How to study in the UK 🇬🇧| My journey & experience. THIS WILL MOTIVATE YOU!

Assalamualaikum, hello everyone. I am Husna and thank you so much for clicking on this video. Finally, I am filming the long-awaited and most requested video, how to study in London, in the UK or just generally how to study abroad. So if you're new, last year in September I moved to London to study university there. I study in the University of Westminster and I am majoring in digital media production. I'm officially done with my first year. I only have two more years left until graduation inshallah and since I am in my summer holiday right now, I'm back home in Istanbul and I thought right now is the perfect time to actually explain you guys how you can study abroad as well. Especially when I started sharing with you guys my study abroad journey, I started receiving a lot of you know questions about Husna, how did you do it, how was the IELTS process, how was the visa application, how do you apply for universities, you know basically all the details about how to study abroad and I promised you guys that I would film a whole video explaining it. In fact, I won't only be explaining how to study abroad but I will also be explaining what to do after you actually move abroad to study. Like how to spend your first year in university or like how my experience in you know first year of university was like I just want to share with you guys everything. So yeah, I hope this video will be beneficial and I hope this video will be helpful for you if you're planning to study abroad as well especially in the UK. So yeah, without further ado let's get started. Okay so I want to start with how long it took me to actually move to London in September right? I moved to London in September 2024 but the process of me preparing to study abroad started from April 2023 so it's like almost one and a half years. So it exactly took me one and a half years to you know prepare to study abroad in London and then finally in September of 2024 I moved to London and I was only 19 years old. Oh and also I want to note that when you look at my social media especially like on my Instagram it might look like I always had this lifestyle that supported me with you know moving abroad like studying there both financially and physically and mentally and blah blah blah um but that's not the reality you guys. I mean I try my best to not make my social media look perfect like actually I try my best to not make my life look like perfect on social media but at the end of the day it is social media. When we post we filter our content, we edit them, we usually try to you know film our best moments and then we post them but generally you guys I'm on like I'm speaking honest like 100%. I never thought ever ever ever thought that I would actually like move on a whole new country like on a whole different country on my own without my family as a girl you know especially as a Muslim girl Muslim hijabi girl at the age of 19 to study university like let alone moving abroad to study university just generally like studying university was not even in my plans at all you guys because I did not grow up in that kind of family. I did not grow up in that kind of household. I am the first girl to study university in my family which alhamdulillah is a blessing but just in my household it was it was not a thing you know so that's why like I just want to clarify that because maybe when you're watching this video you might be like oh like let me just check out her Instagram or like let me just check out her YouTube and you're gonna go like oh she looks like wealthy or like I don't know she looks like she has you know super supportive background or like she has grown up in that kind of household so it's normal for her to study abroad so like I can't and blah blah blah like I don't want you to think like that okay like I try my best to be raw but I feel like my YouTube is better than Instagram in terms of relatable content like in my YouTube when you watch my YouTube vlogs that's where you can truly see who I really am like the way I talk and the people I hang out with you know my choices and my opinions on certain topics like YouTube is my safe space and I love my YouTube family but on Instagram like I feel like everyone's like that on Instagram you look more aesthetically pleasing you look more put together you know you make your content look more cinematic and stuff but yeah I just want to clarify that if I did it I am sure that you can do it as well you guys like let me tell you the biggest miracle of experience in my own life was actually moving to London and studying university there so yeah now that I clarified that I could officially start so on April of 2023 you guys I got inspired to study abroad out of nowhere like literally it was in the middle of the night I was with my family and the reason why we're we're all together in the middle of the night was because it was the month of Ramadan where we fast and usually we work we wake up in the middle of the night to eat some stuff before our fast officially begins so we're just like eating some stuff in the middle of the night with my family and that's when I was like mom dad I want to study in London and no one took me serious like I I'm gonna be for real with you guys no one took me serious except for my older sister like until I entered IELTS and I passed my IELTS score no one took me serious everyone was like okay yeah like Husna was always Delulu you know it is true I was always Delulu in my family like me you know posting on social media like creating content and like just trying to do some different stuff like this is who I am so everyone always knew that I was Delulu and I used to always like speak big I dream big I dream different in my family so everyone was like okay yeah like she's just you know she this is another Delulu like delusion of Husna but they were not saying this like in a negative way they were just like in a joke type of way and I was fine with that because I'm so used to that you know not in a negative way you guys like this happens in every family