Dreaming of Going Abroad – Advice?

[Kerry Chou]

Hey there,

I’m Kevin, a college student in Chengdu. I’ve known about this forum for a long time. As you might know i major in interior decoration, but i realize that studying here isn’t what I want. I’ve had a dream about going abroad since I was young.

Now i have strong determination, that is go abroad and for furthur study. But i am confused about where to go. Which country may fit me. And you know my family isn’t rich and i don’t want to ask for too much money from my parents. I wonder if i get a chance go abroad i will do some part-time jobs to support me.

I know there are many people from other countries. So friends please tell me where should i go and what shoud i do to prepare.

Any advice? Suggestions?

Thanks a lot!!!

[Slavsky]

Use google to look for job possibilities abroad. This is how I travel for the last 6 years. At the given moment you may be interested in “work and study” opportunities. Meaning that employer will pay for your studies, meanwhile you will be working for the company. Actually I`m not aware whether such programmes are still actual, however when I was 18 that was my first ticket abroad. Companies who offer such opportunities charge fee, of course. Try Sweden.. extremely expensive country with according salaries and outstanding social guarantees. They are quite warm for the foreigners. If one day I come back to Europe (which is least likely), Sweden will be one of the few options.

[Kerry Chou]

Thanks Slavsky,

I am trying this way to achieve the purpose of going abroad,and once i succeed i got to find some part-time jobs. But now i Encountered a trouble,that is i don’t know what should i do and it seemed like it is hard to get a job from other country. But still thanks.

[Jasmine]

Hi Kerry,

I don’t know your educational background. If you have undergraduate or graduate degree from accredited universities, I suggest you apply for scholarships, which will not only support your financially, but also allow you to work for the area you’re interested (work as graduate assistant for your professors).

[Kim Duistermaat]

Dear Kevin

I think you should go for further study, with a scholarship, next to which you could hope to find a topic-related job to bring extra money in. this will take you about a year of hard work and a lot of searching and paperwork. Start here:

– google ‘study interior design abroad’ to find info on programs online.

– many countries have educational support offices in China. for Holland, ask information from https://www.nesochina.org/ (study their website first). Other countries have such offices too, sometimes even universities have their own offices. I don’t think any are in Chengdu though.

– visit the chambers of commerce, embassies and consulates in Chengdu and ask them for information about education and scholarships from their country.

– ask your own school for information on programs offering scholarships for Chinese students.

Carefully choose which program fits your level of education, look closely at the requirements and ask if it is not clear to you.

You will probably need very good scores on your current program, and an English language test (depending on the country), like TOEFL. Admission processes for the academic year starting from August start in the previous autumn, so if you start now and work hard you may be able to get out august 2014 at the earliest.

Good luck!

[Pardhu]

Hi Kerry. I was in the same situation few years ago. I will try to give you some experiences i went through. I thought of going to the UK to do my masters at the beginning, but the tution fee was very high for foreign students which is mostly the same in many countries and there are very few universities that can offer full scholarship. And then, I found a university in Milan (Politecnico Di Milano) which do not has a different fee for foreign students. I went there and i dreamed of working in McD as a part time job to support my living. It turned out that I should be speaking Italian to find any work. Bummer. I never thought about that until I went there. Fortunately I was granted a scholarship later and ended up having great time in italy. I have met some friends there who said that the universities in germany and sweden are not expensive (may be totally free). But you will have to pay for your living costs which is very high.

1. If you can learn a new language other than english, you can find some universities in europe that has great programs for design and not very expensive. Google ERASMUS program.

2. It can be frustating to focus on studies and parttime jobs. So try hard to get a full scholarship. Since you are young, be patient and try until you get something that will suit your financial requirements.

3. When you go abroad, apart from your studies plan to travel a lot. I think its important. Its expensive to travel abroad, so save money for that too.

4. You can find a parttime job in your field of expertise, if you have good skills in some softwares such as 3dmax, maya, rhino and good rendering softwares. Since its expensive, some offices prefer to offer part time jobs to students who have these skills 😉

5. Most importantly there are private institutions who offer their own scholarships. Look for them. One of my classmate got some private scholarship like that. There must be a lot in china.

Good luck.

[Alison]

Hi Kevin,

The advice people have already listed above is all very good. Searching the internet for scholarships, both private and governmentally funded, is a good first step. However before you start that, you need to think about a few fundamental questions which might make your search easier. These are:

a) What is it you hope to achieve or gain by studying abroad? Is it work experience, language proficiency, broadening your interior design skills, improving your CV, a chance to see the world or some other motivation? Of course, all of these factors will be important to you, but which is the most important? When you can understand what you want to get out of studying abroad perhaps it will help you find a good institution to study at, or a country you really want to go to. Money is important, but if you end up going to a cheap place that doesn’t give you what you want, then what’s the point?

b) How long do you want to study abroad for? For a three-four year period to do an undergrad degree, one-two years to do a Masters or 3+ to do a PhD? And if you want to do a post-grad degree, think carefully about time pressures; working and studying through post grad studies is really tough and I don’t recommend it if you don’t have to do it – it’s even tougher in a foreign country if you don’t speak the native language (like Pardhu mentioned about his experiences in Italy), even if you do speak English. This is also a question by itself: do you want to study in an English speaking country, or are you willing to learn a new language?

c) This varies from country to country, but people do get in trouble for it – will you be able to work on a student visa when you go abroad? I think you will be able to, but there are likely to be conditions on your visa restricting what kind of work you do (I think in the UK on a student visa you can only do part time work. Not sure though). This is worth checking out for the countries you are thinking of going to.

I think studying abroad is great, it gives you a chance to develop skills and confidence and helps you learn about yourself. I don’t want to sound discouraging! But from your original post, I get the feeling that you need to consider these three questions carefully and then perhaps you will have a clearer idea of what you want, and which countries fit your specifications.

Good luck! Follow your dreams – but make sure you know what they are 🙂

[Kerry Chou]

Hey there,

I love you so much and thanks for your useful suggestions. I am trying to search where should i go and which school may fit me well these days.I found it is really hard to find a school that you like and the school may accept you at the same time. But i will try my best. Although i do not clear about what is best. 🙂

As for scholarship i don’t know if it may hard to apply. Nowdays i am studying TOEFL and French. Because i think my English level is really low. And as you know i love the European countries, so it may gain more oppotunity to be accepted by a university if i know more languge. Now i know that education really need money.

Quote:

You can find a parttime job in your field of expertise, if you have good skills in some softwares such as 3dmax

Lucky! I did learn a lot of useful softwares these years. I am

good at 3dmax, auotocad, sketchup, ps, coredraw and revit. Thanks that i stuied hard during these years

Quote:

a) What is it you hope to achieve or gain by studying abroad? Is it work experience, language proficiency, broadening your interior design skills, improving your CV, a chance to see the world or some other motivation?

Haha.I know what you mean. But i have to say Bingo! When i was young i just want to see the world. But now all of what you said are what i want.

Anyway Thanks a lot !!!

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