How did you start uni as international student?

Hello,
I'm 21 and after doing a gap year I applied to a university abroad.
I would like to get an opinion from people who study in the UK as an international students. I have got couple of question regarding transition to the UK.
1) Money - I know that a lot of people do a gap year to earn some money. I started a job and through that time, collected around £1200, I have £3000 more on my bank account given by parents. I know that It is not enough, so I will need to find a job quickly. How much did you have when you did start uni? Where you manage to easily earn more?
2) How did you feel among different people - My english is not perfect. Although, I achieved 7.0 on IELTS, I still don't feel comfortable speaking English. The thing that worries me the most is my appearance. I'm almost 21 and I look like 17. When I joined a before-uni group on whatsapp, I saw this people that look like adults. They're probably younger than me as well... I am afraid that I will not be taken seriously even by girls. I'm 5'5.
3)Accommodation - It is August, and I still did not find any place to stay. I don't want to stay in uni halls, since they are really expensive and not that great. I still did not find guarantor as well. This makes me very concerned. I don't know If I will be able to find something.
4) Education - Did you consider studying in your home country? There are many great universities in my country. Not ranked highly in world rankings, but certainly very intelligent people go there as well. I'm still torn whether to stay at home.

This are main things that I am worrying about.

I appreciate all the answers. Thanks for reading this to the end, and I can not wait to read some of your replies.

Reply 1

Joleee

1) you need to prove to the Visa office that you have enough funds for tuition (about £18,000) plus enough to live off, including enough funds for accommodation, food etc for the entire duration of your year (£1,015 per month if you study outside London), plus you need to pay a healthcare surcharge which is a few hundred pounds. not sure how much that is in total, but probably £29,000+ per year.
see here for the guide. www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-application-for-uk-visa-as-tier-4-student

btw you can only work 20 hours a week during school time as per the rules of your visa, but you're going to have a tough time doing a full time degree and working 20 hours a week.

2) english is my first language so i can't help you with that, but i will say i've had flatmates from Thailand, Saudi Arabia, India, Dubai, Greece and Belgium. their english wasn't perfect either so you're not alone.

3) you're going to have a tough time finding private accommodation without a guarantor, unless you can pay your entire rent (i.e. the full year) up front.

4) never considered studying in my home country. it's boring there :smile:

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

Do I need a vise when I am still an EU student on entry 2020?
Also I don't get how people can "afford" to study in the UK, i.e. my friends (few of them study in Liverpool), one is significantly less wealthy than me. I assume he work somewhere now (but he did not in the beginning). Furthermore, I see tons of people (on engineering 2020 groups on my uni that I joined) from more poor country than mine: Lebanon, parts of Africa, South America. How are they able to afford all that??
I have parents that support me in everything, but the thing is that I just don't want to suck all of their money. Studying in my country would be significantly less expensive (but this is not an "excuse")

Reply 3

Joleee

Original post by Anonymous

if you start in 2020 you are still eligible for a UK student loan, so maybe google that. the university website will talk about tuition fees for EU students starting in 2020 as well and if you pay by instalments what dates you need to make payments by.

you don't need a visa if you arrive in the UK before 31 December 2020. read here for what you need to do
study-uk.britishcouncil.org/moving-uk/eu-students

students from outside the EU must apply for a visa and must pay international student fees. you need to remember that not everyone that comes from an apparently 'poorer' country is poor themselves. most of the international students i know are completely financially supported by their parents. the odd ones have a student loan from their home country.

i understand not wanting to suck all your parents money. same and i don't :wink: