In the new situation of fierce competition for jobs, it has become the **** knowledge of many university graduates that many of them wish to further their studies after graduation, and in particular wish to study abroad. Generally speaking, it takes at least one and a half to two years from preparing for the exam, contacting schools, applying for a visa, until you actually start your study abroad life. The following is an introduction to the basic process of applying for study abroad:
1, early planning
1, whether to study abroad for further study, should try to plan as early as possible, the earlier the planning, the higher the chances of success;
2, do a good job of pre-study career planning, clear about their own future career development goals;
3, to go abroad is not only to consider the cost, the school, and other hardware, and more The first thing you need to do is to take into account all the factors such as personality, hobbies and physical condition. Such as mental capacity, adaptability, poor self-control, communication difficulties, etc., if you can not adapt to life abroad, had to return home, and after returning home, it is difficult to adapt to life at home, it will not be worth the loss.
Two, language learning and examination
After graduating from college, you want to study abroad at your own expense for graduate school, the first thing you need to do is to get a language score certificate, generally the first choice to go to which country, which involves the preparation of what kind of English exams, the different countries require different kinds of language. Here are some popular study abroad countries on the language test requirements.
The United States: The language test score that must be provided to apply to study in the United States is the TOEFL score. U.S. universities do not have a uniform TOEFL admission score line for applicants. Most U.S. universities require a TOEFL score of 550 or higher for new students applying for graduate programs. If you want to apply for a scholarship, you should have a TOEFL score of 600 or above (out of 677). In recent years, some U.S. schools have also required applicants to provide proof of TSE English speaking test scores and GRE scores.
Britain and Canada: TOEFL score of 550 or above is required. IELTS (IELTS) score of 6 or above (out of 9).
Germany: the requirement of "foreign students applying for university admission German test DSH", the test is a certain degree of difficulty in the language examination, in order to alleviate the pressure of the DSH examination, Germany in some disciplines began to implement the bilingual system of teaching in the master's degree of foreign students, the basic stage of the English language, while learning German; professional stage of the German language teaching. In the case of foreign students studying for a master's degree, the basic stage is taught in English while German is studied; the specialized stage is taught in German. Students applying for bilingual programs should be proficient in English and must provide proof of English language skills, such as TOEFL, and in some programs, basic knowledge of German is also required.
France: The French TEF test is given by the French educational institutions and the marking is done in France. Some majors, such as psychology, sociology, etc., not only require a TEF pass, but may also require international students to go to a language institute for a further period of time.
Singapore: TOEFL score of 580 or above is required. The only way for foreign students to enroll in graduate programs at National University of Singapore or Nanyang Technological University is to take the TOEFL.
Japan: Japan's language requirement for pursuing postgraduate studies is that they must pass the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Level 1 examination, which is equivalent to the fourth year of an undergraduate Japanese language major in China.
Three, choose a university and major
1, the steps of choosing a school to study abroad:
(1) consult the relevant professional literature and academic newspapers and magazines, to understand the current situation and development of the specialty or scientific research engaged in in foreign universities or scientific research institutions, to find out suitable for their own specialties of the professors or scientific research partners, and contact with the correspondence.
(2) Go to the consulting offices of study abroad, scientific and technological information centers, major libraries and the Internet to check the information about the institutions of higher education and scientific research institutes, and initially determine a list of universities to which you want to apply.
(3) Considering the various factors that should be taken into account in choosing a school, we will finalize the list of 5 to 10 institutions after screening, and then contact them respectively.
2, in the choice of schools should pay attention to the problem:
(1) should be based on their own learning of foreign languages to determine the country to study, at the same time, before choosing a school, it is best to do an assessment of their own professional and foreign language proficiency, to their own actual situation to have an objective estimate, in order to ensure that the choice of the right country and school.
(2) Pay attention to the quality of education, specialization, entrance requirements, admission criteria, competition, etc. of your chosen school, so as to avoid a lot of trouble for yourself in the future.
