Pre Study Abroad

START LINE

It all started in May 2017, right after I got back to Jakarta from my 2weeks UK trip,
I was doing an internship at an e-commerce company in Jakarta for about 2-3 months.
Since I stepped in the UK, I can't stop thinking about it, it's like a real chemistry towards
places, for the first time in my life. Somehow that strong chemistry led me to a new dream,
which is to come back there for a quite long time. I have no other choices than to get my master degree in one of UK's university.

So, I started researching everything every single detail about study abroad to UK, then collecting datas about the universities (tuition fee, environment, ranking, major&module, etc). My research led me to several universities as my options, even I've researched several universities in other countries in Europe such as Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, and Ireland.
However, UK remained as the result of my decision, compared to all the countries that I've been researching. After a long period of comparing the universities, I ended up with 5 uni options which are University of Birmingham, University of Liverpool, University of Leicester, Newcastle University, and University of Sussex. In the end, I chose University of Liverpool with no doubt.
Before we jump into the whole story, I'll explain in divisions below:


Education Agent
I decided to come to an edu agent, I chose IDP Pondok Indah to help me pursuing my study abroad plans. I got Ms. Natasia as my advisor & she manages everything so well, from providing informations, helping me to apply to 3 universities, helping me to book IELTS test, helping me to applying VISA (those major documents), and everything went smoothly well, everything is settled now. FYI, Edu agents are completely free, I got many questions about this before, so you don't have to worry about fees :) and you ask anything about the study abroad plans anytime!


IELTS
The truth is, this one was my most challenging step of all. I had no idea at all about IELTS test, how does it look like or what type of questions in there?? So I decided to join a 2week-Intensive IELTS Preparation Course (50 hours) at IALF Jakarta. This prep course was successfully blown the all of the students away haha! the course was literally very intensive, we studied from 08.30-15.45 from Tuesday to Friday, thats not all..Homework, there's no day without several homework and exercise.
In short, IALF is very recommended for anyone who needs an IELTS preparation course :-)

IALF. IELTS PREP CLASS. MARCH 2018.

After the prep course finished, I continued studying for IELTS by myself until I took my very first IELTS test on 5th of May 2018 ((I took the UKVI in case I have to take a pre sessional class). It takes 12 working-days to get an IELTS printed result, except if the day replaces a public holiday, then you would be able to see the result on the web and the printed certificate would be out after the public holiday. Back to the story, so I failed on my first attempt just because my writing score was 0,5 below the UoL's standard, although my Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Overall were above the standard *sigh*. It was a really unpleasant surprise, so I had to take another IELTS test which was held on 7th of June 2018 (this one is the regular IELTS test, not UKVI). Thank God! I nailed the second attempt very well, so I don't have to take another test or a pre sessional course.

Tips To Improve Your IELTS Score:

- Writing: read great IELTS essay references, learn the structure, highlight every word that you don't know the meaning and find it on Dictionary until you really understand what it is and how to use it, apply complex sentences and complex words on your essay.

- Reading: do exercises through IELTS exercise books, learn to scan while find the keywords that the questions are referring to, don't be stuck (skip it and find the answer later).

- Listening: do IELTS listening exercises as much as you can, you'll get a CD if you buy an IELTS exercise book (so you can do it at home through your radio/ CD player), Listen to podcast/ news (BBC)/ any kind of English based video or record (I love watching TED Talks on Youtube, or listening to random podcast)

- Speaking: keep talking to yourself in English (pretend like you're talking to someone else), pick various random topics to talk about (you can search on google "random questions" for practice, or getting serious "IELTS speaking test questions"). Make sure you pronounce it right, speak naturally with a right tone, show your friendliness and don't panic :-) pretend like the interviewer is your friend

*FYI: IELTS UKVI vs REGULAR IELTS

Both give you the same type of questions, but when you take UKVI test you'll be recorded the whole time through a video camera in front of the room, while if you take the regular IELTS test you won't be recorded at all. Second, some universities demand UKVI and some don't, so be careful you gotta read clearly what your uni asks for the requirements.

