#and i'm also a uni student now going into my second year in august i will be oh so preoccupied because life is hell and fun is forbidden

[prumanoenjoyer]

[REPOST BECAUSE TUMBLR WAS MEAN TO ME AND FLAGGED THIS POST]

Hahaha what if we were both guys and we kissed jk unless...

happy pride month or smth

Chibi PruMano from the Fantasy AU that you guys will simply have to envision with your mind because I am a busy little bee and I never get around to actually writing it oopsies teehee xoxo Anyway the premise is that Lovino is taken hostage by the Totally Evil Villain Guy and has to figure out what to do about this total dork that is head over heels for him and super cute- I mean cringe, War is brewing in the land, something dwells deep in the mountain and old pacts are being reforged oooo (it will be better than this description entails I swear)

Thought they looked cute here

Oh and I have drawn them before so pls check that out, that was last August (almost a year ago, wow)

[ahappydnp]

I want to read the essay show it to me rachel 👉👈

i'm not joking when i say it's essay length ⬇️

so starting at like 12:49 of this liveshow he mentions the laundry story he told in the video but made the off handed comment that phil was like “whats happened are you moving in” when he saw dan with a suitcase which like…mmhhhhm

phil started looking for flats in the spring of 2010 shortly after dan got accepted into manchester uni and actually toured a couple in march 2010 (but obvs didn’t get one until august 2010) dan had vaguely mentioned that he could film at phil’s place over the summer so i fully believe they intended for dan to at least spend the summer at phil’s flat before he moved into the dorms in the fall

yes manchester uni requires all first years to live in the dorms no matter what so dan didn’t really have a choice in signing up for a dorm and also phil’s talked about the importance of having the uni experience and i can see him wanting dan to have it 

my assumption is they agreed dorms were best but it was understood dan would spend as much time as possible in phil’s flat, but then the further the year went on and the less dan went to classes it was pretty obvious he’d all but officially moved in

NOV 2010: dan goes to a&e with phil and says “the closest hospital to where WE live”

DEC 2010: dnp both signed up for a gym membership at the gym below phil’s flat! dan mentions in let’s get physical that he’s going to go regularly despite the gym being at phil’s place and he was “”””living in the dorms”””” 15 minutes away (where btw manchester uni had a free gym for students)

DEC 2010: dan’s chocolate advent calendar was at phil’s flat in december 2010!! small but i’m including it bc i am insane

i mean obvs most of dan’s videos and vyous from 2010-2011 school year where at phil’s flat which is understandable in that it was less awkward but come one…he was Always There 

JAN 2011: dan going to amsterdam in january 2011 with his uni flatmates felt like something he didn’t really Want to do and more like something he felt obligated to or maybe (this is just my hc) something phil pushed him to do in a way?? bc it was the weekend of phil’s birthday and i can’t see dan actually wanting to miss that again to go hang out with straight uni lads in amsterdam when he’s closeted and not particularly close to them ya know??? 

i think also at this point dan was clearly not doing well mentally when it came to school and phil thought bonding with flatmates might help? once again just me theorizing but the trip just never made sense with the way dan talked about his flatmates but we know he was struggling to care about uni at all by the second term

and now we've got phil talking about dan doing coursework the morning of

[allwaswell16]

{Recently Read 1D Fics}

August 2021

These are all the One Direction fics I read and enjoyed in August. There are 16 recs here in all and are in order by word count and organized by pairing. You can also listen to my podcast to hear me talk about each of these fics as well as an overview of what was posted on ao3 in August including the fics on this month’s fic roundup which you can find here! Please let the writers know if you liked the fics by leaving kudos and comments! Happy reading!

Fanfictional Podcast #28 | ko-fi | fic recs

-Larry-

Memory of a Dream by tomlinvelvet / @afterglowslouis

[E, 64k, Sleeping Beauty au, a/b/o, alpha Harry, omega Louis, royal, fantasy, fairy tale, dark magic, angst with a happy ending, witches, violence, arranged marriage, hurt/comfort, no smut, wow this was such a cool take on this fairy tale, really enjoyed how the story was adapted and changed]

a Sleeping Beauty AU.

Caught In Your Gravity by @lululawrence

[NR, 62k, footie au, coach Harry, football player Louis, Ted Lasso au kind of, friends to lovers, misunderstandings, secrets, secret relationship, pining, coming out, homophobia, humor, no smut, the footie fic of my dreams]

an AU inspired by a 30 second trailer of Ted Lasso that doesn't actually have much in common with the show at all.

