Need some advice!

[Callumturner1]

Okay i have always wanted to live in New York i have been their once and when i went their i knew i just wanted to live their. I have read all the books ''immigration for dummies'' ''new life in america'' i still dont understand! its confusing so maybe you guys can help me ?
i want a job that gives good pay, whats the best job Americans want?
and whats the quickest way to get a VISA ? or green card or all the gobbly goof :S
and also who do i go to, to say i want to live in america ?

Please help !!!

[yankeegirl]

Ok first off, where are you currently living and what is your education background? Any degrees? Work experience?

[Callumturner1]

Ok first off, where are you currently living and what is your education background? Any degrees? Work experience?

well there are two paths are wish to go; to im currently 16 and completing my GCSEs in school i live in wales.

This is my first choice.
Finish my GCSEs and then go to a college in New York and when i have completed i would like to do a bachelors degree in law and then go to NY Law school and after that secure employment with a law firm i realise that New york law firms arent to keen on hiring foreign lawyers unless they can bring exeptional talents like a science or enginering degree ( i dont have one of those!)

my second choice is to just live in new york and have a pretty safe job with good pay.

im sorry if i am coming over a little confusing but i have read ALL the books and their is simply nothing that tells me what i want to know!!

Thanks

[ksand24]

Ok first off, where are you currently living and what is your education background? Any degrees? Work experience?

well there are two paths are wish to go; to im currently 16 and completing my GCSEs in school i live in wales.

This is my first choice.
Finish my GCSEs and then go to a college in New York and when i have completed i would like to do a bachelors degree in law and then go to NY Law school and after that secure employment with a law firm i realise that New york law firms arent to keen on hiring foreign lawyers unless they can bring exeptional talents like a science or enginering degree ( i dont have one of those!)

my second choice is to just live in new york and have a pretty safe job with good pay.

im sorry if i am coming over a little confusing but i have read ALL the books and their is simply nothing that tells me what i want to know!!

Thanks

Hi there,

It's great that you want to live in America, but unfortunately it's not a particularly easy country to move to (I'm in the process of doing it myself).

It may well be possible for you to go to college in New York, but due to differences in the education system, I'm not sure whether you would need to do A-levels first or not (it's difficult, because with A-levels, you would effectively be a year ahead of US first-year university students, but with only GCSE's you might find yourself behind and would not be of a good enough standard).

The problem with going to university in America as an undergraduate is that it is very expensive and you are very unlikely to get any funding towards it. Say you were an international student at NYU, you would be looking at £18,000 per year in tuition fees + £6,000 per year in living costs. That's almost £100,000 for a 4-year degree!! In comparison, a 3-year degree in the UK will only set you back by about £20,000.

If you are going to go the education route, my advice would be to finish your GCSE's, carry on to do A-levels and then do a UK degree that offers a year abroad in the US as part of the course. That way, you can study in America for a year, only pay your UK fees (or less) and find out for sure if you really want to live there permanently - this is what I did and my year in the US was the best of my life. For example, UEA (East Anglia) does a degree in 'Law with American Law' - a 4-year course with a year studying Law in the US (although possibly not in New York)

I'm afraid to say that your second choice is not likely to be possible. It is very difficult to just move to the US and get a job, unless you are highly skilled and the job is in demand (i.e. at least a bachelor's degee and possibly several years of experience - I'm moving over there to study for my PhD and will already have 2 master's degrees under my belt, yet I don't know if I would even get a job over there afterwards) . You would need to get a work permit/visa to work here and you can only get that if you have already been offered a job and the company can prove that no Americans are suitable for the job. I've read online recently that the US only issues 65,000 work permits per year worldwide - that's really not very many at all if you consider that there are people all over the world applying for work permits on a daily basis!