(3) Pay attention to whether the school and its majors have been evaluated and recognized by the relevant authorities in your country, and find out whether the school's teaching, research level and specialization are similar to your own major or research. It is also important to check whether the school is recognized by China!
(4) Understand the school's admission requirements, admission standards, competition and application deadlines, etc., and objectively estimate whether you meet the school's admission standards and conditions, and whether you have a strong competitive ability: many countries have specific requirements for foreign students to enter the university. For example, many universities in the U.S. require applicants to pay a small application fee, and a few religious schools prohibit students from smoking or drinking. So, be sure to think it through before you start making contact.
(5) Find out about the school's various fees and financial aid. Pay attention to the conditions and requirements for applying for financial aid, and see if you are likely to receive financial aid from that school. In general, you should choose those schools for which you are eligible for financial aid. Pay attention to whether you can adapt to the climate and customs of the school's location. Applicants should consider the natural environment and economic factors together when choosing a school based on their preferences for location, climate and school size.
(6) Pay attention to the deadline for applying for enrollment at the school you are contacting. Many schools will no longer process applications after the application date. In addition, you should be prepared for a certain amount of advance notice when contacting a school in order to prevent unforeseen events from delaying your application.
(7) Measure yourself. Evaluate your goals, abilities, qualifications, temperament, values, learning ability, and level of study to choose a university that suits you.
Four, financial guarantee
Self-funded study abroad must ensure that you can obtain sufficient financial resources. As the cost of tuition, living expenses, and accommodation in foreign countries increases every year, students applying to study abroad must prove that they have enough money to pay for these expenses. There are many ways to obtain financial resources, such as self-financing, financial support from relatives and friends, sponsorship from friends, scholarships and grants, and part-time study. Among them, sufficient financial guarantee is a common requirement in all countries, and many countries have made regulations on the qualification of financial guarantor and the amount of guarantee, and often raise the standard. Of course, to study in the U.S. and Canada, if you can get a higher scholarship or grant, you can not need financial guarantees.
The financial guarantee is a notarized proof of financial support provided by the sponsoring organization or individual for the applicant. If the applicant does not have a financial guarantee and has not received financial support from the other school, the school will not accept the applicant.
Countries are not consistent in their requirements for financial guarantees for students applying for admission to their countries, with some requiring more than one type of document, while others do not require any, but only the payment of all required fees. However, the vast majority of countries require the provision of materials sufficient to prove that they have the financial ability to pay for the expenses required by the student, including the financial guarantee, bank deposit certificate, and proof of personal income and tax bill. In the specific processing, self-financed students can handle the required economic guarantee materials according to the regulations of the country they are going to.
Fifth, apply for scholarships and grants
Self-financed study if there is no friends and relatives of foreign exchange funding, personal and not enough foreign exchange deposits, study abroad will need to rely on the application of foreign universities and scholarships, foreign private institutions and foundations of the funding program.
1. Scholarships
Western economic and developed countries have a variety of scholarships to encourage academic excellence and scientific research capabilities of scientific and technological personnel to participate in a subject area or to complete a course of study, the scholarships have two objectives: one is to reward the high level of students, and the other is to subsidize the students of the family's difficult circumstances. Scholarships come from a variety of sources, including educational funds from the federal, state or municipal governments, scientific foundations, research institutes and universities, and donations to schools from companies or individuals. Most of the scholarship programs have one thing in common, which is their international nature, and students from all over the world can apply or apply for them.
2. Grants
There are two types of grants: teaching grants and research grants. Both require half "work" and half "study", half "work" pay, is the source of living expenses. The income from the grants is subject to income tax, but the tax rate is very low.
3. Application for awards and grants should pay attention to the problem
Self-financed students studying abroad in the fight for awards and grants, we should pay attention to the following points:
(1) undergraduate programs for Chinese students to get the opportunity to get the university's financial support is very small, the university is generally undergraduates only exempted from part or all of the tuition fee. Graduate students can apply for more scholarships and grants.
(2) Have a high level of foreign language proficiency, and be able to listen, speak, read, and write fluently in a foreign language. You will have more chances to recommend yourself to the scholars and experts who have a certain reputation.