I'm sure you know so yeah my mom and dad was like okay yeah do your best we're with you but you know like this is like a big thing but now that I look back I know why they didn't take me seriously because guys financially and emotionally and even like physically I was so not ready for this big journey because it's not an easy journey okay you guys like it is not an easy journey let me let me be honest so that's why now I understand why back then my parents kind of like didn't take this serious you know and they just thought it was another delusion of mine because I truly was not ready for this financially especially you guys like especially financially like I was not ready for this but when you truly believe in God he makes it happen like I believe in this more than ever because I moved to London anyways okay so it was April I'm like mom dad I'm gonna study in London and the reason why I chose the UK is because it was the closest to Istanbul and it's an English speaking country and we all know that UK is best known for its universities and you know like international students mostly prefer UK to live and to study in because it's like like a really good country so yeah I just went with UK and I did some researches about universities that can actually accept me because most universities require GCSE or like IB like those kind of international exams and I don't have that I just had my high school diploma and that's it but you guys okay so this is the first tip take your paper and your pencil if you are planning to study abroad this is the first note that you have to write down universities like when you look at their entry requirements they might be like okay you need IB or like you need GCSE but that it's not mandatory unless if it's like Oxford or Cambridge or I don't know like IV leagues in the USA okay unless if it's not those kind of universities generally most universities they're like it's good if you have like it's actually really good if you have those exams but if you don't if you don't have those qualifications then it's okay if you have high school diploma if you have talent if you have personality if you have courage which is the most important we're gonna accept you because that's exactly what happened to me you guys my high school diploma was not even like the best high school diploma in the country I was homeschooler you guys I was homeschooler and in Istanbul like in Turkey the worst high school diploma is the ones that are the homeschooler you know high school diplomas and I had that one so everyone around me was like Hasan we don't think you can actually do it because first of all your diploma isn't even like that you know important and that big and I was like no I'm gonna do it isn't that high school diploma it is so I'm just gonna do it that's what I said so I you know I was like okay I have the diploma and I can do it and I saw a couple universities like University of Greenwich my own university University of Westminster London South Bank University London Metropolitan University Middlesex University like those kind of universities yes some of them required IB like for example my university University of Westminster required IB for digital media production but I am not an IB student I didn't have a IB diploma but still they accepted me and gave me a place to study digital media production alhamdulillah so that's what I want to say I don't want anyone to start on this path thinking negatively thinking that I won't achieve it because when you think that you won't achieve it when you start this path negatively that is when you actually won't achieve you guys okay so my first step was I chose a university that I want to apply to and the second step was yes that is one of the most important steps even if you don't enter GCSE or if even if you're not an IB student or you don't have SAT or like those kind of exams you have to enter IELTS or TOEFL or any kind of English language exam you guys it is a must like you have to prove the country that you're gonna study in that you have enough English to study in that country especially if it is the UK I prepared for IELTS I actually took academic English lessons from my private tutor for about five months so from April till October I believe no till September I think I entered IELTS either in September or in October let me check out you guys okay I entered IELTS on 13 October so I prepared for IELTS from April till September which is you which is actually very long okay it's very long like it's around five months that's because 2023 summer was a bit challenging for me and my family we had a couple losses and I at the same time I had to you know deal with my IELTS studies and with those losses like I had to be with my parents for emotional support so it was a bit challenging year in terms of that so that's why it took me a while to prepare for IELTS but normally you guys another note write it down studying for IELTS should take maximum three months like if your English is on a bad level you should study for three months maximum like all day like literally every day from like four to five hours study English study IELTS for three months you're gonna pass it inshallah like the usually all universities require about at least 5.5 score from your IELTS so that they can accept you and your English right so if you want to pass 5.5 in IELTS academic IELTS you have to study for maximum three or four months but generally when I think three months is enough to you know study and prepare for academic IELTS and another note is that even if your English is amazing like it's on a top level C2 or on a native level still you have to study for IELTS because IELTS is not like a it's not like a daily like you know day-to-day English exam it's not like the ones that you see in school it is real you guys there is reading writing listening and speaking and all four of them are actually difficult so you have to study for IELTS even if you're good or if you're bad in English you have to study for IELTS because there are a lot of tips and techniques you have to know about each skill in IELTS so that you can