There are several advantages of doing Masters in the United Kingdom as opposed to the US and Canada.
Some of the advantages include;
- The UK Masters is 1 year. This is cost effective and can help you get on with you life and career fast.
- The UK still offers you an affordable world-class education.
- You can easily get scholarships to fund your Masters in the UK (Chevening, Commonwealth, University Scholarships). See more of these scholarships here.
- Starting from January 2020, the UK offers a two (2) year post-study period which you can use to sort yourself out after graduation.
You can get admission to do your Masters all by yourself. That is if you don’t necessarily need agents who make things easier. You need two main documents:
- Your Transcript
- IELTS Academic OR
- Proof of English proficiency from your University can act as an alternative to IELTS.
With these, you can apply to schools for admission depending on what you want to study. You can secure an admission within a time period ranging from 48 hours to a few weeks.
After you get your admission offer, it is time to explore funding options. Below are available options:
- If you have funds to pay for tuition (ranges from £10-15k depending on the school), this is the more straightforward option. Accommodation (roughly £500 monthly) and feeding and transport (roughly £300-400 monthly) should be factored in as well.
- If you don’t have the funds, there will be issue. But not to worry. There are scholarship options. However, THESE ARE VERY COMPETITIVE! So, be ready to fight for it. Chevening and Commonwealth will fund tuition and accommodation. Some University scholarships will only partially or fully fund your tuition.
A note on the funding: Some schools allow you to pay in instalments. All you need is a deposit of like £3000 and you can pay the rest monthly after you arrive here.
Being on a student Visa allows you to work for 20 hours weekly. Some students have been able to sort out accommodation and feeding with this. There are also other ways you can earn.
You can move with your spouse and children. They will be on a Tier-4 dependent Visa with your spouse being able to work for up to 80 hours weekly. However, deciding to move with your family comes with initial financial outlay in terms of Visa fees, cost of accommodation and feeding. Everything is increased, naturally.
Now, to the challenges. Living in the UK is not rosy, especially if you don’t have funds. But if you are hardworking, you can find ways to cope. You might get broke or at the brink of despair. But if you hang on and work hard, it will be worth it in the end.
Also, COVID19 has made getting jobs more difficult than usual. But it is much easier to get jobs in the UK than in Nigeria. Any legitimate thing that puts money in your pocket is a job. Do it diligently.