(3) It is not always easy to get a scholarship at a prestigious university. Usually the world's leading universities have strong faculties, advanced teaching and research equipment, and sufficient funds to provide more financial assistance to students. However, due to the high reputation and the number of applicants, there may be thousands of applicants competing for a single scholarship. In contrast, some lesser-known universities have fewer applicants, so that there may be only a dozen or so people competing for a scholarship, and the chances of winning a scholarship are much greater.
(4) Science majors are less competitive than engineering majors for scholarships and grants, and are therefore more likely to receive financial aid. Humanities programs have a very small number of scholarships. There are almost no scholarships for law and medicine programs;
(5) Pay attention to the regional factor, for a country, due to historical and resource reasons, its regional economic, cultural, educational and scientific and technological development is not balanced. When applying for scholarships, if you look to less developed regions, it is easier to get scholarships and many other benefits.
(6) Applicants should be aware of the deadlines for scholarship applications and apply a year or more in advance.
Sixth, application materials
1, application form (Application Form)
Application form includes the applicant's name, date of birth, marital status, education, experience, the proposed major subjects and degrees, as well as autobiographies, plans, extracurricular activities, records of special talents. When filling out this form, the last name and first name should match the foreign name on the academic degree, passport, and other documents. In the case of education and experience, fill in the form in reverse.
2, Transcript
Application for graduate school must be accompanied by college transcripts. In addition to the original transcripts, there must be a notarized or official English copy. The transcript should contain the names of the courses taken, the credits, the grades (it is best to replace the Chinese school's scores with the usual U.S. GPA) and the class rank.
3. Letter of Recommendation
Most schools require applicants to provide two or three letters of recommendation, which are sent directly to the school by the professor, department chair, or supervisor of the course.
4, language test transcripts.
When applying to study abroad, send the appropriate language test scores directly to the school you are applying to.
5. Proof of financial resources
Proof of financial resources includes bank deposits, real estate certificates, scholarships, loan certificates, or sponsors' letters of guarantee. When you want to estimate the cost of studying, you have to consider the cost of books, clothes, medical insurance, vacation travel, etc., in addition to tuition and fees, room and board.
6. Physical examination form or health certificate
Applicants are generally required to submit a physical examination form. This form is provided by the school, and the applicant has to find a physician to fill it out and sign it, and some of them have to attach vaccination records. There are also schools that do not require a medical form, but do require a health certificate.
7. Application form for room and board
Some universities require all new students to live on campus, while others give them a free choice. If you are planning to live on campus, you should apply early. Some schools require a deposit in advance to reserve a room in the dormitory.
Seven, apply for a passport
China's citizens have been simplified for private applications to leave the country, now only with the household registration book or ID card can receive an application for approval of the form, the applicant is only required to submit the reasons for leaving the country and related documents, citizens applying for self-funded study abroad, such as regular universities, only need to submit the admission notice, and if necessary, also submit a financial guarantee; such as non-formal universities, there is also an additional requirement to submit a financial guarantee. Informal universities, but also add a form of self-insurance, in addition, has been approved to go abroad, the licensee, in the passport validity expires within six months before, without having to submit documents to apply for an extension, special circumstances can also be held in advance with the relevant visa certificate to apply for processing, the applicant, such as in the time limit for the approval of the results of the notification, you can to the public security organs to query.
VIII. Applying for a Student Visa
1. When applying for a visa, students studying abroad can follow the following steps:
(1) Provide a valid private passport and an exit (entry) card for self-funded students;
(2) Provide the documents required by the consular department of the country to which they are going to apply for a visa;
(3) Apply for a visa by presenting their passports to the embassies in China. Embassy in China;
(4) Pay the visa fee at the consular section of the Embassy; countries that are exempted from paying visa fee with China are exempted from paying visa fee.
(5) Provide a photo that matches the one in your passport. Fill in the visa application form in foreign language; some countries do not require visa application form.
(6) For a few embassies such as the U.S., where interviews are practiced, you should be prepared for the interview.