Home Again...Winter Harlow by dandelionfairies

[T, 27k, small town au, chef Harry, holidays, winter, Christmas, injured minor character, strangers to lovers, light angst, a lovely Hallmark-esque movie fic]

While Louis is basking in the glory of the holidays and everything new to him, Harry is walking into everything he once loved but now hates.

I'm Hot for Teacher (series) by phdmama / @phd-mama

[E, 14k, doctor Louis, med student Harry, semi public sex, hand jobs, masturbation, flirting, professional ethics, library sex, office sex, smut, holy shit this was so hot whew]

You cannot fall in love with your professor, Harry admonishes himself sternly as he exits the building and heads home. You just can’t.

Moments by jacaranda_bloom / @jacaranda-bloom

[E, 10k, fake exes to lovers au, strangers to lovers, particle physicist Louis, event manager Harry, banter, smut, hand jobs, anal sex, bl, so funny and cute!]

Looking back, Louis should’ve known that the universe likes to fuck with idiots like him who think they’ve got it all sorted.

i know i've grown (but i can't wait to go home) by LiveLaughLoveLarry / @loveislarryislove

[T, 7k, royal au, time travel, historical, Prince Harry, time traveler Louis, fantasy, violence, assassination attempt, humor, this plot was so cool]

When Louis falls down a hill behind an old castle, he wakes up and finds the castle new and full of life.

Climbing The Swells by @cyantific

[E, 5k, surfing au, surfer Louis, surfer Harry, California, strangers to enemies to lovers, minor injury, hurt/comfort, smut, so hot and so much fun especially if you love surfer fics like I do!]

The one where a clumsy Harry and a stubborn Louis reconcile their grievances on the beach with a heartfelt apology from Louis on his knees without saying a word.

We Go Together (series) by cherrylarry / @beelou

[G, 3k, Grease au, Harry as Sandy, Louis as Danny, summer romance, high school, such a cute adaptation!]

the movie Grease as a larry au. Louis is still the one that he wants.

As Good As Scone by SunTomato / @sun-tomato

[NR, 3k, meet cute au, baker Harry, Louis can't cook, humor, flirting, first meeting, minor injuries, this was so much fun and I loved the snappy writing and dialogue]

The one where Louis tries and fails to impress a first date. Luckily, there is the 'Sweet Creature' bakery, and they deliver.

Eco-Friendly by amomentoflove / @daggerandrose

[T, 3k, uni au, roommates, pining, green living, humor, this was so cute and funny and relatable lol)

the one where Harry just wants to get through one college year with a good roommate

Thesis Management by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup

[T, 2k, werewolf au, wolf Louis, human Harry, grad student Harry, uni, established relationship, crack, humor, full moon, fluff, where does she come up with this stuff? lol]

Harry's got an assignment due and it's the full moon.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle by skipper / @skipperxao3

[T, 2k, break up au, angst, drama, saving the world, ouch, this hurt so if you're in the mood for heartbreak this one is it]

the one where Harry wants to save the world but loses sight of who’s been right in front of him all along

Wordplay Poems 2021 by @kingsofeverything

[NR, 381 words, poetry, clumsy Harry, clumsy Louis, this was such a cool idea!)

Week 1: Diamanté Week 2: Couplet Week 3: Idiom Doggerel Week 4: 2 or 3 stanza poem Week 5: Free verse poem

-Grouis-

Getting a Head for Heights by LadyAJ_13 / @ladyaj-13

[T, 3k, Louis/Greg James, uni au, size difference, pining, flirting, sharing clothes, kissing, I could scream I loved this so much! so so cute!]

The problem is, Louis thinks Greg would be quite good to date, so it would really help if everyone would stop reminding him of that fact so he could unthink it.

-Zaynshaw-

Long Shot by @fallinglikethis

[G, 816 words, Zayn/Nick Grimshaw, strangers to lovers, pub, Nick's birthday, drinking, well Nick's friends are crap but love how Zayn pulls him heh]

When Nick's friends throw him a birthday party in a pub and invite his ex, Nick wants nothing to do with any of it.

