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I wish more people could have the opportunity to study out of their countries
Hi! My name is Esteban, I am a physician surgeon trained in Mexico and currently working as Medical Director in a private clinic in London applying all the knowledge I’ve learned along my experience during my Master and Doctorate.
As an overseas student, my journey began in when I decided to explore other roads and together with Across the Pond I could achieve my goals to be accepted and complete my enrolment process to a UK University. I decided to select Queen Mary University due to the program offered in Regenerative Medicine.
At that time my vision was focused on bioprinting and tissue engineering. The classes taught during the program helped me further expand my horizons in the field of biotechnology, biomaterials, and new therapies, including gene therapies, cell reprogramming, and cell-free therapies. However, it is important to mention that classes in English can be challenging at first and I had to get used to the British accent, but also to other international accents of non- British teachers or just other international colleagues.
About the learning process, the lecturers promote the autonomous work. I valued this dynamic not only because it is different compared with my previous academic experiences, but also because it allowed me to manage my time according to my needs.
The social life was unforgettable, I meet people from different countries something that still happening in this unique city such as London. I need to highlight that the accommodation offered by the University was very helpful to do this and meet my first British friends. This helped me more to understand slowly their culture including their unique humour sense. Also, I had the opportunity to travel to other European countries and witness the great diversity of traditions, food, and weathers in the world.
All these experiences helped to convince myself to continue my journey in the UK. So, I decided to pursuit a PhD in the field of cardiac repair and regeneration using extracellular vesicles derived from stem cells. The PhD lasted 4 years and half and all those years consolidated my experience as researcher with a great variety of skills developed during my journey. Is hard to synthetise my PhD experience in few sentences however I can say that after completing it my general vision of the medicine has been refreshed and I can find myself standing in the front of the field with a clearer vision of the upcoming advances in medicine.
Finally, I wish more people could have the opportunity to study out of their countries and immerse in a city where people all over the world come to interact. I fascinating to see the differences between humans and even better to learn from each other drinking a coffee or a beer in a pub, enjoying a festival, having a picnic in the multiple parks during summer or just a walk through the winter markets, that makes me feel alive.
Overall, study in London has been a great experience in my life for some reason I continue in this city. I would encourage to anyone reading this post to pursuit your goals and work hard but at the same time been patient and disciplined.
- Esteban
My experience has been amazing
My experience with Across the Pond has been an amazing one! I came across the website during my initial search of the different universities around the UK. After I had completed my undergraduate studies in the US, I knew that I wanted to study abroad in the UK.
I got in touch with Across the Pond and my advisor was very helpful! She answered all of my questions about the different partner universities to help me choose my program of study. For any questions that she did not have immediate answers to, my advisor made sure she spoke to her university contacts to get all the information I needed. Not only was she timely in her email responses, but the advisor was also very enthusiastic and helped to make the application process much more relaxed and less stressful for me. Before the start of term, my advisor organized a meet-up for students to ask her any last-minute questions about student visas, pre-departure, and school arrival procedures. This was very beneficial and I even made some new friends that were going to attend graduate programs at nearby universities in London.
My overall experience with Across the Pond has been very positive and I would highly recommend it to anyone that would like to study in the UK!
- Roshni
High Quality Education
Choosing to pursue further education is a big decision in and of itself, regardless of whether or not one also plans to pursue this education abroad. Without guidance it can be especially nerve-wracking to rely solely on your own understanding of the UK education system, the application processes, and the various reputations of its many universities. I am really glad that I came by Across the Pond before I embarked on the application process. Not only was their initial response to my queries expedient and informative but this rapport continued throughout my application and pre-departure process. My advisor was very helpful from providing feedback on my personal statement to explaining parts of the application process or education system that I did not fully understand. I found the information sent regarding visa applications and pre-departure considerations to also be of great convenience in the hectic months prior to my departure.
I am really pleased with the breadth of universities that Across the Pond represents, specifically the high proportion of those in the Russell Group. Studying law in the United Kingdom has far exceeded my expectations and I attribute that to the detailed information Across the Pond provides about their partner institutions. A UK law degree may seem like an unconventional route for Canadian students, however, with the proper guidance and research it will definitely be a rewarding experience. The quality of education and the high calibre of instruction here has served to reaffirm my choice in choosing to study law in the UK. For students looking to pursue the Graduate Entry (Senior Status) law programs I would strongly recommend thinking about whether you want to practice in the UK or gain accreditation in Canada as this will save you a lot of time and help to maximise your experience in the UK.
As well, living in right in central London has also been an unparalleled experience. There is plenty of extra-curricular activities for students both academic and non-academic. And while London does tend to have similar price-tags to other big cities there are always budget-friendly alternatives regardless of one's interests.
In all, I am extremely thankful for all the help and guidance Across the Pond has provided and I would strongly recommend their services to anyone considering to pursue further education in the United Kingdom.
- Julia
Digital meeting with a Student Advisor
Book an online session with an advisor with Across the Pond to learn more about studying in the UK!
- Make sure you book the meeting at least 2 days ahead of time
- If you want to talk over Skype, make sure your Skype is working as it should and that you have connected with your advisor before the meeting starts to avoid losing valuable meeting time
- If you do not use Skype and prefer to talk over for instance Teams, just type that into the "Skype-ID" field and we´ll arrange to send you a meeting link via Teams (you do not need a Microsoft Teams user)