pass with a good score I scored 7.5 from IELTS not for me it's not the best okay I was expecting an 8 at least an 8 from myself um but I don't know you guys I really struggled uh in listening part two where there were the maps it was really hard to catch up with the maps and the listening so I kind of like lost my focus there but then um reading was not bad reading was actually really good it's just listening was not the best for me speaking was good and writing as well like writing essay was really hard for me you guys writing was always hard for me you guys um in IELTS so that's why study for IELTS oh and by the way if you want to study in the UK the exam you should enter is academic IELTS for UKVI but if you want to study in like other countries like the USA or Canada or other countries then academic IELTS is enough I don't know about TOEFL or other exams because I didn't do TOEFL I did IELTS as you guys know um but yeah overall it's not like super hard if you have studied if you know the tips and techniques you will easily pass 5.5 inshallah so once my IELTS was done and I got my results that's when my parents started taking it seriously alhamdulillah but still I by the way I didn't tell anyone around me like anyone not even my best friends until things got on a serious level okay only my parents knew my sister knew my brother knew obviously but other than that no one had any idea like even you guys I didn't tell you until the week I moved to London so the first step was choosing universities the second step was IELTS and the third step was applying to universities so here you guys my sister's family friend they live in the UK and therefore they knew an agency or like an agent called SIUK and they had a friend there who worked you know in the SIUK agency and that friend really helped me with you know applying for universities via UCAS but I think that you don't need agent for this part either like you can do it by yourself as well like it's easy you guys throughout this whole process all you need is laptop like that's it all you need is a laptop you can do everything from a to z from your laptop when you are in your study abroad process so the agent helped me apply to universities via UCAS so I can explain what kind of services they did to me so you don't need to go and hire an agent to you know apply for universities you can do it by yourself so if you have chosen all the universities that you want to apply you will use a website called UCAS if you want to study in the UK I don't know about the other countries you guys I'm sorry but if you want to study in the UK you are going to apply to the universities you have chosen via UCAS it's UCAS.com you're going to open yourself an account and once you open yourself an account uh you will just start your you know process you're going to go like apply to universities and then you're going to pay an amount I believe it was 26 pounds last year but I don't know the price for this year let me quickly check from chattubt oh okay so if you want to apply to only one course meaning one university then it charges 22.50 pounds but if you want to apply for five courses aka five universities then you have to pay 28.50 pounds so obviously the 28 pounds is way better than the 22 ones because with the 22 you're going to apply for only one but with 28 you're going to apply for five different universities so that's what I did I applied for five different universities by paying about I believe it was 26 pounds last year you know because I remember that one but anyways um so yeah my agent did the whole UCAS thing for me she opened me an account she uh paid the amount and then she chose all the universities I want to apply to she uploaded all the documents and then she submitted and like that I didn't do anything about UCAS she did everything but if you don't want to you know hire agent then you can do it by yourself just like I said open an account on UCAS choose the universities like pay the 28 pounds choose the five universities and the courses and upload the required documents so here I'm going to tell you which documents are needed to apply for universities take your notes you guys um I have all my documents still here in my laptop by the way it's like really hot today in Istanbul oh my gosh my laptop is dead luckily I have my iPad okay let's see okay so the papers that you need to have in order to apply for universities in the UK through UCAS is number one passport or your ID which is obviously the most important thing number two academical transcripts which is your high school diploma and your high school transcripts transcripts meaning like you know you have your high school subjects with the grades you have gotten from those subjects basically and then number three is IELTS or like any English language proficiency test so yeah mine was my IELTS certificate so I uploaded that one and then number four is personal statements so this is also very very important you have to write about yourself about who you are about why that university should choose you should accept you for that course like you have to prove yourself and what I wrote in my personal statement was so the reason why I chose digital media production is because I do social media for living I'm a full-time content creator so I know digital media very well alhamdulillah and that's why I just wrote about that like I do this for eight years I was 13 when I started and now I'm like 19 like I'm really good at my job I make an income out of it and I have big dreams big goals I want to hopefully build my own business in the future and your university will really help me like I you know trust in your university and I also added some like personal stuff you know about my background about my culture and that I believe helped a lot in my acceptance so yeah you have to write a personal statement and it should be a maximum 500 to 600 words and then number five is reference letters so an academic person that you know should write a reference letter about you basically they should like compliment you and the good things and achievements you have done in