-Zouis-

Reduce, Recycle, … remove? by @reminiscingintherain

[G, 611 words, Zayn/Louis, neighbors, teacher Louis, artist Zayn implied, open ending, this is the rare pair jackpot tbh]

When someone’s nicking recycling out of the rubbish bins, who’s going to take them to task?

[kuriquinn]

Hey Kuri. I just need a little life advice. How did you find your call in Teaching? I'm kinda struggling right now trying to find what I want to do with my life. Im going back to college soon but the subject I'm studying isn't what I'm interested in. I've tried to love it but its been difficult. I often times feel like a disappointment to my family because my siblings are all doing great and I feel like a loser not getting there yet.

Strap in, there, Anon, this’ll be a long one…

If I’m being honest, my call isn’t teaching - it’s writing. Even now, though I have a Big Girl Job and everything, which pays my bills and keeps my fur babies in food and toys, I consider my writing to be my real job. Even if, at the moment, it’s just writing fanfiction.

The first piece of advice I would give you for anything in your future is to do something you love. That way it will never be a chore and you will stick with it longer than five minutes. 

Now, on the heel of that, the second piece of advice is: if you can’t pursue your passion, pursue something you don’t hate. And it might take you a while to figure out what that is. 

I graduated high school with pretty decent grades, went to a good college and did well there (Liberal Arts), and I applied to university hoping to major in Creative Writing and Minor in German Language. My outside logic was: it would help me get into a writing field like journalism or translation. Inwardly, I figured I was just taking university courses while I was busy writing my novel and that before graduating I would be published and famous and rich.

Yeah, eighteen-year-old me was a bit of a naive idiot. 

Cue life-experience:

My parents were kind of wary about the whole thing, they didn’t really believe I was doing a good thing, but it was my choice and they had to respect it. They knew what I didn’t, but would learn for myself. At the time I was also working in a bookstore, which while not my passion or anything, I actually enjoyed. Work never felt like work, and for minimum wage, that’s a good thing.

Flash forward to my first semester of university, in which I learned that a) my German skills were beyond what I could be taught at uni and I wouldn’t be able to take half of the courses I needed to fill my minor, so it was basically a waste of time to take and b) my Creative Writing classes basically centered around having a published author (and I use this term loosely to define a person who self-published one grungy, literary shock fiction and passed it off as literature) get up and talk about how to write. And not write actual good stories with decent plots and characters and such, but the gritty, sensory, detailed lyrical crap…and if you didn’t try to write exactly like that person, they flunked you.

So trying to follow my first passion didn’t exactly pan out. 

I ended up switching my degree completely, majoring in Classical Civilisation and minoring in History. I figured, I love history, and I love research, maybe a degree in this could help me get a job in museum studies or as a researcher or something. The next two years passed quite nicely…and though my part-time bookstore job fell through because of crappy managers, I started to tutor a lot more (and my brother was in his last years of high school at this point, and needed my help getting through his classes) and I realised that I was actually pretty good at breaking down information and explaining it in different ways. Plus, I already had a lot of experience with learning difficulties due to my brother.

So, one year before I graduated, I get the bright idea to become a teacher. I had enough credits to switch majors, but the problem was, my university only offered Early Childhood Education…and while I dearly love little kids, more than five or six of them below the age of ten would probably drive me insane. I figured teenagers would be more mature.

(*pause* *waits for riotous laughter from Those Who Know Better*)

Anyhow, I had to apply to a whole new university program just to get into a high school teaching program. And that was the most miserable two years of my life, because teacher education is the most useless piece of trash degree you can take. You know when you learn? When they stick you in a school as a student teacher. I didn’t learn one thing from my second university degree except that sometimes the only way to move on to the next stage of your life is to sit through the boring shit and get a stupid piece of paper saying you sat through the boring shit.

And THEN…

I didn’t even get a job for another two years. 

The thing people don’t tell you about university is that when you get out, there is almost no one hiring. The Baby Boomer generation is not retiring any time soon, the job market is flooded with so many newcomers that competition is fierce, and on top of that, your chances are reduces based on what field you go into. Science, Engineering, Computers, Medicine, Business and Law? Competition will be fierce, but you will definitely have a job at the end of your degree. Anything else? Unless you somehow become famous, every other job out there has a crappy percntage of hiring, and chances are you are going to have to get an average Joe job for a year or two before you actually get hired to do what you studied.

