AbsurdityOfReality

I've recently been thinking about where I could go in life, and over the past couple of days I've been thinking about the US. I'm thinking more of a long-term thing after I'm out of college.

I've recently finished high school and I'll be entering college later this year (hopefully!) doing an Applied Science BTEC (worth 4 A levels if I remember properly) I can't say exactly what my GCSE results will be as I haven't recieved my results yet (although I already have a grade B GCSE in Astronomy, but that's about it) but I know it'll be a mixed bag, some A/A*, and some maybe at D or even E if I've messed up badly.

I'm particularly good at science, which is the subject I'll have the highest grades in. I'm not sure about going to uni yet.

I'm not really sure of what to do, I've read a bit of the wiki, but for the sake of simplicity just assume I know nothing. If you need more info just ask.

...I feel like I just wrote a bloody CV or something.

MoshiMoshi

Hello Absurdity,

Moving to the USA is definitely a long-term goal, but being a student gives you more options.

When you're 18+ and still a full-time student, you can do summers with BUNAC, which is as close as the US gets to a working holiday visa.

When you're a recent 'post-secondary' grad (not sure how BTEC stands with this) with some work experience, you can apply for the Mountbatten Institute internship program.

If you have plenty of money, or the ability to get a scholarship, you could study in the US.

Eventually, yes, your chances of getting a visa are going to boil down to being very good at something, or very in love with an American. Having a degree helps -- the US isn't typically very good at recognizing any more qualifications than the usual BA, BSc, MA, PhD etc -- but if you're not sure about uni, definitely don't go just for the sake of America. You never know how the situation will change.

If you're interested in science, that's currently a good thing -- I'm here because my husband is a physicist -- but who knows what the future holds.

Some recent threads about vaguely similar topics:

21-year-old who'd like to move to the US:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=762053

20-year-old ditto:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=762846

Good luck with the GCSE results!

AbsurdityOfReality

1. Mind telling me a bit more about this?

2. Ditto.

3.By "plenty of money" how much do you mean? Paid all at once or over time? Not sure about scholarships.

4. Good to hear. Well, read.

Noorah101

Google "BUNAC".

Google "Mountbatton Institute".

"Plenty of money" means you need to have enough in savings ahead of time to cover all your tuition costs and living expenses, for your entire time as a student in the USA.

Rene

MoshiMoshi

I haven't actually done BUNAC, but it sounds like a good opportunity if you want to spend a summer in the US. Link is here:

http://www.bunac.org/uk/workamerica/

Looks to me like you pay a fee to apply -- currently 385 pounds -- and then can come to the US for the summer and work summer-type jobs. It's restricted to full-time students, age 18+.

You might also want to look into Camp America. Again, I don't have any personal experience of this, but I think it's a similar program: pay a fee to apply, work for the summer in a camp. They have a forum here:

http://www.campamerica.co.uk/members/forum/

The Mountbatten internship gets you a year's internship in New York. It's much more career-oriented; AFAIK you need to be a college grad with some work experience under your belt. Officially it's a kind of postgrad course that includes an internship in NYC. I think it costs about six thousand pounds, but you do get a monthly stipend and accommodation included. (My friend did this, and had a very good time, although I did *sort of* get the impression there were a lot of posh kids there on a parental-funded-post-college-semi-gap year )

http://www.mountbatten.org/mipweb.ns...y_a_year_in_ny

International students usually have to prove they have enough funds for the entire course, up front. Do a search for F1 visa on this forum -- I've never been a student here, but other people often post about it. I teach English to a lot of international students who are planning to go to community college and/or regular college here in LA.

As for costs: it really varies, but going to college is expensive here. (I know it's expensive in England now, too, but it's probably still cheaper than the US.) Plus, if you're on a student visa, you usually have extremely limited options for supporting yourself with part-time work. If you're already on the fence about going to uni in England then this may not appeal to you!

In the US, there's community college, and college/university (people often use college/uni interchangeably).

Community college is cheaper than college/university. It's a bit more like 6th form combined with a polytechnic. I *think* you can only do 2 years at a community college. Then you can transfer to a regular college (university) and do 2 more years to get a BA, or you can finish with an Associates Degree. It's kind of half a regular degree.

(Someone please correct me if I'm getting this wrong!)

Sometimes people have trouble getting student visas for community college, but often that's because they already have a degree from their home country. I'm sure it's less of a problem if you're doing it for your first degree.

College/university is much more expensive, but you get a BA (or BSc) after 4 years. I like the system in America; you get to study a lot of things in the first few years of your BA, and then specialize later on.

Sample costs per year for a local university and community college:

Estimated costs for one academic year at UCLA: about $55,000
http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/budget.htm

Estimated costs for one academic year at Santa Monica Community College: about $26,000
http://www.smc.edu/EnrollmentDevelop...tion_Fees.aspx

Basically, if you want to do anything other than a 90-day holiday in the US, get your wallet out! If you do become interested in getting a degree in England, you could also look at British unis that have a 'study abroad' component, or some kind of exchange system with US colleges.

AbsurdityOfReality

Yikes, looks like my options are pretty limited, assuming that these are my best options. Speaking of career orientated, what are my options, say, if I decide to move over after I'm done with education? Bracing myself for even lower chances!

ian-mstm

You can't move over unless you have a visa. You can't get a visa unless you qualify for one. To qualify for one, you need education and/or skills. Do yourself a favor... stay in school and get at least a Bachelors degree and, preferably, a Masters degree. Your options open up considerably with education and experience.

Ian

Orangepants

You sound a little like me when I was 16 as in I knew that there was a world out there and I wasn't going to stay in one place for ever. What is not similar to you though, is deciding on a specific place as this may (but not always) limit your opportunities. I knew I had to get a good education, be good at something and then be able to leverage of that, travel and find amazing places to live.

I used all my summers from school and uni to work overseas, au pairing, campsite courier, holiday rep, BUNAC visa to the US etc. and then when I finished my postgrad, called one of my contacts in Paris and flew to Paris and was working within a week at a good job! From there - the opportunities came and I was open to them.. 4 countries in Europe, 1 in Asia, 2 in the Caribbean (where I stayed for quite a while) and now 18 months in the US.

I am trying to say be open to opportunities, study, start small and you never know where you may end up. There are some great places all over the world! But you will need an education.

Bob

Get a proper degree. The Btech is as much use as a chocolate teapot over here, but you can use it as a foundation year to uni, so do that, go to uni, get a degree.

During the summer holidays, you can head over on BUNAC summer camp type programs.

Once you've got a degree, you can look to do a J1 internship over here or look to do further study.

While at uni though, look to doing an exchange year in the US....best bit about this as they tend to be reciprocal deals, you often won't get hit for the tuition bill for the year and so only need to show living expenses and if things haven't changed since when I did it, uni's considered it a sandwich/industrial placement year, meaning you didn't pay the full whack of fees for that year either.

Brunel has an exchange program with San Fran State, but so do plenty of other unis and then you could always look to organise one yourself, but that might be a bit more hassle.

MoshiMoshi

+1

And, in response to the OP's earlier question about visa chances after college/uni: it seems like your accessible visa chances do decrease a lot in the years immediately after your education. You're no longer eligible for BUNAC and student-oriented schemes, but you don't yet have enough skills/seniority to be attractive for work visa sponsorship.

But this is just something to bear in mind for the future. What Orangepants wrote is great advice. If you're looking for any other inspiration, I really recommend 'Work Your Way Around The World', by Susan Griffith.