your school so for me my you know private tutor my English tutor who prepared me for IELTS he wrote me the letter of reference and he's very kind for doing that he wrote some really nice stuff about me so I'm really grateful for that but basically either a teacher a school counselor or an academic advisor must write the reference letter for you and they should also sign it and if it belongs if that teacher or like that counselor belongs to a school or like you know a private school or something it has to be stamped by the school and then those are the main documents that you need to apply to universities on UCAS but if you have additional documents like I don't know certificates portfolios resumes you can add those as well but the ones that I just counted are the most important ones you need to apply to universities from UCAS and yeah so once you upload those documents you can officially you know like submit your application and all you have to do is to wait by the way the UCAS applications open around I believe September no November yeah the UCAS applications open around November for the upcoming academic year so since I applied in November 2023 I applied for the 2024-2025 academic year which was just this past one just for you to note that for example in this upcoming November when you apply for UK universities it means you're not applying for this upcoming academic year but for the next one the 2026-2027 because right now the upcoming one is 2025-2026 but if you apply in this November it means you're applying for the 2026-2027 academic year okay so yeah just to note that when you apply around November you will receive your results from every university maximum by the end of February or beginning of March because that's what happened to me the first university that replied to me was Kingston University they replied me around the end of December and I got accepted and then it was it was London Metropolitan I believe I got accepted from that as well I got accepted from all the universities I applied to alhamdulillah like all five of them without any like GCSE or IB or SAT just with my high school diploma and IELTS certificate why because I mean obviously academic qualifications and achievements are amazing when you're applying for universities but who you are what kind of personality you have those matter the most you guys like universities look for individuals who are creative who are passionate who who have the courage you know so that's why like no need to be sad if you don't have like amazing academic qualifications if you have a good personality that's enough inshallah so yeah after you receive the results then comes choosing your firm university for example I got five unconditional offers from all universities and I went with one which was my firm choice which was the University of Westminster Digital Media Production so yeah around like I believe end of March in April I did my firm choice of university and then yeah I just got in contact with the University of Westminster with their halls you know because I was planning to stay in the university accommodation that process took me about like a month and yeah you guys around May everything about university application was done like I got accepted I chose my firm choice of university I paid the deposit for my university and for my accommodation and now I just had to apply for a UK visa but it was still so early because my university was going to start around September and that's why you have to apply for the UK student visa like two months prior to your university start date like two months prior to the enrollment date or else they won't like accept you to the country you're going to be like you still have like three months until your university starts why are you here so early we're not going to accept you to the country okay so don't do that mistake since I was done with all the university application process around May I took a good vacation my whole study abroad process was on hold for about like a month a month and a half long uh basically from May until July and in July I started preparing for my UK student visa application so um the most important thing about the UK student visa application was finance you have to have at least forty thousand dollars in your bank account for 40 days like it has to stay for at least 40 days if it stays for 39 days you're going to get rejected if it stays for 35 days you're going to get rejected if it stays for only two weeks you're going to get rejected it has to stay for at least 40 days in your bank account that is a big amount I know so the amount that I had to keep in my bank account was around 40,000 but this amount changes every year like it's not the exact amount 40,000 but for me it was 40,000 dollars still you have to check the UK visa you know websites and kind of calculate what amount you need to put in your bank account in order to get a student visa but for me it was 40,000 dollars I know you guys but let me tell you something I didn't have that that amount you guys like I didn't have that amount um and I used to pray tahajjud almost every night and I prayed istikhara once and that was for this money like ya Allah I'm praying this istikhara for you give me an answer if London is a good path for me grant me the 40,000 dollars so that I can keep it in my bank account for 40 days but if it's not khair for me if it's not good for me studying in London then don't give me that money so I will just leave this journey here and I'm gonna look forward to another journey and after three days of my istikhara prayer I found 40,000 dollars it's crazy the way God works the way faith is it's just crazy you guys like you have to have faith I did my best I applied for universities I studied for IELTS you know no one around believed me at all like only my big sister she was my biggest supporter my parents were obviously my supporter as well but just you know like in the beginning no one believed in me but alhamdulillah you guys I did the best I could and when I left it to Allah I was just satisfied because I was like ya Allah like oh God I'm leaving