How to search for university abroad on interesting specialty

A few years ago, I too strongly imbued with a book by the Strugatsky brothers about the exploits of scientists and astronauts, and decided that I should bring their intention to study further. And, of course, to study abroad.

If you do not remember the terror in his eyes, when I took up the embodiment of his plan in life, I can say that we had a good try to do to me. But now I know how to look for and, ultimately, find the university abroad without paying agencies and intermediaries.

Location matters

Before you start looking, decide which country or even on a continent does not go against. So you narrow down the geography and will not be sprayed on the options that you as a result will not fit. Even if it will be a year of study (not to mention the four), it is important to understand that this time you will have to live in a foreign country, to a certain distance from the home and family.
In my case it did not matter, so I do not limit yourself geographically.

Look around the house

Most local universities actively developing its international activities, which means that they have a friendly contact universities in other countries. In addition, the expert in the exchange / international activities of the program will be able to orient in what sources you can see the available options. Such a person can come both from the street and find a friend who studied there. Often, information on Friendly universities have on the university site. So I have formed the first list of potential sites for the study.

Ask friends

Rule of six handshakes works in this situation. It is highly probable that some of the former classmates have already passed this way or know to whom should address. Your colleagues, friends or acquaintances may also have the necessary information.
Thanks to this help, I found two universities. By the way, in one of them I eventually did.

Spend your "resoch" on the Internet

Do not neglect the usual search for information on the network. I can think of some useful resources that will greatly facilitate the search.

Scholarship Positions- this is an aggregator of international programs, scholarships and grants worldwide. They have a great search and across countries, and in the field. Every day there are announcements of new programs, so I recommend to subscribe to our newsletter to keep skip the news to your interests (targeted distribution, you can only sign up for something that is interesting for you).

Study Abroad- another resource for finding universities in the specialty of interest around the world. But it is important to note that provides all kinds of available colleges without taking into account the availability of scholarships and funding programs.

There are useful group In contact with, Which publishes news about grants, programs, as well as interviews with students who study abroad in various countries. Sometimes you can get it on what you're looking.

These sources gave me for about 10-15 options that are potentially interested in me.

Pay attention to the conditions

Before writing the college to his list carefully read, whether they accept students from your country, and on what terms. It is important to pay attention to the deadlines for submission of documents, requirements and exams, which are necessary to provide results. Be sure - it TOEFL or IELTS (for English language exams), but often it can be a GMAT (if You want to study in the MBA program) or GRE (often required for admission to the master's or post-graduate). It is important to understand that the preparation for these exams will take time and often from several months to a year.

Do not forget about the financial side. Studying abroad is good quality, but expensive. Many universities offer their own scholarships to students of certain countries or provide information on grants, winning that, you can pay the tuition. But there are those that require one hundred percent funding from the student.

At this stage, your potential list should be substantially reduced. If this does not happen again to soberly assess their capabilities and prospects for each request, which puts the university. Non-compliance with even one of the 20 points can result in a complete failure. These aliens - terrible bureaucrats.

Do not settle for one embodiment,

Take care and consider an alternative to several universities. If you are tired of searching, start to collect documents that are already in parallel continuing to look for alternatives. To facilitate training, picks universities with similar requirements. So you can prepare a set of documents and send them to multiple locations.

As a result of the work done and thorough analysis of the conditions, opportunities and requirements I I received a small, but the target list of universities and individual programs - both in Europe and in the United States and Asia.

Half done, there is not much - to do :-)

As it is happening and what you need to do, I'll discuss in the next article.

In the meantime, share your Universities search experience abroad and ask questions in the comments.