Author - Axiom

Choosing a university course is the most important decision a student makes. Your enjoyment of your course has a huge bearing on your overall university experience.

It is also a challenging decision. This section will walk you through how to choose the right course by covering the following steps:

 Choosing the right course.

Some apply to university knowing exactly what they want to study. But most students are faced with a huge variety of courses and subject areas to consider.

 Choosing how to study your chosen course.

There are a number of different ways to study. Find out about joint honor’s, accelerated degrees, part-time study, and other flexible learning options are now widely available.

 Courses and career opportunities.

Career opportunities vary depending on which subject area you choose to study.

Find your perfect university program with our course guide to suit your career goals and interests.

Our expert academic teams are here to help you make the right choice for you and your chosen career.  If you’re not sure what you want to do yet, you can count on us to help you decide. Your age, education and grades, English language level and university and career goals are important things to consider.

Which subjects are most difficult to get onto?

There is no simple answer to this question. Generally speaking though, the most difficult subjects to get onto will be those that attract large numbers of good applicants.

Some very popular courses may have a relatively low standard of applications. For example, Primary Teacher Training and Nursing make the top ten most popular subjects but the average UCAS tariff score of new entrants is one of the lowest for any subject. These courses look at other important factors such as work experience, empathy, and motivation rather than just entry grades.

Use our course chooser to help find the perfect course for you

In contrast, far fewer people apply for Veterinary Medicine, but with only seven universities offering courses in it, it has much more demanding entry requirements.

Some students will narrow down their choice of a university with their subject choice. If you want to study Burmese, there is only one option – SOAS, University of London. For those interested in one of the major subjects such as English, Chemistry or Law there may be 40 or more universities offering suitable courses.

  Candidates for Canadian permanent residents who are eligible for the Federal Skilled Worker Program make an expression of interest in immigrating to Canada by creating an online profile. You provide information about your skills, work experience, language ability, education, and other personal information.

Once your eligibility has been confirmed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), you are placed in a pool of candidates who are ranked according to a Comprehensive Ranking System. If a candidate does not already have a valid job offer from a Canadian employer or a provincial nomination, he or she must register with Canada’s Job Bank.

It is important that the information provided is accurate, as providing false information could disqualify an applicant from re-entering the pool for a number of years.

Guide you in submitting a strong, accurate profile as soon as possible

At the profile stage, candidates declare many of their credentials and are required to substantiate their education and language proficiency by undergoing the relevant assessments recognized by the government of Canada. A candidate must also be able to properly demonstrate to the Canadian government that he or she has sufficient settlement funds to support his or her family. Submitting an accurate Express Entry profile is particularly important, as CIC has indicated that anyone who misrepresents may be subject to a five-year ban from applying for permanent residence and from entering Canada.

Submit your profile as early as possible

The Express Entry system may become more competitive in the future as more candidates upload profiles. CIC has also indicated that job matching software between Canadian employers and candidates will not be ready until later this year and it may take some time before Canadian employers are fully engaged in Express Entry. As a result, candidates without job offers may have a better chance of being selected early on.

Get a head start on collecting and reviewing documents

If a candidate is invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence, he or she will have only 60 days to submit a complete application, including supporting documents. Extensions will not be granted. Arranging documents in advance may help applicants submit an accurate profile and a complete application if selected. Having your supporting documents ready ahead of time can also benefit you if you become eligible under any PNP.

Monitor Provincial Nominee Programs

To help our clients obtain 600 extra points under the CRS for a provincial nomination certificate, we monitor all of the PNPs and provide our clients with alerts when PNPs open. 2014 saw several provincial programs open and fill quickly. Many of the documents we guide Express Entry clients in collecting are typically required to apply under a PNP. Advanced document preparation, combined with fast alerts, helps our clients react quickly if a PNP opens for which he or she is eligible. Many provinces will have dedicated 2015 PNP streams for candidates in the Express Entry pool, several of which have already been unveiled.

Assist with job matching and your Canada Job Bank profile

Obtaining a job offer before arriving in Canada can be helpful for purposes of receiving an invitation to apply and eventually settling in Canada. We encourage and assist our clients in their Canadian job search by providing a list of up to 50 Canadian job openings in their field each month, a resume builder, and our assistance in uploading a strong and accurate Job Bank profile. Candidates may be paired with an employer through the Express Entry matching software, as well as through our resources, or on their own. If a client makes contact with a potential Canadian employer, we will, upon request, advise the employer on the process of hiring a candidate through Express Entry.

Provide ongoing evaluation and advice on improving your profile

After uploading a profile, clients can take steps to improve their ranking, which may increase their chance of receiving an invitation to apply. We provide our clients with language test preparation software, assistance in planning language tests and education assessments, and personalized one-on-one guidance with regard to his or her CRS score and Express Entry profile. For an entire year, we will help you update your profile any time your credentials improve.

Eligible candidates in the Express Entry pool are ranked according to the Comprehensive Ranking System, which ranks eligible candidates for immigration to Canada through Express Entry under the following components:

 core human capital factors;

 an accompanying spouse or common-law partner factors;

 skill transferability factors; and

 factors relating to a provincial nomination or a qualifying offer of arranged employment.

