4 universities vs 1

How can i apply for independant student finance if i live abroad and im an international student? or am i being ignorant?

i really dont want to go down the whole, im disowning you parents and ill live my own life, sorta thing...

The people talking about student finance and moving out and means-tested vs non-means-tested didn't bother to read the bit about you being an international applicant. I don't know what you should do myself. Maybe you could apply for finance and economics courses at places that are as prestigious as possible to make your parents half happy, and then say that if you don't get in to somewhere fairly prestigious you'll consider doing Medicine? It will give them time to come round to the idea of you doing that course as the UCAS cycle goes round, even if you have no real intention of reapplying to do Medicine instead afterwards. If you win the part of the battle which allows you a year to try the finance application, maybe it'll soften them up a little for the second part of the battle (where you convince them to fund you).

Well unless you can somehow convince your irrational parents to support you then you have to decide what's more important to you.
Edit: international? Should have mentioned it in the first post, but it's almost impossible to pay the fees as an international without your parents help. It's just too much money to cough up on your own. All I can think of is getting sponsored by a firm and agreeing to their terms, which if they offer it, will be to work for them when you graduate.

International places for medicine are very competitive and if you aren't enthusiastic with genuine reasons for wanting to study it, they won't give you an offer (unless you're very good at faking it). So you'll be wasting your time. If your parents just want you to have a high paying job, do they realise that it takes about 12 years to become a consultant and earn the top salaries? Why don't you just apply to LSE, and no where else. Tell your parents you got rejected from all your medicine places and just hope that LSE accept you.

I think that most of the medicine applicants are interviewed. If you don't really love your subject (and therefore, medicine), you run the risk of making it evident at interviews. Moreover, since medicine is one of the most competitive courses, if tutors notice that you don't really like it, you're very likely not to be offered a place. Last but not least, since LSE requires a good personal statement for finance (and since you will have a medicine one), in the very unlucky case of being rejected by those four Unis, you'd find yourself in big troubles.

Moral of the story: fight and chase *YOUR* dreams.
I know that this is very hard to do, but if you talk to your parents and explain them that you don't really like medicine, I'm sure they'll understand.

my question is, is it worth making my PS towards just LSE so i can get into my dream place or should i go for medicine and risk living a boring daunting life :/

Hey guys,
my parents want me to study medicine so i will be applying to 4 universities for medicine (as ucas only allows you to apply to medicine at 4 universities)

thus i have my last option to fullfill my dream of doing finance.

so im thinking my best chances are at LSE as it has an international faculty of 65%

however, my personal statement will be all about medicine, and LSE wants a really good personal statement.

my question is, is it worth making my PS towards just LSE so i can get into my dream place or should i go for medicine and risk living a boring daunting life :/

My advice? Man up. My parents wanted me to study medicine, I was on board with the idea until Year 12ish. Then despite all the pushing from their side and their discontent for my decisions - I told them to shove it and applied for maths.

They always believe theyre right , regardless of what you say GRRRRRRRR

You should really be applying for what you want to apply for. I understand how overbearing some parents can be but you have to logically talk them through your options, job prospects, and ultimately what you want and WHY it's good. It's not as if you're dropping out of school to pursue a career as an exotic dancer- finance is pretty academic too!

Have you already spoken to them about something besides Medicine?

If you've been sensible about having an adult conversation with them, and you still do not have any other choice but to apply for medicine...Durham allows you to submit an alternative personal statement for a different degree course. This may be more advisable then clearly automatically getting rejected from LSE with a medicine personal statement.

Also I'd just like to say that just because you have a good personal statement won't guarantee you entry into LSE either.

I had a similar problem with my parents. It frustrated me that they thought they knew what was best for me and I really got annoyed by it. One day I decided not to take it. I sat down with them, on the eve of college enrollment and I told them 'I'm going to do what I want, it may not be the right thing, it may not be the best thing for me, however it's what I want to do, it's the career I want to pursue. And if you're not going to support me with it, then I'm not going to talk to you about it, I've researched and I know what I'm getting myself in for, I'm don't need your opinion.'
I didn't speak to them about my career choices at first, but since then they have came around and never contradicted my actions and supported everything I wish to do. I understand that they just want what is best for me, however most parents don't understand that we are capable of deciding that for ourselves. Sit them down and talk to them, they will understand. And if they don't understand, they don't have a say in the matter because you don't need their opinion, or at least, you don't need to live your life by it.

How would they find out that i don't want to study it? Just wondering?

And that's one hell of a risk man, hence the whole thread hahaha.

When they interview you. If you aren't really enthusiastic, it will show. When they ask you why you picked medicine, you'll either not be able to answer, or have a rehearsed answer ready, neither of which they particularly like. When they ask you what your work experience showed, again you won't come across enthusiastic if you found it all 'boring'. And you'll have to do a lot of research, as some ask about the structure of the NHS, the GMC, they ask what MMC is. And if you aren't interested, will you even bother to research all this? The competition is intense, with most unis only having 20-30 places available, and they'll be many more applicants a lot more passionate and well researched than you.

You might get lucky and get a place, but you'll have to put in a lot of work to prepare answers for the questions and be good at faking enthusiasm.

i see.. well i dont mean for this to come out the wrong way but im a pretty good bull****ter hahahaha messing messing.... but now that you have mentioned that i think i will research some more things about the NHS, GMC and MMC (whatever that is LOL)
i think i shall read one of my dads medical books too... might as well start preparing for the worst!!

also im going to send a second personal statement to durham, i may have a chance at finance!!!

is durham a good university however? how is the area?

Durham has a good reputation and always comes out high on league tables in general. Only beaten by Oxbridge. I don't know specifically for finance if it's good.

oooo thanks for the heads up!

ill definitly look into this options, it seems the most viable