Honestly, I think you're best bet would be either to start researching the possibilities of attending a US college (i.e. could you afford it, what are the chances you would get offered a place, could you get any funding?) or to continue on with your UK education for now and see if you can do a study abroad year at university or perhaps look into doing BUNAC/Work America during or after your degree (you have to be a university student in the UK to qualify for the BUNAC scheme). It may even be possible to go to Law School in the US after you've finished your degree in the UK (although I'm not sure how the degree standards compare).

[Callumturner1]

Ok first off, where are you currently living and what is your education background? Any degrees? Work experience?

well there are two paths are wish to go; to im currently 16 and completing my GCSEs in school i live in wales.

This is my first choice.
Finish my GCSEs and then go to a college in New York and when i have completed i would like to do a bachelors degree in law and then go to NY Law school and after that secure employment with a law firm i realise that New york law firms arent to keen on hiring foreign lawyers unless they can bring exeptional talents like a science or enginering degree ( i dont have one of those!)

my second choice is to just live in new york and have a pretty safe job with good pay.

im sorry if i am coming over a little confusing but i have read ALL the books and their is simply nothing that tells me what i want to know!!

Thanks

Hi there,

It's great that you want to live in America, but unfortunately it's not a particularly easy country to move to (I'm in the process of doing it myself).

It may well be possible for you to go to college in New York, but due to differences in the education system, I'm not sure whether you would need to do A-levels first or not (it's difficult, because with A-levels, you would effectively be a year ahead of US first-year university students, but with only GCSE's you might find yourself behind and would not be of a good enough standard).

The problem with going to university in America as an undergraduate is that it is very expensive and you are very unlikely to get any funding towards it. Say you were an international student at NYU, you would be looking at £18,000 per year in tuition fees + £6,000 per year in living costs. That's almost £100,000 for a 4-year degree!! In comparison, a 3-year degree in the UK will only set you back by about £20,000.

If you are going to go the education route, my advice would be to finish your GCSE's, carry on to do A-levels and then do a UK degree that offers a year abroad in the US as part of the course. That way, you can study in America for a year, only pay your UK fees (or less) and find out for sure if you really want to live there permanently - this is what I did and my year in the US was the best of my life. For example, UEA (East Anglia) does a degree in 'Law with American Law' - a 4-year course with a year studying Law in the US (although possibly not in New York)

I'm afraid to say that your second choice is not likely to be possible. It is very difficult to just move to the US and get a job, unless you are highly skilled and the job is in demand (i.e. at least a bachelor's degee and possibly several years of experience - I'm moving over there to study for my PhD and will already have 2 master's degrees under my belt, yet I don't know if I would even get a job over there afterwards) . You would need to get a work permit/visa to work here and you can only get that if you have already been offered a job and the company can prove that no Americans are suitable for the job. I've read online recently that the US only issues 65,000 work permits per year worldwide - that's really not very many at all if you consider that there are people all over the world applying for work permits on a daily basis!

Honestly, I think you're best bet would be either to start researching the possibilities of attending a US college (i.e. could you afford it, what are the chances you would get offered a place, could you get any funding?) or to continue on with your UK education for now and see if you can do a study abroad year at university or perhaps look into doing BUNAC/Work America during or after your degree (you have to be a university student in the UK to qualify for the BUNAC scheme). It may even be possible to go to Law School in the US after you've finished your degree in the UK (although I'm not sure how the degree standards compare).

Okay thanks you really put it in to perspective for me although i reiceved this email from NY Law School ill copy and paste it

> Mr. Turner,
>
> A levels are unique to the British education system and are not offered in the US. Neither the O or A levels qualifies someone for admission to an American law school because law study here is ONLY completed on the graduate school after one completes the bachelor's degree (the first university degree).
>
> William D. Perez/Assistant Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid/New York Law School/57 Worth Street/New York, NY 10013/(212) 431-2888

so then i asked him whether i should just go to college in NY and University and he said yes

surely i could get funding from the princess trust fund ?
it's been very noisy and busy here so i printed of your reply and im going to read it carefully and slowly in my room