Me, I had one learning experience where I moved to England because there’s a huge demand for teachers (and learned why there’s a huge demand is because the school system there is complete shite), and then spent a year unemployed and basically acting as an unpaid domestic/caregiver because my mother was sick (I lived at home, though, so that’s why it worked out). I still tutored when I could, but I didn’t have as many clients as I had hoped for. Things were so bad at this point and I was so depressed I couldn’t even write…

I did finally get hired, but the way I did won’t make you feel better. I basically sent my resume to one of the schools where I did my field experience, telling them I was available for tutoring in the upcoming year. I got a call back (on my birthday) to see if I was interested in taking on an actual teaching job - they remembered me from my internship and remembered my brother (who once was a student there).

So I basically got the job because I knew someone.

And that’s the reality of it. You will not get a job (in certain fields, at least) unless you know someone. Networking and good interview skills are so important to getting hired these days, and your ability to be social (or fake being social) is key. 

Even now, I’m not exactly secure in my job. As a teacher in the private sector, I don’t even have a contract. I literally spend every August sitting by the phone biting my nails hoping that they’re going to call me back for the year.

But it’s a foot in the door. You always have to think about it that way.

Contrast this to my brother - he finished high school, took a trade (auto mechanics), and had a job within a year. He now makes and will continue to make more in a year than what I will in two. He had his forever job at 19; I didn’t find mine until I was 27.

Now, if you’re still with me and I didn’t bore you with my life’s story, here’s the take away:

1. Pursue your passion. If you can make a living from it, you’re one of the lucky few. Keep doing you, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. Friends, family or loved ones, it doesn’t matter what they think.

2. If you can’t pursue your passion (full time, at least), do something that you don’t hate. Something that you are good at, a job where you can show up to and do your work happily and then go home at the end of the day and not stress about. Again, if anyone is telling you to do something you hate, DON’T. In five years, you’ll be burnt out, stressed and miserable. It is so not worth it. And if this is an Average Joe Job like working in a bookstore? Fine. Do that. It gives you more time to pursue your actual passions, and looks good on a resume.

3. Get a trade. Seriously, if you put off university for a year to get a trade, like real estate or mechanics or electrician or something, you not only give yourself the ability to be hired sooner, you can also support yourself throughout your academic career - and for those of you facing a future of student loans, this is so important!

4. If you pursue higher education, be prepared to change your mind A LOT before you graduate. You might find your are more interested or better at a certain subject that you thought, or a complete loss. There is nothing wrong with changing your major or minor until you find the right fit, just make sure you get all your General Education courses out of the way first so that you have that leeway.

5. After graduating, unless you’re in certain career fields, be prepared not to have a job right away. Get an Average Joe Job to keep you going, keep sending out CVs and going to interviews, and just hang in there - you will eventually get there, even if it takes you a little longer than your friends. And network! Make sure you keep in contact with people who might be able to help you in your career.

6. If you have the money and means, travel. Because chances are you won’t have the chance to do it once you join the rat-race.

7. MOST IMPORTANT: Do not let stress take over your life. You MUST find a way to balance your life while you worry about school/career stuff. Go out with your friends, travel when you can (even if it’s just a day trip to a museum!), write or paint or play music or build models or code or binge watch your tv show of choice, or whatever it is you do for fun - make sure you do it every day. Because your brain needs a way to unwind from the not so pleasant adulty stuff.

Anyhow, that’s the advice Twenty-Nine-Year-Old-Present-Me would give Nineteen-Year-Old-Me on the eve of starting university. I don’t know if she’d listen to all of it, but I wish someone had told me all that. Especially the parts about not getting a job right away. I thought I was a humongous failure because I couldn’t find work, when the reality was, I was just one of thousands of people seeking employment in an uncertain economic environment. 

So, on that note, I hope that you managed to find some comfort or guidance in these words. Remember, you are not a disappointment and everyone moves at their own pace. Maybe you’re having a slow year and your siblings aren’t. Maybe next year you’ll be the one who has exciting new opportunities and they are stuck in a rut. Our lives are very static and you never know what’s coming around the next bend. Just keep on keeping on.

And personally? If I was struggling to love my college program? I would take a very good look at whether it was really for me.

