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1. Decide the University, College, School and the Course
The decision to choose Great Britain as the Schooling country for future endeavours of any career stream for any potential student can be the toughest and the most important decisions of life. After the final decision of choosing the UK for studies, one must make decisions for the courses as per the interest in the subjects and streams, or what one wishes to pursue shortly. After these criteria in mind, one must shortlist the colleges and universities according to the following considerations
- Fee of colleges
- Duration of Courses
- The speciality of teachers and their Quality
- The infrastructure of the campus and that particular university
- History and establishment of the campus in terms of years
- Recognition and affiliation if any
- Subject availability
- Extracurricular activities
- Proximity to the residence
- Scholarships available and others
- Application deadlines
- Visa application form, and time
Since the decisions to choose a particular college is personal, and is thus subjective from person to person. At last, the student chooses the college of his/her comfortability and considers all the above decisions and consultations from important entities of one’s life.
After selection of a few, one must and can have comparisons between the shortlisted colleges for best decisions, and career prospects. All these data can be checked on the websites and prospectus of particular universities.
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2. Register and Apply
The next step is to look for the dates of submission, the final call dates, application procedure of the college, as it is different for different colleges and even sometimes courses. And then just needs to finally apply.
For UnderGraduates
UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service), is the body or organization, on which one needs to register themselves and fill in forms for the same. Some universities may then shortlist and conduct examinations if any, or based on one’s portfolio, SOP, LOR and the scores in higher secondary and secondary mark sheets are enough. IELTS and Toefl scores are to accept the visa and to check that one is capable to live, express and communicate in society or overtime staying in the UK.
For PostGraduates
These courses have specific requirements and application processes, for admissions. So to get hold of the details and important procedures and the learning of any kind via the application process be it independence or sense of responsibility, one must visit individual and relevant websites of the colleges shortlisted.
International students must take into consideration the dates and submission deadlines before knowing the other details for applying. Generally, the dates are as follows
- Mid-October: For courses of Cambridge and Oxford especially in the fields of Medicine, Veterinary medicine, Dentistry, Engineering, Astronomy, Pharma and others.
- Mid-January: For undergraduate courses.
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3. Accept the offer
After successful registrations and appropriate documentation of the application for the college, one has to wait for a few days or months. By the time every application is screened and checked, the final decision is taken by the college and university authorities. Then if one gets selected and shortlisted, the university or college will contact via mails, letter or contact no. provided in the form, and will tell about the future process if any.
Though if someone has applied through UCAS, the tracking becomes easier. One can then check the status of every application and authentic dates and chances for getting selected.
When one gets selected there are 2 types of selection
- Unconditional offer
- Conditional offer, in case of further hold, to get a few more exercises and documents done by the individual. For example, low scores, IELTS score deadline passed, extracurricular benchmarks low and others.
Various interviews are also scheduled and taken, for after or before the offer is made, as the college and university authorities deem fine. This step helps in better acknowledgement of students by the universities, and at the same time for students to get a practical idea of what their future in the college would be like. While for some of the courses and practical streams these interviews are mandatory before the offer is made.
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4. Arrange Funding
Now is the time to think about the fund requirements and the source of generation of these finances. Funds for the fees structure and other expenses to live like food, accommodation and transportation, with some immigration and Visa application fee are the major concerns for the universities and colleges of the UK. The burden for this financial assistance and huge fees shifts to parents and guardians, as per the culture and tradition of India. To help the individuals with the above problem, there are many ways like personal funding, scholarships, grants, Institutional aids, Government resources and support assistance, Via the employment side by side with the studies and courses opted for.
To attain scholarship and the aids, one must be extraordinary in the skillset, scope for any subject matter, intellectual part, learning and growing capacity, determination and clear-headedness. Also, the rules and procedures for these grants and scholarships are totally and solely dependent on the standards of that particular university or college. Hence these become a combative and competitive exercise for students. For more details, on such matters, one needs to regularly be updated on the circulars and notices of that particular college and university, via their websites or social media pages if any. Some of the fund generating ideas are
- A private organization or Private resources
- Corporate houses and companies
- Nonprofit organizations
- Government scholarship programmes
- Internships or Employment
- Family income
- Research and fellowship programmes
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5. Apply For a VISA in the immigration office
For studying outside the country the important factor is to get permission from the foreign country to stay and study in the region. For the same, we apply for Visa. Without this permit, one can not travel to countries and study. A student visa is required for studying purposes and is an important thing to possess. The documents required for its approval are
- Passport photos the latest
- Photocopy of a valid passport
- Personal ID card
- Citizenship documents
- Health certificate
- Certification of no criminal record
- English language proficiency, for which certificate can be attained after tests of the same as IELTS for English.
- Letter of guarantee, to abide by rules and regulations of country and college premises. With no harm to any of it.
- Proof to support the economic condition and affordability, like financial statements
- Certificate/diploma/mark sheets from the last qualifying paper.
- Academic transcript from last graduated school.
The process for the application of Visa form requires the following steps
- Enrol for Biometrics and application of student Visa at the visa or immigration official centre. Submit and fulfil details required to obtain the Biometric Residence Permit. This is further required to finally obtain permission.
- Complete the Online Visa Application Form which will require the above-mentioned documents with Biometric Residence Permit.
- Some health certificates need to be documented and submitted, for a healthy stay in the foreign land. Like Tuberculosis Certificate, Covid certificate showing “negative” result, or other important health check-ups(to not get blamed in any case or any mishappening).
- Pay the visa processing and application money fee in the international currency itself which is Pound Sterling, and the amount is 348 GBP.
- Now is the time to finally have a Consular interview.
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6. Prepare for the Stay and living in the UK
When one receives the approval of the Visa application form, it’s the go green signal and status, and one can finally book the tickets to travel and start the new chapter of one’s life. Now just look for details of accommodation and emotionally gain support for separation from family and friends, Though one will meet new friends and make new lives.
