I feel like I haven't updated much yet on my visa application and the steps I'm going through to get into school and get a visa and move to another country. So please, let me catch you up.
Feb through March: I googled schools and programs and researched the program's success and potential for career paths. I looked into the ranking of the school and where it was located. Once I found universities that I was interested in, I applied for the program that I was interested in.
Most programs that I was interested in also required additional documents, such as passports, transcripts, housing, financial plan, and thesis. Once I decided on what my thesis topic was, I spent about 1-2 weeks researching and writing the thesis proposal. Most universities advise that you spend a month or 2 preparing your thesis. This is a massive paper that requires several sources to support your argument, pages to prove your argument, and requires a research plan that needs to be approved by an advisor. So you have to pass your proposal on to advisors within the college you are interested in, ask them to review your proposal, fix anything that they suggest, and ultimately have them sign on to your proposal and thesis throughout the educational process. You need to research the people you are contacting to make sure that they are interested and studying the same things that you are so that your get someone who has a similar background and can bring input into the conversation. An advisor is typically a research TA or a professor with a background in research who is willing to help you and advise you.
I found this entire application process extremely difficult. I felt prepared for writing a thesis because, throughout my master's classes, I was adding to the research topic that I picked in the first semester of my undergraduate courses. I felt prepared that I knew what the university was looking for in terms of a thesis proposal. I just needed to tweak a few things, which is why I only spent a week or so on my research topic. I do strongly advise that you give yourself a longer time to work on it if you are considering an advanced degree. But I found that researching for an advisor took the majority of the time and was proven to be extremely difficult. Each university has a slightly different process of looking for advisors or reaching out to them. There wasnt a standard page to find one that fits where you could contact. Each university had multiple pages and hoops you had to jump through to get to the advisor page. Additionally, I was interested in combining 2 different departments (AI technology and healthcare sciences) which proved to be difficult. I couldn't find anyone interested in the same things so I ended up emailing individuals from the AI technology department and healthcare sciences.
March through May: By the end of March, I probably had applied to 20 or so universities within Europe. There was only one university that I paid an application fee for, all the others were free to apply to, which was great. During March, April, and May, I played the waiting game. I still applied to universities but I had no real interest in anything after the 20 universities I applied for. So I was waiting to hear back from colleagues. Within this time, I also realized a huge thing. I realized that I no longer wanted to study AI technology and Healthcare Sciences. I realized that I was okay with never discussing this topic again. I spent about 6 years researching this topic but nothing super revolutionary has happened that wasnt already a topic of a paper or project for me.
I was at work one day and I was talking with a nurse and a nurse practitioner. We were discussing babies, IVF, adoption, that kind of stuff. I remembered that I always wanted to donate my eggs but I never did because I felt like there was information missing. So after the conversations and work, I came home and started looking into egg donation. I realized that there was this gray area of consent and the ethical issues behind the lack of information from egg donation research. I went to bed that night with a head of questions and concerns for younger females who have donated their eggs before. The next morning, I went to work, and over the slow 8-hour work day, I pumped out a brand new thesis proposal regarding the legal and ethical issues surrounding egg donation. It was about 15 pages long but it felt so good getting all of that information out of my brain. I ended up submitting that paper to an old professor who returned it a few days later stating that it was a solid thesis proposal. I was overwhelmed by this new topic and was excited about the possibilities. So I went back to my top 5 universities and resubmitted my applications with a new thesis proposal. And I played the waiting game.
Also during this time, I started a spreadsheet of universities I applied for, tuition costs, costs of living, locations, safety and crime rates, employement costs, and likeability. There were multiple tabs in this sheet that had a list of apartments I was interested in depending on the different university cities, moving companies, phone plans, etc. Though I was still waiting to get accepted into these universities, I felt like researching the area, job opportunities, and salary expectations would help me better decide on the University I was going to attend.
Beginning of May: At the beginning of May, I was getting impatient with not hearing back from any of the universities. I had plans and goals. I wanted to be able to tell my family this news at the end of April at my mother's birthday party, or in the middle of May when they were gathering again. But it wasnt happening in my time and I was getting frustrated with that. So May 5th, I decided that if I didnt hear anything back by May 15th, I would go ahead and quit my job. I know. Ambitious. But I was being selfish and just wanted an out and to pursue this idea and dream. But I still didnt hear anything.
Middle of May: On May 15th, I got accepted into my first university. On May 17th, I got accepted into an ivy leave school. On May 19th, I got accepted into the University of Bradford. On May 22nd I got accepted into LSBU. On May 30th, I got accepted into the University of Birmingham. So yay!