Thanks for the ask :)

[letsdiscoverkitty]

Hey Kitty. I'm sorry to bother, I know everybody is coming to with all things University etc. so I hope you don't mind me jumping on the bandwagon. Could you possibly tell me about your experience with moving in day/Freshers week? What kind of activities were on and how did you find your flatmates? I'm very nervous, I'm 21 so hearing how you got on might help me feel a bit more prepared. Thanks for your help! Can't wait to hear all about your University adventures :)

Hey there, of course I don’t mind you asking, I love getting asked questions (especially non-ED related ones!). I am no expert on the Uni process but having gone through a fresher’s/move in, I might be able to shed a little light on what it might involve. Firstly I just want to say that I know you are worried about going and being ‘older’ however I can promise you that there will be many others who are the same or older - that’s the great thing about Uni, there are people from all different backgrounds and no one cares about your age. If I think back to the flat that I was in in York, I was 19 at the time (so I will be 22 this time around), and there were 12 of us and I think, if I am remembering rightly there were 3 or 4 18year olds, 2 of us were 19, then a few were 21 and then there were at least 5 that were over 21! As for how did we get on? there were a few international students who were not as sociable however in general we all got on quite well, I got on particularly well with one girl. We were all on different courses so that was nice too. Twelve was a lot for one flat but it was a huge flat with a massive kitchen that also had a sofa and TV, dinning table and breakfast bar (sadly I think this was pure luxury and from what I saw at Bristol is not the same across the board)

Okay so moving in, from memory I think we had to book a slot for the day that I was given for my move in (each college at York had different move in days to stagger it). I actually got an email from Bristol today telling me that when accommodation is allocated and accepted in late August, you will be able to book a time slot for the day/time that your residence is having move in (it usually happens over a weekend, with international students moving in a bit beforehand). When I arrived we had to queue a little but when we were next in line two or three of the second/third years that were helping out helped me unload my bits and bobs with my parents whilst I went to register at the little desk they had and I was given my ‘welcome pack’ which had my key card in as well as the freshers wrist band I had bought in advance and general bits and bobs about the halls/fresher’s week. Oh and a T shirt :) As I now had my key we all managed to lug all of my belongings up to my flat (I had a top floor flat but it was only 5 stores tall and we were lucky enough to be on the side of the block that had the elevator!). So I put my bits in my room and a few of my other flat mates were arriving so I said hello and then my parents took me out for lunch and to do a food shop/help to get the staples in as it was quite a way to the nearest supermarket. On return I think everyone had now “moved in” and we met with our STYC (second/third year that was assigned to our flat) who talked to us about what to expect from the next few days and tell us what he would do with us etc. That night we had a very quiet first evening and our college (York worked in colleges) hosted a little meet and greet with a DJ in a marquee. Most people were very tired and overwhelmed on this first day so hardly anyone stayed out late, although there were of course a few who did. 

As for the fresher’s week, we had a general timetable that told us what was going on and where (welcome talks, fire safety etc) as well as particular times to go to our new departments to register and pick up key materials/meet staff and students. Other than that we were free to explore and do what we wanted. In the evening we had scheduled ‘typical’ fresher’s evening things. For us this was again done by colleges and some nights the college’s would both have one of the events together to help people to mix. From memory we had a night club underground where you had to dress up as an animal, a toga party, a ‘black tie’ night at revolution, a bar crawl, a night of fireworks/theme park (think coconut shies) ...Personally I had quite a nice experience of freshers, we had a good mix of people in our flat and our STYC was the best. There was hardly any pressure to drink (I rarely drink so maybe had one or two?) and there were a few nights when some of us chose to stay in because we were so tired haha so we missed the bar crawl and the one that was the night after that. I think there is a lot of pressure put on people around fresher’s especially  when ‘everyone’ says that fresher’s is all about the drinking etc and yes there is that element of that, but there are people who don’t want to drink or don’t drink much and there are loads of things for them to do (adding to the fresher’s week I think we had a games night one night when there was also a silent disco going on). 

