Starting Uni?

So when you think about starting University, first of all you have to understand that the system is very different from a country to another one, mostly if in the country you are applying to you are considered an International Student.

I am Italian and I grow up there. But I also lived in Vancouver at the time my classmates where applying to university. Then, I decided to apply to universities in the UK for many reasons.

Anyway, wherever you want to apply, you have to consider some things first:

1. Rankings

Well, everybody wants to go to a top university, isn’t it? And even if this isn’t the case, it is alsways usefull to look at rankings. Most of them offer the opportunity to select a continent and a field of study. Yeah, I mean, who cares if the Royal College of Art in London is the best if you want to study Medicine? You have to apply to Harvard, or Oxford or Cambridge for that. Check out the website I used when I was choosing the universities to apply.

2. Application website

If you want to study in the UK, the application process goes through UCAS. In you want to study in Italy, you probably want to take a look at Universitaly. Just remember that, you don’t want to contact the universities one by one, it’s not how it works in some countries.

Moreover, universities have different application processes sometimes, or ask for different entry requirements or admission exams. Make sure you have all the information you need about your university before you apply. You can find them on the University website and on its page on UCAS. Also, be aware of the application deadlines. Medicine, Dentistry, Cambridge and Oxford applications close on October 15th, all other applications usually have a deadline in January.

3. Finances

Ok, big problem. We are students. We don’t have an income and university is extremely expensive. It’s ok, I mean, we are all surviving. So first make sure to know your university fees. Secondly, if you are a British citizen or an EU national, did you know you can apply for government loans and grants? Check out the government website! If you are from the EU (like me), you can only apply for a Tuition Fee Loan (so you still have to pay for accommodation, food and books on your own, but that’s better than nothing, right?).

Moreover, are you a EU national? Did you know that the tuition fees in Scotland are significantly lower for us? It’s worth take a look.

 

The first and most important thing, anyway, is that you want to go studying in the UK. That it’s really you and nobody else pushing you. Moving to a new country is scary and hard, you need to settle in, adjust to a new culture and language, find new friends. It is not impossible, it is not! But they all look like huge mountaints that you will never be able to overcome if you are not totally motivated.

I remember that when everything was ready for London, my Dad started talking about it everyday, but not in a good way unfortunately. I was really upset at the moment, because my parents both supported me through the application process and he was the one saying, for example, they were going to drive me to Milan two time, to take the UKCAT and the the IELTS exams, rather then let me take a train and go alone. So I really couldn’t understand why he was being so pessimist.

However, we wasn’t breaking my dream down at all! I realised that a couple of months later. Once everything was ready, he was still giving me a choice and some time to think about it. Both my Mum and my Dad travelled a lot, for work and for pleasure, and they were living kilometers away from each other when they got married and when they were waiting for me. So they know what it means to leave Home and living on your own. And my Dad was only trying to do what he has always been doing: protect and support me. And they succeeded, because I understood that University was already a big step on its own, and moving to a new country to do it was even bigger. I had to be prepared for it and I was, thanks to my parents.