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Studying abroad could be a daunting experience; there are so many schools to choose from and so many countries to study in. The number of programs available could be so overwhelming. How about the qualifications you need to have and all the travel documents you have to prepare? All these are so intimidating that the average Nigerian would not know where to start.
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Here, we will break down studying abroad into simple steps, easy to understand and easy to follow.
This is what we believe is the first step, only when you have decided on what you want to study can you begin to search for institutions and even scholarship opportunities. There are a wide range of courses to choose from, your first degree may help you narrow down these choices, there are how ever postgraduate courses you can take irrespective of your first degree. For example, you can earn an MBA either you have a business background or not.
Your area is interest and passion can also help you determine what course to study.
Another factor to consider is the duration of the study. Some study take up to four years some go on for about three years
There are those who may not really care about the course, they just want to earn a foreign degree, don’t worry if you fall into that category, it’s not so strange, you will still find the steps listed here very instructive and helpful.
There are a lot of countries with great schools and a superb education system. If you are not particular about a country, there are factors to consider before choosing a country to study in.
The first thing you’d want to consider is how immigrant friendly they are, and if you really don’t care about that, you would want to know the cost of living in the country. You might also want to consider how easy it is to get a visa, generally though, once you have a letter o admission, it becomes quite easy to get a study visa at the very least but some countries are not just immigrant friendly, I mean some countries would allow you to work as you study, some out rightly forbid it. Public universities in certain countries even offer free education to international students regardless of their nationality.
The next step is interconnected with this one. Either one may determine the other.
Truly most Nigerians don’t care about this so we won’t be talking about which schools are ivy leagues and which ones aren’t. If you however care about this, please don’t lower your target on our account, if you think you have what it takes to gain entrance into such schools, then by all means go for it. The point we are making is that admission into such schools are highly competitive even for the citizens of the country. Most ivy league schools however have diversity and inclusion policies, this means they are required to take in a number of students from a minority group, now this groups could be black Americans, African students, people who identify as gay, etc.
Your course choice would help you decide on which institution to choose for you will not find your course of choice in every institution.
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Another factor that may aid your choice of institution is the school fees and the scholarship opportunities available, and the terms of the scholarship. Some scholarship only cover your tuition while you have to fend for your other expenses while some provide you with stipends for your living expenses.
If your institution does not have scholarship opportunities or you failed to get it, it’s nothing to worry about, institutions are only one out of many sources of scholarships (To learn more about securing scholarships read our other articles: Securing scholarships to study abroad.
The usual and wise thing to do is to select and apply to multiple institutions; you don’t want to put all your eggs into one basket.
Most English speaking countries require some form of English proficiency test, so you’d want to take one. However certain institutions waive the proficiency test if you can show that you took your first degree classes in the English language, do this you’d require a note from your university.
Once you’ve decided on the institutions and then course of study m, the next thing is to prepare and send in your applications. Most of these are done online and via email. Some universities how ever require that you send in physical copies of your documents by post. The process to go through to apply is usually contained on the schools’ website. It is important to read and understand every step and instructions very well and follow it to the latter.
Prepare every document painstakingly, make sure it is well written and void of errors, grammatical or any other. Get someone qualified to help you look over all your documents. The most important thing is to beat every deadline; your application would not be considered at all if you send it in late.
Once you’ve been offered an admission, you must proceed to get your visa. This is done at the country’s embassy. At some embassies, you may need to fix an appointment before showing up. It is wise to visit their website and find out all the necessary requirements to getting a visa. Make sure all required documents are correct and without errors. You would want to apply for your visa in time, in fact you can begin the process while you are still applying for admission, this is because getting a visa takes time, and sometimes you have to wait for as long as three months and you don’t want to miss the beginning of your program. Once you’ve gotten a visa, pick your travel date and buy your flight ticket