Other day activities I can remember included the fresher’s fair (where you literally sign your life away to every single society and end up getting millions of emails!) which is good fun, as well as little things run by your department. The first week is about everyone kind of settling in, getting to know a new city and people and ‘finding your feet’. I am not going to lie I was terrified! however it was so much better than I thought it would be and it was fine :) I hope this helps calm your nerves a little? I know every uni will be different so maybe, if you felt like it might help, you could do a little online check to see what they are offering or what they have done in past years. Your Uni will contact you with details a bit nearer the time, and will keep you well informed :) If you feel worried about any of it I would definitely send an email to the relevant department. Anyway, I hope this helped a little and I am wishing you the very best with your uni experience. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, it will honestly be okay and you can do as much or as little as you want to. Take care xx

[aquotidianoddity]

Hey! I was scrolling through the Helsinki tag and saw your most recent answered ask. I'm a uni student in the US and want to apply for a Masters at Helsinki (I have Finnish friends there who can help me), and their course requirements just to be considered as an applicant seem super strict. Based off your post I'm assuming that you're not at Helsinki, but I was wondering if you knew much about the application/selection process as a US student and can expand a bit on it? Kiitos :D

Hi there! I’m happy to be of help. I’ll post this publicly in case anyone else has a similar question, but let me know if you’d like me to take it down and send it private…I’m not a popular blog, so it shouldn’t spread around too quickly or at all.

Of course, everything I say may be different depending on the specifics of the degree you’re interested in and whether it’s an “international” or “non-international” degree. Seems like you’re already checking up on your program specifics, so hopefully I can give you a general foundation to build off of, and you can fill in the rest with your personal situation.

First of all: DEADLINES MATTER. Ironically, when you’re a student turning in an assignment or taking a test they pretty much don’t, but anything official like this is no joke. I discovered the MA I originally wanted to pursue three days after the deadline and emailed them asking if I could still apply, assuming the answer would be yes like it normally is in the states. Not the case…apparently the first step of applications is handled by the state and centralized in some office in Helsinki. Once it gets past that stage, things get more flexible, as the admins in the universities don’t care as much, but to be safe, know your deadlines.

Second most important thing: all throughout the application process, both on the state websites and university websites, I noticed that the information on the Finnish version and on the English version was sometimes different. If you’re applying to a program specifically advertised or targeted toward international students, this shouldn’t be a problem. However, I applied to a “non-international” program, and administration generally assumes that only Finns will apply to these programs, so I often had to read each web page twice, once in each language, and synthesize the information personally. If it sounds like this may apply to you, you could ask your Finnish friends for help.

In terms of the application process: in Finland you apply to specific programs, rather than to the universities (much like you would for an MA in the US anyway). However, there is only one centralized application for ALL programs. On the application you put your personal information, educational history etc, and then you rank all of the programs you’re interested in. The order you list them in DOES matter. It’s a huge numbers game, but essentially they do their number-magic about who’s most qualified and how many spots there are available and then out of whichever programs want you, you are offered a spot ONLY in the program you ranked highest. You will not be offered a spot in all of the programs you are qualified for or in all of the programs that would like you to attend. You will not be given a chance to choose between the different programs that want you…ranking them on your application is your only chance. Of course, if you’re only applying to the one program, then all that doesn’t really matter.

You said that the course requirements seemed strict. I assume you’re not sure if you’ve taken the right courses or somehow you’re not sure if you qualify? My suggestion would be to find the program coordinator in the directory and email them your questions. Actually, I would suggest you do that anyway…make up some questions…introduce yourself…get in contact in some way or another with them. I wouldn’t email the department secretary, as in my experience they aren’t as well-versed in the ins and outs of the program and are often really busy with a lot of the most stressful administrative tasks that fall on their shoulders. The program coordinator/advisers/whatever-they’re-called are typically also professors in the program. The general student-teacher relationship in Finland is flipped from how it is in the US: professors often feel an obligation to go out of their way to accommodate, please, impress, or generally help the students with anything they need (within reason). Of course, every individual is different, but if you’re not unlucky then the person you contact may have some useful hints, tips, or insider knowledge of their own university to give you. I ended up emailing my coordinator about 27 times and he was such a big help.

Whether or not you can be accepted to a program without the proper qualifications is another question, and it really depends on the program itself. Departments/programs in Finland are given funding depending on how many students they have, and they are given extra funding depending on how much coursework those students take (It’s possible to move at a snail’s pace in school, so the cutoff for the extra funding is even less than a full-time enrollment–no worries that you’ll be pressured into overworking yourself). If your program has less applicants than open spots, they will be more likely to consider you if you do not have the proper background or experience. If there are more applicants than study spots, your chances will go down. I believe there’s no longer an application fee? But at any rate, if it won’t cost you too much to send in all the application materials, you might as well apply and see what happens. Of course, your application still needs to be quality (good grades, all the required materials, good recommendations if required, etc.).

