds, or maybe it was 13,000 (yeah i know that's a huge difference) but whatever it was by the time you factored in the rent for an apartment, food, bills, clothing, transportation, and whatever else it was about the same as going to school in the US only with a lot more paperwork
It's a lot less for me here.. i don't even pay my tuition fees, if i did it would be £400 a year for 3 years. My rent is £250 a month for 8 months, so £2000 and i get given (and eventually have to pay back) £3500 a year to live on.
I'm a muscian, we don't make money, we just barely make rent and are horrible with money. One school listed flat rent as 80-130 a month, i looked at some in that price range and they looked doable, especially the ones that said includes bills. That and I know london is deffinately not the cheapest place to live. Tuition here though is ridiculous, we've got the money for me to go to college, we're still working on my sister though, but she's like a genious so she'll probably get a scholarship
Jim's? That place is just a tourist trap now, I drive by it every saturday on the way to my chamber lessons and the line is out the door and around the corner. Their steaks are good but they aren't that good. Pat's in south philly by the italian market or Rich's in reading terminal
I am doing the opposite of you Danners9. I leave for grad school in England on the 17th. It wasn't too difficult for me to study in England but there is a lot of paperwork. I assume it will be the same for you if you apply to schools in North America. Make sure you leave yourself enough time to factor in mailing information back and forth across the ocean.
I had lunch at Jim's when i was there in august, the lines were big but i see what you mean about tourism. If you've not had one before then you won't know the difference, but i am sure there are better ones. I have another year of regular university to go before any of these plans can actually happen, just nice to find some options and see what i can do. Where abouts are you going to study?
Well right now i'm working on finishing high school and getting into college but my first choice is oberlin and the rest are northwestern, university of michigan, boston university, university of maryland at college park, carnegie-melon, and Indiana State at Bloomington with temple as a backup. I think i missed one but it doesn't matter right now. For grad school though i'm looking at the royal college of music, royal academy of music, and trinity college of music.
I gotta say, I was pumped about a traditional Philly cheesesteak, but MAN is that $hit nasty. Nas-T. In Philly they put Cheese Whiz on it!! Not exactly gourmet. I couldn't finish my sandwich from Pat's it was so bad. I was still hungry, though. As we walked back towards downtown, we passed a little Mexican taqueria not even 2 blocks from Pat's. I don't remember the name, but damn that was some good eating!! Totally legit food, too, stuff you can only find in Mexico. I'm glad we went to Pat's, though. We got yelled at for taking too long to get out of the cab, my girlfriend got sent back to the end of the line b/c she didn't order right. Good times!!
You don't have to have whiz on it, i had sliced cheese! The guy didn't understand me when i said "tomato" in my english accent, and my friend (american) laughed at me.. then the guy had a go at her for laughing.
FYI before anyone else gets the cheese whiz, the cheese whiz is not real cheese, I'm not sure that's 100% true but I don't believe that real cheese comes in a can and runs like that, it's nasty. The cheese steak itself is enough to clog your arteries but if get them with the cheese whiz you might as well just go up to the counter and say, "Shoot me please," cause that sh!t'll kill you