The highest-ranked candidates are issued invitations to apply for Canadian permanent residence when the government of Canada performs regular draws from the pool. Therefore, it is in candidates’ best interests to strive to improve their scores in order to increase their chances of receiving an invitation to apply.

An Invitation to Apply is offered to any candidate in the Express Entry pool who has been selected to apply for immigration to Canada by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) through the Express Entry immigration selection system. Invitations to Apply are issued on a priority basis when CIC performs a draw from the Express Entry pool, which is made up of candidates who have made an expression of interest in immigrating to Canada.

The original profile information will remain for 60 days after the Invitation to Apply is issued. Candidates will have this length of time to submit a complete and accurate application along with all supporting documents. The submission of the complete application is considered the acceptance.

Once all portions of the document checklist are uploaded and complete, applicants are given the option to submit an application. The option to submit is not available until after all fields are accounted for. An Acknowledgment of Receipt (AOR) will be automatically issued once the file is submitted. CIC will review the application and determine whether or not it is both complete and eligible. CIC aims to complete this process within six months of the applicant has submitted his or her application.

 All Canadian immigration applicants are required to undergo medical examinations. These examinations are intended to detect any conditions, which may affect the health of the Canadian public, or which may result in excessive demands being placed upon Canadian health or social services. The medical examination includes a standard physical examination, blood tests, urine tests, and X-Rays.

Each medical case is analyzed individually, taking into account your full medical history. If the disease or disorder poses health risks to Canadians or places excessive demands on the Canadian health care system, it may result in medical inadmissibility.

The medical examination is given around the world by designated medical practitioners (DMP). Regardless of the Canadian Immigration Visa Office to which the application is submitted, the services of a designated medical practitioner in any part of the world may be used.

A Canadian Immigration Visa Officer will make a detailed analysis of all the information contained in the re-application and all the supporting documents, and assess the application against the current selection criteria.

We Will

 Advise you on how to prove your qualifications to the satisfaction of the Canadian Immigration Visa Officer in charge of your application, even when essential documents are difficult to obtain.

 Make further written submissions on your behalf to address any concerns that the Canadian Immigration Visa Officer may have about your application.

 Advise you on how best to address any concerns expressed or documents requested by the Canadian Immigration Visa Officer.

 Communicate, if required, with the Canadian Immigration Visa Officer in charge of assessing your file if service standards for the processing and assessment of your application are not met.

 The Canadian Immigration Visa Office will request the Right of Permanent Resident Fee (RPRF) payment and your passport for the purpose of issuing a Canada Immigration (Permanent Resident) Visa. Note that submitting passports is no longer required if the applicant is from a Visitor Visa-exempt country.

We Will

 A follow-up to ensure that your medical results have been received and that the security checks have been completed;

 Confirm that the Canadian Immigration Visa Office has received your passport for the purpose of placing your Canada Immigration Visa inside.

Your Canada Immigration Visa will have an expiry date, by which time you and your accompanying family members must enter Canada.

We will:

 Verify that all of the information contained on your Canada Immigration Visa is accurate;

 Communicate with the Canadian Immigration Visa Office on your behalf to correct any information on your Canada Immigration Visa that is inaccurate;

 Provide instructions to you for your arrival at a Canadian port of entry;

 Advise you on how to obtain a Canadian Permanent Resident Card, Social Insurance Number and Health Insurance Card;

 Advise you as to the residency obligations of Canadian permanent residents and how to qualify for Canadian citizenship.

If you’re applying for a graduate-level degree, especially a master’s program, you may be required to submit scores from one or more standardized graduate admissions tests. These are internationally delivered tests which aim to ensure applicants are prepared for the rigors of advanced study, in their own country or abroad.

Here’s a quick guide to help you decide which graduate admissions tests are most relevant to you, the kind of questions to expect, and what steps to take next.

 GMAT (Graduate Management Admissions Test)

Target Audience: Business school applicants.

Required by: Business schools.

Purpose: To assess a candidate’s suitability for business school, by assessing verbal, mathematical and analytical skills.

Duration: Three hours and 30 minutes (four hours if you take the optional breaks).

Test Content: The GMAT is divided into four parts:

Analytical writing assessment: An essay analyzing an argument (one essay in 30 minutes).

Integrated Reasoning: A multiple choice section which measures a candidate’s ability to evaluate information presented in di­fferent formats and from multiple sources (12 questions in 30 minutes).

Quantitative: Questions testing the candidate’s ability to solve problems and understand data (37 questions in 75 minutes).

Verbal: Multiple choice questions testing the candidate’s ability to understand written material, evaluate arguments and correct written material to conform to standard English (41 questions in 75 minutes).

Scoring: The verbal and quantitative sections of the GMAT are both scored from 0-60; the analytical writing assignment is scored on a scale of 0-6 (in increments of 0.5); the integrated reasoning section is marked on a scale of 1-8 (increments of 1). You also receive a percentile rating for each of the four parts, indicating the percentage of test takers you outperformed, and a ‘Total’ score which is calculated based on the verbal and quantitative sections. This is given on a scale of 200-800.