Some other random stuff:

An application to an MA program typically requires you to send a copy of your Bachelor’s degree (usually this is sent directly to the university and not the centralized application office and often has a much later deadline). They don’t really understand or care that due to university processes in other countries (i.e. the USA), we don’t have access to that for several months after graduating. There is often an exception for students from the USA that if your transcript specifically states certain degree information, then it can be accepted in lieu of the actual diploma itself (see: http://universityadmissions.fi/?page_id=24#USA). You should:

1. confirm with the institution you are applying to that they will accept a transcript with the degree information in place of the diploma itself, 2. confirm with your current institution’s registrar office that your transcript will contain the required degree information after you graduate, and 3. check with the registar’s office (or possibly your academic adviser depending on your university’s policies) when the degree information will be posted to your transcript. If the information isn’t posted in time, ask if it can be expedited somehow. My university wouldn’t rush the printing of my diploma (and were quite rude to me when I asked), but it wasn’t a problem for them to get my degree information posted within a week after final grades posted (this was something my academic adviser had to do, so check with whatever equivalent your uni has in addition to the registrar’s office).

Lucky for you, all application material may be submitted in either Finnish, Swedish, or English, so you won’t have to get anything translated. Unlucky for you, programs starting August 2017 and later now charge tuition fees for non-EU students. However, these are often much cheaper than US programs (my two-year MA apparently costs 8,000eur in total) and there’s likely to be scholarships to apply for (not sure how they work because I don’t have to pay). The dollar is actually quite strong against the Euro right now (1USD == 0.95EUR).

When will you find out if you were accepted to the program? If you’re applying to an “international” program it will likely tell you a date by which you’ll find out if you’re accepted or not. If you’re applying to a “non-international” program then all results are announced on July 1st…this will put you into a bit of a crunch trying to get all of the immigration stuff together and may be annoying if you want to consider any other opportunity that will likely require you to accept or decline before July 1st. Luckily I had no other prospects in life, so I had no trouble waiting.

If accepted, you will be required to get a residence permit (when you’re communicating with the embassy, don’t call it a visa. if you do, they’ll have no idea wtf you’re talking about.). When I applied in July of 2016 the only two places you could apply were the embassy in DC and the consulate in LA, so hopefully you don’t live in Kansas or something. It costs ~300eur. I was confused about the passport photo because there are a lot of strict requirements for how it should be taken, but the embassy just told me to go to CVS and get a normal US passport photo, just be sure not to smile at all.

You also have to purchase insurance. The immigration website suggests a particular company to use, and I used it…costs again about 300eur for an entire year. As a two-year student, you exist somewhere in this gray area of permanent and not permanent. You qualify for free health care through student health services and for some public health services. The insurance is to cover whatever else the public health services won’t cover.

99% of people here speak English, so that’s not a problem signs/automated announcements are usually in Finnish, Swedish, and English. If you don’t have US citizenship or you have dual-citizenship, you may check any sort of requirements or benefits your other citizenship will grant you. If English is not your native language, check the language examination requirements…however, a degree from a high school or university in an English-speaking country is usually enough to exempt you.

Some useful links:

https://studyinfo.fi/wp2/en/: this is the website for the universal application (called opintopolku Finnish). Here you’ll find information about applying to universities in Finland and you can search for programs and read about their requirements. You will also apply on this website. Unfortunately, you cannot create a My Studyinfo account (Oma- Opintopolku) without a Finnish bank account, Finnish phone number certification, or Finnish electronic certification card. However, you can apply without registering so long as you have an email address.

http://universityadmissions.fi/: this website has a lot of information about submitting application materials and what sort of documents are required from students from different countries. Of course, the advertisement for your program is the #1 source for information on what is required and how it should be submitted.

https://www.helsinki.fi/en/studying/how-to-apply: you may have seen this already…I didn’t use it because I go to the University of Eastern Finland, but it may have useful information. At the very least I see a link to a page about scholarships at the bottom…

Other websites where you may find help or information on programs, scholarships, or migrating:

http://cimo.fi/frontpage

http://www.studyinfinland.fi/

That’s all I can think of at the moment. If there’s anything that was unclear or another specific question that comes to your mind, feel free to ask!