Thanks

[ksand24]

Okay thanks you really put it in to perspective for me although i reiceved this email from NY Law School ill copy and paste it

> Mr. Turner,
>
> A levels are unique to the British education system and are not offered in the US. Neither the O or A levels qualifies someone for admission to an American law school because law study here is ONLY completed on the graduate school after one completes the bachelor's degree (the first university degree).
>
> William D. Perez/Assistant Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid/New York Law School/57 Worth Street/New York, NY 10013/(212) 431-2888

so then i asked him whether i should just go to college in NY and University and he said yes

surely i could get funding from the princess trust fund ?
it's been very noisy and busy here so i printed of your reply and im going to read it carefully and slowly in my room

Thanks

Just wondering what you mean by 'college in NY and University', because in the US college=university. US students go to high school (age 14-18 ), then college (approx. age 18-22) and then Law School after that (age 22-25 (?)) - they don't often call it 'university'.

If you went to university in the US, you would have to do a four-year degree in a completely different subject to Law (as from what I can tell, you can't study Law as an undergraduate) and then you would need to spend another 3 years in Law school. On the other hand, if you stayed in the UK to study at university, you could get an undergraduate degree in Law (age 18-21) and then a one-year training course (age 21-22) to become a lawyer. You would be fully qualified in Law in the UK before you even started Law school in the US!

I've found these sites: http://www.educationusa.state.gov/undergrad/about.htm and http://www.fulbright.co.uk/eas/studyus/ ... index.html, which have a lot of information about studying in the US and how to apply. Most universities will probably require that you have A-levels as well as GCSE's in order to study there and you will need to be at least 17 to be offered a place. The site recommends that you begin your application preparation about 18 months before you wish to start the course and you will be required to take certain exams (such as the SAT's) in order to apply. You should also note that there is usually an application fee for each university you apply to. In general, the whole process of applying can be quite expensive - my US PhD application/preparation has cost me over £200 so far, and that's not even counting the cost of the flights!

In terms of funding, I'm not sure, but I doubt the Prince's Trust will fund a UK student in the US. Unless you're a star athlete, or are able to get a scholarship, I'd imagine your funding would have to come from bank loans/student loans, which could leave you in a lot of debt.

Having said that my application has been expensive, I've actually managed to do pretty well, money-wise. My study abroad year cost just £500 in tuition (which my parents paid as part of my UK degree fees), plus £4,000 in student loan from my local LEA in the UK (only £1,000 more than I would have spent if I stayed in the UK). My LEA also paid for 2 return flights to the US (as part of a study abroad travel allowance). For my PhD, all I will have to pay for is the application and visa fees and a one-way flight to the US. The university is paying my tuition, my living expenses and my health insurance for 4 years as part of my research grant.

[sakura]

Okay thanks you really put it in to perspective for me although i reiceved this email from NY Law School ill copy and paste it

> Mr. Turner,
>
> A levels are unique to the British education system and are not offered in the US. Neither the O or A levels qualifies someone for admission to an American law school because law study here is ONLY completed on the graduate school after one completes the bachelor's degree (the first university degree).
>
> William D. Perez/Assistant Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid/New York Law School/57 Worth Street/New York, NY 10013/(212) 431-2888

so then i asked him whether i should just go to college in NY and University and he said yes

surely i could get funding from the princess trust fund ?
it's been very noisy and busy here so i printed of your reply and im going to read it carefully and slowly in my room

Thanks

Seems you don't know much about the system. And what does the Princess Trust Fund have to do with paying almost £100,000 expenses to study in the US? Or do you mean the Prince's Trust? I'll be damned if they pay for something like that. If anything, they'd help you to study in the UK, not across the pond.