Honestly, this was all super overwhelming because I didnt think I was going to get accepted into any college but getting accepted into all top 5 universities was super amazing and such praise! When I got accepted into the University of Bradford, I was a little sad because I had my heart set on LSBU. But I went ahead and put in my notice for work on May 20th. It was this huge, hilarious experience with giving my notice, but I gave a 3 week's notice and the option to work from home.
June 10th through July 10th: This was my last day of work. After work, I left for Texas. I still hadn't decided between LSBU and the University of Bradford but I knew that either way, I wasnt going to lose out on the experience. Both were pretty equal with tuition rates, and cost of living but Bradford seemed like a safer option. I spent the next month in Texas hanging out with friends and loving on my family. While in Texas, I decided Bradford was the best option for me. Additionally, I applied for my CAS, which is a form from the university stating that I have been accepted into the program and it is used for my visa. I was told that this would take about 2 weeks to process. I got it within a day. So that was a nice little blessing.
Once I got my CAS, I was able to apply for my visa. The Visa application was terrifying. I was afraid that I was going to miss information or not do it correctly but it seems like there is little room for mistakes. The form will kind of guide you through it. Then you have to purchase for the application. I recommend that you purchase the whatever (I think it was $125 for the full price) for the scanning of the information, the updates on the visa process, and the priority application. This will help you in the long run. I did not purchase this and I regret it because I would like the priority and the updates on my visa status since I'm cutting everything so close. But after my visa application and payment, I had to pay for UK health or something (I don't remember what it was called. I'm so sorry. But the Visa application prompts you to purchase it). It was a requirement. After that, I was able to schedule an appointment to go to a UK embassy to get my CAS signed and interview with them before sending my passport off to the National UK Embassy. I will talk about the interview in another section.
I also signed a contract to ship my stuff to my house. I have prepared all the contracts and inventory lists of what I will be shipping. I spent the entire month in Texas researching shipping companies that will ship my stuff internationally. The company that I chose had good reviews and proved through trust, emails, and communication that they are reliable. SO I was happy that I found a company to be able to do that for what I consider fairly cheap and reasonable.
Lastly, I spent additional time looking for apartments around the area. I found that England does this super fun thing where most landlords require you to go IN PERSON to view the apartment before you can apply. There is no workaround to this, unfortunately. So it is recommended that you move to England first and then spend a few weeks looking for apartments. But now I have a list of places I am interested in so that I could view if they are still available when I get there.
July 11- July 21 (the date that I'm writing this post): I came back to Colorado where my apartment and stuff is on the night of July 10th. Since I've been back, I've slowly tried to sell some stuff, donated a bunch of crap, and packed some things I want to bring. I have gotten boxes from Starbucks and luckily I saved most of my boxes from my previous move. Unfortunately, most of them are boxed and have water damage.
I also bought a new laptop. This was an expense I didnt anticipate but I'm happy with it. The reason that I wanted a new laptop was that it was taking me 20 minutes to write 3 sentences on my other laptop since the keys had water damage or food damage or something and wouldn't write or write too much. It wasnt up to quality standards and it was becoming less fun to write about my texas trip or the moving process. I knew that I had to purchase a laptop at some point within the next year but I didnt realize it was going to be that fast. Luckily I was able to afford it so that's a blessing.
July 13th: This was the day that I had my interview with the state UK embassy. This was for an interview to process my visa application. This is an important step in the visa application. Basically, to have this interview, you need your printed-out CAS, Drivers license, and your appointment confirmation for the day. You do not need your diplomas, financial papers, or any medical records (or at least for me in Colorado). I went in and got my fingerprints done and a photo taken and someone signed my appointment form and looked at my CAS. after that, I went straight to FedEx to ship off my visa application, my signed CAS, and my passport to the national UK embassy so that they can review everything and process accept my visa. I was advised that the visa application would take 15 days.
Since then, I've just been trying to relax, not stress over my visa application or my passport. From the day that I sent off my passport to the embassy, I would be leaving the country in 19 days so I'm not leaving much room for errors or delays but I am super excited to move on to this next chapter. I would like to say that as of today, I am finished packing for the next 10 days. I also caught up on some of my writing and revamped my website to keep the spark alive. Lastly, I found student housing that will allow me to move in early. My lease in Colorado is up on 7/31 and my flight to the UK is on 8/1. My move-in date is 8/14 but classes don't start until September 20th. So it's nice that they allowed me to move in a month early.
I hope that this post finds someone in need who has questions about the process of moving countries. Hopefully ill have better posts and things to say when I'm not stressed drinking about my passport or cleaning or moving. Listen, it's stressful and I'm doing my best so thank you for bearing with me.
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