You may choose up to five schools to send your score report to, with additional reports available for an extra fee. You may retake the test if you are unsatisfied with your score (a maximum of five times over a 12 month period), but be aware that all scores from the previous five years will be included on the scorecard sent to the business schools to which you are applying. Results can be canceled immediately on completing the test.

Cost: US$250 (worldwide).

Valid for: Five years (older scores are available but are not always considered to be an accurate measure of your current standard).

Results Needed: Most GMAT candidates achieve a score between 400 and 600; extremely high and low scores are rare. There are no straightforward passes or fails, and the score you need will depend on the school to which you are applying.

Points to Note: Multiple choice sections begin with an intermediate-level question. A correct answer will lead to a more difficult question, while an incorrect answer does the opposite. To complete a section you must work through the most difficult questions. There is a penalty for not finishing in the allotted time. The GMAT is only delivered in English.

Resources: The official site o­ffers free prep software to registered users. This uses the same software as the test itself so should serve as an accurate simulation. Candidates may also wish to enroll on a prep course or make use of the many online resources available.

 GRE (Graduate Record Examination)

 Target Audience: Prospective graduate students across all disciplines.

 Required by: Graduate schools and departments.

 Purpose: GRE scores are used to assess the suitability of applicants for graduate-level study across many different subject areas. Some departments may ask applicants to take one of the GRE Subject Tests, while others require the General.

It is very common nowadays that European universities that offer different international Masters degree programs, ask applicants to send a number of important documents like C.V, transcript of records, Bachelors degree diploma, language certificate, etc. but one of the key documents required that might make the difference and assure you a place in your desired Masters program is the motivation letter.

The motivation letter (or cover letter) is probably the most personalized document of your application considering that you actually get the chance to write a presentation about yourself accompanying your CV. By requiring a motivation letter, the Master’s recruiting committee offers you the chance to prove yourself in a short document shaped like a letter in which you are supposed to give some relevant and interesting insights about yourself, prove that you are the right and most motivated person to be chosen for participating in the program.

Writing such a letter can prove to be sometimes tricky and challenging for some applicants who often find themselves wondering how the letter should look like, what it should contain and how to convince coordinators that they are the right ones to be chosen for the program.

The internet is packed with different websites that offer tips and tricks on such letters. By simply typing motivation letter on any of the consecrated search engines you will find a vast number of examples of different motivation letters with structural and content details.

 This article will focus on a few key points drawn from personal experiences that proved effective in my case and will hopefully be useful in helping you write a good cover letter:

Do your homework

Before starting on your motivation letter it is best you find out as much as possible about the university that is offering the Masters programme and about the program itself. Usually, the universities’ website is pretty clear and informative about their requirements, expectations and about what qualifications and qualities they hope their candidates have. Knowing a little bit about their requirements, about their main projects, activities personal philosophy and interests will help you get an idea of what your letter should contain. Relating to the main activities and interests of the university will definitely help start positive cooperation.

Ideas and main points

Start with writing down some of the main ideas, important points you would like to approach in your letter and later build around them, enrich their content; an example would be :

 Make your goal clear; provide a short preview of the rest of the letter.

 Why do you think that the university and the Master’s program are interesting and suitable for you?

 Focus on some of your strongest qualifications, past experiences (international experiences are always relevant) and qualities; organize the middle paragraphs in terms of the qualifications most relevant for the program, you can also refer to your CV for more details.

 Conclude by restating your interest and show appreciation for the chance to prove yourself in the letter (in some cases you can ask for a personal interview).

Personal & Original

Give your readers some insight into you as an individual. Remember this is a very personal document in which you are expected to prove that you are different from the rest of the applicants and that your qualities, skills, and qualifications make you suitable for participating in the program. Although it might be sometimes helpful to have other examples, do not copy other letters you have seen and try to be original, it will help a lot! Also, avoid bragging too much about yourself. You are not expected to present yourself as a superhero but rather be objective and realistic.

First impression

Whether it is the way your letter looks, the way it is organized and structured in paragraphs, the font size, the length of the letter or even the first paragraph, the first impression always counts!

Be professional and consistent

Present your letter in a professional format, style, and grammar. Have it checked for spelling mistakes and be consistent (e.g. use the same font, the same abbreviations throughout the letter, etc.)

Other opinions and advice

It is always a good idea to ask your friends, a teacher or someone who has already done such an application for advice. Usually, you can get in touch with students who are already doing the Masters programme you are applying for and they can give good advice not only on what to include in your motivation letter. However, as already stated before remember to be original and avoid copying other letters!

All these presented key points can prove effective and help you write successful motivation letters but in the end, your personal touch and knowledge is what matters and makes the difference. A good motivation letter will always be successful if the applicant is really interested and willing to get the desired place in the Master’s program of his/her choice. What you really need is to trust in yourself and try it and if you are not successful the first time keep on trying because you will for sure make it.

Good luck with your applications!