To study in the U.S. you need the SAT...I don't know how a great university like NYU, however, will take you with ONLY the SAT...most students wishing to apply to top universities would do the SAT + SAT Subject Tests (+ AP) and any other hard levels they can get their hands on. I gather that you're not in a U.S. system private school in the UK, so you'll also have to take your A Levels...and probably find a private company to help you with your SATs (since it's mostly public schoolkids that would take it over here - they do the A Levels as a 'prop' e.g. to show that they got top marks in a somewhat 'harder' educational system).

The other thing is...there is a HUGE glut of law graduates in the US right now....salaries have been falling and most jobs aren't permanent...so I can't see you making an easy transition from the UK to the US. Plus, you don't need to study law to go to law school. I know some people who go there after having studies Philosophy or English....I didn't even know Law was offered as an undergraduate level in the US? Most students come from backgrounds in English, Philosophy, Business/Management, etc.

AND! To go to Law school you need to pass the LSAT. So that's another test you have to do. Standardised tests are all the rage in the US.

My advice...you're young! Things might change, but for now...study at university in the UK and save yourself an unnecessary debt. A law degree in the US MIGHT not be helpful at all in the UK, so...think about that (different legal systems, etc). Study at university in the UK with the OPTION of going abroad for a year, then choose a college in NYC if that's where you want to be. Then try applying for Law school in the US, and/or do a PhD there...that'll be a good 4-6 years in the US. Funding for undergraduate level is a pain and so very hard; studying for a PhD and above...can sometimes be paid for in full by the universities (certainly NYU does that). So PhDs are much better money-wise.

Or...do medicine, pharmacy, nursing, computing or engineering. Be a medical law specialist or something.

Take some time out to go through these sites

www.collegeboard.com and www.lsac.org and http://www.studyusa.com/ and http://educationusa.state.gov/

Good luck!

[avjones]

On the other hand, if you stayed in the UK to study at university, you could get an undergraduate degree in Law (age 18-21) and then a one-year training course (age 21-22) to become a lawyer. You would be fully qualified in Law in the UK before you even started Law school in the US!

That's not quite right. You have to do a 3 year law degree, then a one year vocational course (bar vocational course for barristers, legal practice course for solicitors). But you aren't then fully qualified - you need to do a 1 year pupillage to be a barrister, and a 2 year training contract to be a solicitor. So 5-6 years, not 4.

[ksand24]

On the other hand, if you stayed in the UK to study at university, you could get an undergraduate degree in Law (age 18-21) and then a one-year training course (age 21-22) to become a lawyer. You would be fully qualified in Law in the UK before you even started Law school in the US!

That's not quite right. You have to do a 3 year law degree, then a one year vocational course (bar vocational course for barristers, legal practice course for solicitors). But you aren't then fully qualified - you need to do a 1 year pupillage to be a barrister, and a 2 year training contract to be a solicitor. So 5-6 years, not 4.

Oh, okay - I wasn't sure if I'd got that right or not. I found the info on a site about careers in Law - but I must have missed the part about the training contract (I'm a Physicist and don't know much about Law degrees, so I apologise) - although even when you're doing the training contract, it still means you're out of the classroom and working for a company at age 22-23, rather than still being in Law school for another few years.

[Callumturner1]

On the other hand, if you stayed in the UK to study at university, you could get an undergraduate degree in Law (age 18-21) and then a one-year training course (age 21-22) to become a lawyer. You would be fully qualified in Law in the UK before you even started Law school in the US!

That's not quite right. You have to do a 3 year law degree, then a one year vocational course (bar vocational course for barristers, legal practice course for solicitors). But you aren't then fully qualified - you need to do a 1 year pupillage to be a barrister, and a 2 year training contract to be a solicitor. So 5-6 years, not 4.

Oh, okay - I wasn't sure if I'd got that right or not. I found the info on a site about careers in Law - but I must have missed the part about the training contract (I'm a Physicist and don't know much about Law degrees, so I apologise) - although even when you're doing the training contract, it still means you're out of the classroom and working for a company at age 22-23, rather than still being in Law school for another few years.