STUDENT VISA - TIER 4

Step 1: Check all the requirements

Collect all documents

- Sponsor Evidence: Sponsorship Letter (a letter that declares the person or people who is/are responsible for any financial matters during your study), Bank Reference Letter (ask the bank for this. The total amount has a minimum number which depends on the area that you choose, for Inner London: tuition fee +  £1265 x 9months. and for outer London: Tuition fee + £1015 x 9months.), and Account Statement Details (Rekening Koran)

- Educational Evidence: Academic transcript, Graduation Certificate (Ijazah), IELTS certificate, and CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies) statement from the university that you applied to

- Consent Letters & Proof of Relationship: Birth Certificate and Family identity card (Kartu Keluarga)

- Accommodation: confirmation letter from the landlord 

- Tuberculosis (TB) Certificate: You must do a TB Checkup at Rumah Sakit Premier (Bintaro  / Jatinegara) The locations are for Indonesian students who live in Jakarta.

- Additional Documents / Others: a copy of your Passport (make sure its not expired or will expire soon), and you can insert the proof of your paid uni deposit.

**BUT! I heard that since 6th of July 2018, the requirements for UK VISA Tier 4 has been changed to make the prospect students easier to study abroad, so they made the requirements less.**

Step 2: Book your appointment

- Go to https://visas-immigration.service.gov.uk/apply-visa-type/tier4

- Follow every step, read the instructions carefully

- Prepare your credit card around (to pay the IHS- Immigrants Health Insurance and the VISA)

- After finished all steps, you'll get a confirmation e-mail

Step 3: Come to VFS Global

- Come to VFS on time in accordance to your appointment, you can come in 15mins earlier.

- You'll be in the waiting list, listen the announcement and watch the list on the tv carefully, don't miss your turn

- Don't use your phone while you're sitting in the counter

- After providing all the documents, you'll wait to move to the Biometric room (to scan your fingerprints)

- You might or might not get an interview, so prepare yourself. (I didn't get the interview hehe!)

Step 4: Collect your VISA

- After 15 - 30 days after the application

- You'll get an e-mail from ukindonesiajakarta about "Passport ready for collection at UK VAC"

- Come again to VFS, Don't forget to bring the proof of application & payment

- Ta-da! your VISA is done. You'll get the VISA sticker and a letter about its detail.

NETWORKING - CONNECTIONS

Students Association

In my case, I'm an Indonesian student, therefore I tried to reach out the Indonesian students association in the UK which is PPI (Persatuan Pelajar Indonesia) in the specific city that I'll be settled which is Liverpool, so I contacted the president of PPI Liverpool and keep in touch with her and she invited me to the PPI Liverpool group. 

Seminar & Workshop

I joined several study abroad seminars and workshops such as Pre-Departure Study Abroad by British Council, Inspira Workshop: study abroad, International Edu expo, etc. I met new friends who are also coming to UK in the same intake, although they'll be in different cities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, Birmingham, etc.

Inspira Workshop Jakarta

Online Groups

I joined several Facebook groups from University of Liverpool (UoL), UoL batch 18/19, and also the group for people who live in the same building as my accommodation.

SELF- PREPARATION

But in the end, everything depends on yourself, you have to be 100% sure and ready to take this big step in your life especially if you've never done it before (which is totally me haha!). Although this is a huge decision, yet I've never been this sure. This is exciting and thrilling at the same time, though.

Despite you have to prepare yourself mentally, don't forget to prepare:

- Warm Clothes, shoes, etc. (SO COLDDD)

- Medicine (in my case, I'll bring minyak kayu putih + tolak angin a LOT)

- Pack your bag efficiently (don't bring too much, normally max 30kg + 1 cabin bag)

- Gadget & charger (different charger port)

- Documents (Passport, academic certificate, etc)

I'll update more if there's any essential thing to be prepared :-)

Now everything is settled well, and I'm ready to go in about 4 weeks from now :-)

It all started from just a dream, and it becomes a reality..

What I want to say is:

- Always believe in yourself, If you can dream it, then you can make it!

- Nothing worth comes easy

- Don't be afraid to get out from your comfort zone

- Keep learning, always gain your knowledge

and of course..

Education is a powerful weapon to change the world :-)

Best Regards,

Jessica Ivana