2, apply for a visa when the notes
Obtaining a student visa is whether to successfully study abroad is a crucial part of the impact of obtaining a student visa, many factors, each country has specific regulations and requirements for the application of student visas, but the main review factors are:
(1) Whether the school contacted is assessed by the country's authoritative bodies and recognized
(2) Whether the financial guarantee provided by the applicant's financial sponsor can be realized;
(3) Whether there is any problem with the purpose and motivation of studying abroad;
(4) Whether the enrollment documents of this applicant are complete and in line with the norms and requirements.
(5) Examine whether the applicant is able to return to his/her home country after completing his/her studies and whether he/she has a tendency to emigrate.
Nine, other notes:
1, the choice of intermediary
◆When you apply for studying abroad through an intermediary organization, you should check whether it has the "Certificate of Qualification of Intermediary Organization for Studying Abroad at Your Own Expense" issued by the Ministry of Education as well as the "Business License" issued by the local industrial and commercial administration department that allows you to carry out the business of intermediary organization for studying abroad at your own expense. You should check whether they have the "business license" issued by the Ministry of Education and the local business administration department that allows them to carry out the business of self-financed study abroad intermediary, and check their core qualifications.
◆To know the qualification of the institution to be studied abroad through regular channels, you should check the accreditation documents of the embassy or consulate of the institution, and find out whether the intermediary service agency has signed a letter of intent or agreement on cooperation with the institution and whether the letter of intent or agreement has been reported to and confirmed by the education administrative department of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the central government.
◆When signing a service contract for studying abroad, in addition to including the core contents involving the interests of both parties, you should also pay attention to whether the name of the intermediary agency in the contract matches the name on its "qualification certificate".
◆When you pay the fees, you should ask for a valid invoice or a receipt stamped with the company's financial seal. These contracts and invoices should be kept in a safe place so that they can be used as a basis for defending your rights in case of disputes in the future.
2, application and study abroad in the common misunderstanding
First: overestimated their own academic level, not according to their actual points of interest, must go to a famous university, read the popular majors, but after arriving in the local because of not accustomed to life, not accustomed to the learning methods, do not like to enroll in the subject, so the results are unsatisfactory, and ultimately did not achieve their own ideal;
Secondly, because of leaving the parents' constraints, they are greedy for fun, relaxing themselves, neglecting the course learning, missing too many classes, resulting in the attendance rate does not meet the requirements of the Immigration Bureau and the study has to be terminated in the middle of the study and face the deportation;
Thirdly, the purpose of going abroad is not clear, just busy with part-time work, and ignoring the main task of learning;
Fourthly, the language is relatively poor, it is difficult to adapt to the school's teaching progress. The first one is that the students are not able to learn the language.
3, study abroad application in the end with the network application or paper application
With the development of the Internet, the vast majority of U.S. universities have begun to accept network applications. The web application is also popular with most applicants because of its speed and convenience. Most Chinese students wait until the last day to submit their applications in order to polish them up a bit more, so the online application has become an inevitable choice for them. Although the online application has its obvious advantages, the traditional paper application may be more suitable for Chinese students.
First, from the school's point of view, if you use the online application, they need to print out your online application data and create a file. Then organize and merge the other materials you subsequently mailed. Be aware that during the peak application season, the school to which you are applying receives a large number of emails per day, which may lead to errors by school staff so that data is lost and time is wasted. Admissions committees generally do not bother to read incomplete applications; they wait until all the materials are complete before they start reviewing them. If you take a paper application, you can send all the data, including forms, transcripts, and letters of recommendation in a large envelope at once, which will greatly facilitate the school's processing.
Secondly, many people apply online through the Common Application. In fact, the Common Application is always different from a particular school in terms of the format of the form and the focus of the examination, and it cannot accurately reflect the school's biggest concern. Therefore, every school has a supplement in addition to the Common Application. But even then, it's still not as good as filling out the school's application form directly.
So, while the online application is quick, the trouble stays behind. It's better to get your materials ready early and send them directly to the recruiting office by courier, which is the most efficient way.