I am confused with all of your replys you know im a lot younger then you so its hard for me to take this all in so this is what i think i should do reading all you replys. and im gonna do it in a simple easy way

1. Finish GCSE's and find a college in London to do my A-Levels

2. Go to a university in London and do a thingy-me-bob that allows a year in the the US






AHHHH IM TOO CONFUSED!

[ksand24]

I am confused with all of your replys you know im a lot younger then you so its hard for me to take this all in so this is what i think i should do reading all you replys. and im gonna do it in a simple easy way

1. Finish GCSE's and find a college in London to do my A-Levels

2. Go to a university in London and do a thingy-me-bob that allows a year in the the US

Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of what's being said. You could have a look at the UCAS website and see what courses are available (i.e. for study in the US).

To be honest, trying to decide this kind of stuff while you're doing your GCSE's is probably a bit premature - I had no clue what I was going to do with my life when I was 16 years old. Deciding what A-levels I was going to take was as far ahead as I was planning - back then, I thought I'd end up doing a degree in either French or Geography and I ended up studying Theoretical Physics!

The main point is that even if you do apply to a US university to study for an undergraduate degree, you're still going to need to get your A-levels first. Since you're 16, I'm assuming you're currently in Year 11, which means that technically you've still got at least another year or so before you need to start thinking about university applications (I didn't decide which courses and universities to apply for until the end of Year 12).

My advice would be just to take things one step at a time; do some research into possible colleges and university courses for the future and maybe talk to a careers advisor about your options .

[ksand24]

I am confused with all of your replys you know im a lot younger then you so its hard for me to take this all in so this is what i think i should do reading all you replys. and im gonna do it in a simple easy way

1. Finish GCSE's and find a college in London to do my A-Levels

2. Go to a university in London and do a thingy-me-bob that allows a year in the the US

Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of what's being said. You could have a look at the UCAS website and see what courses are available (i.e. for study in the US).

To be honest, trying to decide this kind of stuff while you're doing your GCSE's is probably a bit premature - I had no clue what I was going to do with my life when I was 16 years old. Deciding what A-levels I was going to take was as far ahead as I was planning - back then, I thought I'd end up doing a degree in either French or Geography and I ended up studying Theoretical Physics!

The main point is that even if you do apply to a US university to study for an undergraduate degree, you're still going to need to get your A-levels first. Since you're 16, I'm assuming you're currently in Year 11, which means that technically you've still got at least another year or so before you need to start thinking about university applications (I didn't decide which courses and universities to apply for until the end of Year 12).

My advice would be just to take things one step at a time; do some research into possible colleges and university courses for the future and maybe talk to a careers advisor about your options .

[Callumturner1]

I am confused with all of your replys you know im a lot younger then you so its hard for me to take this all in so this is what i think i should do reading all you replys. and im gonna do it in a simple easy way

1. Finish GCSE's and find a college in London to do my A-Levels

2. Go to a university in London and do a thingy-me-bob that allows a year in the the US

Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of what's being said. You could have a look at the UCAS website and see what courses are available (i.e. for study in the US).

To be honest, trying to decide this kind of stuff while you're doing your GCSE's is probably a bit premature - I had no clue what I was going to do with my life when I was 16 years old. Deciding what A-levels I was going to take was as far ahead as I was planning - back then, I thought I'd end up doing a degree in either French or Geography and I ended up studying Theoretical Physics!

The main point is that even if you do apply to a US university to study for an undergraduate degree, you're still going to need to get your A-levels first. Since you're 16, I'm assuming you're currently in Year 11, which means that technically you've still got at least another year or so before you need to start thinking about university applications (I didn't decide which courses and universities to apply for until the end of Year 12).

My advice would be just to take things one step at a time; do some research into possible colleges and university courses for the future and maybe talk to a careers advisor about your options .

Thank you so much for your time and information , you have been most grateful