Need help: An immature plan for a foreigner preparing to study in Finland

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YuqingWang
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:05 pm

Need help: An immature plan for a foreigner preparing to study in Finland

Post by YuqingWang » Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:56 pm

Hi, I am Yuqing from China. I graduated from a university in China in 2020 with an LLB degree. But, after four years of study, I found myself very disappointed with the Chinese legal system. Therefore, after a short internship at the court after graduation, I quit my job. I taught myself programming at home by watching online classes and found that I liked this profession with timely feedback so much that I applied to master's programs in computer science at US universities last year. Tuition and living costs in the US are very expensive, but only many US universities accept international students who change their majors at the master's level. So I tried to apply and got accepted to five schools, but when I was about to leave and go to the embassy to apply for a visa, I encountered repeated visa denials (in the past two years, many Chinese students were denied visa approval because of various opaque and unreasonable requirements and reasons in the U.S.). Unfortunately, my study plan briefly failed.
By chance, I read the news about the change in Finland's immigration policy, saying that student visas are A visas and that you can apply for permanent residence with a four-year A visa. And I did a brief research on Finland's natural environment, social atmosphere, and infrastructure development, and found that I like and want to be here. So I plan to apply to Finnish universities next year during the application season. I knew in advance that universities in Europe rarely allow large changes of majors at the graduate level, so I originally planned to apply for a bachelor's degree in computer science. However, after browsing through the prospectus of most Finnish universities, I found out that SAT scores are required to apply to undergraduate programs and that SATs are no longer administered in mainland China, so I couldn't take the test. When I emailed the admissions offices of the universities to explain the situation, the answer I got was that I had to submit this score.
Therefore, to make it to the application season early next year, I had to apply to a law-related master's program. Then if I have a chance to be accepted, I will apply to the university for a bachelor's degree in computer science while I am in the graduate program. I wonder if this plan is feasible. If not, will I be able to find a software engineering-related job through my self-study experience? Anyway, this is the plan that I am currently in the process of implementing and I will do my best to make it a reality. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to hearing what Finns think of my immature plans as an immature foreigner. Appreciate it!



Need help: An immature plan for a foreigner preparing to study in Finland

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FinlandGirl
Posts: 1329
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:43 am

Re: Need help: An immature plan for a foreigner preparing to study in Finland

Post by FinlandGirl » Thu Jul 28, 2022 10:19 pm

YuqingWang wrote:
Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:56 pm
I taught myself programming at home by watching online classes and found that I liked this profession with timely feedback so much that I applied to master's programs in computer science at US universities last year.
YuqingWang wrote:
Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:56 pm
By chance, I read the news about the change in Finland's immigration policy, saying that student visas are A visas and that you can apply for permanent residence with a four-year A visa.
It does not make much difference in practice, with a Finnish degree in IT you should be able to find a job in Finland and then the residence permit is anyway not a problem.
YuqingWang wrote:
Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:56 pm
I plan to apply to Finnish universities next year during the application season. I knew in advance that universities in Europe rarely allow large changes of majors at the graduate level, so I originally planned to apply for a bachelor's degree in computer science. However, after browsing through the prospectus of most Finnish universities, I found out that SAT scores are required to apply to undergraduate programs and that SATs are no longer administered in mainland China, so I couldn't take the test. When I emailed the admissions offices of the universities to explain the situation, the answer I got was that I had to submit this score.
What study options exactly were you looking at where no alternative is offered to the SAT?
YuqingWang wrote:
Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:56 pm
Therefore, to make it to the application season early next year, I had to apply to a law-related master's program. Then if I have a chance to be accepted, I will apply to the university for a bachelor's degree in computer science while I am in the graduate program. I wonder if this plan is feasible.
How would it help?

Studying in a masters program would not help you fulfilling the formal criteria for entering a bachelor program.
It would not even help if it was in the same university, but law-related masters programs are usually in Universities and English-language IT bachelors in Universities of Applied Sciences.

It is not clear whether an application for a residence permit extension would be granted if you fail to complete the program your first residence permit was granted for.
YuqingWang wrote:
Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:56 pm
If not, will I be able to find a software engineering-related job through my self-study experience?
It's unlikely.


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