this to you I need 40,000 dollars I'm not stressed I'm not even thinking negative about it because I did all I can do like I did all I can do and that's why I'm satisfied and I'm proud of myself like guys those paperwork those applications the visa process it's not easy I hate paperworks because it gives big big big amount of stresses so it was not easy but I did the best I could I did my hard work and I was so proud of myself for going that far for sticking to my goal for having firm faith for believing in myself and believing in God and that's how you guys after like three days after I prayed my istikhara prayer about London God granted me the forty thousand dollars and I directly like around the mid-July I directly kept that forty thousand dollars in my bank account and towards the end of August the 40 days was done and I got my bank statement from the bank and and then I finally applied for the UK student visa so documents you need for the UK student visa is actually the same almost like similar documents to the ones that you need while you're applying to UK universities all your academic qualifications your IELTS or like your English you know test certificate and you need the letter of recommendation personal statement and all those stuff you the most important thing is bank statement passport and I believe that's it you guys yes yes that's it that's it like if you're getting scholarship that's amazing you have to add your scholarship uh documents as well but if you're not getting scholarship those are the only documents that you have to apply and a week after my visa application I got my visa results which was a positive one I got the UK student visa and then um yeah like two weeks after I got my visa I flew to London on 19 of September oh sorry no no no astaghfirullah not 19 it was 13 on 13 of September I moved to London and I started my London journey alhamdulillah officially um so yeah that was the whole process this video is already 28 minutes long I have no idea I'm gonna fit my first year of university in London like how I'm gonna explain that because it's gonna get longer so I think I'm gonna um part it into two so in this video I explained to you guys the process of studying abroad like the university application the IELTS process the documentations you need and all those fun stuff actually not so fun stuff in the second part I will explain you my first year of university or like first year of living alone in London experience and yeah I just want this video to be a whole motivation like a whole you know video filled with positive affirmations and like motivation for everyone that's watching this you guys achieving goals doesn't look at your bank statement or it doesn't look at your financial statement achieving goals looks at how much you believe in yourself and in God that's what I learned from my own journey you guys thank you so much for all your love and support like especially the support you have been giving me ever since I moved to London is crazy I'm so grateful for every single one of you I can't wait to share more with you guys especially when I'm back in London for year two inshallah and I can't wait to share with you guys my graduation day inshallah like I'm already super excited about my graduation I still have two years but you guys it's crazy how days are going by so fast like yesterday I was you know preparing for London and like you know I was applying for all these you know applications and then today I'm just like sitting and sharing my journey with you and giving you tips and helping you with studying abroad like it's crazy you guys also another crazy thing to think about is last year around these times I still didn't have the money to apply for the visa like I was still praying to God because it's like 15 July today around like 20th of July I got the money and now I already have the visa I went to London a couple times I'm done with my first year and I'm preparing for my second year like alhamdulillah alhamdulillah I'm so grateful if I do it you can do it as well you guys it has nothing to do with finance I know coming from wealthy family or wealthy background or you know coming from open-minded family it has nothing to do with that just like I said you guys I come from a conservative Asian household so I know I'm saying this because I have a lot of beautiful super kind viewers from India from Pakistan from Afghanistan from those kind of you know Asian countries and unfortunately I also do not especially in those countries not a lot of people and not a lot of parents support girl education like girls education and I'm super against that I believe that every girl needs to have access to education and especially higher education which is high school and university girls study have dreams and chase after your dreams but I always say this out of sincerity not out of bad intentions not out of I'm gonna prove to my parents or I'm gonna prove to know this person or that personal to my household or to my society no do it to prove your own self that when you truly believe in your dreams and believe in God it actually happens like you can achieve them I am a big example like I don't want to brag about myself but I still can't believe like how how how did I achieve it God is so great like Allah is great He loves you and Allah loves those who are positive because He is the most positive He always thinks good about His servants believer or non-believer He always assumed good well about His servant He's always merciful towards all His creations not only like humans not only believers or non-believers but also towards the animals you know the birds or like the the plants like He's merciful towards all His creations if Allah is the most positive doesn't that mean that we should be positive as well because that's why go and chase your dreams and may Allah make it easy for you and come back for the second part where I'll be explaining how was my first year of studying in London and living in London as a young adult as a young girl and a Muslim woman as a young Muslim woman and a 19 year old all these um adjectives wow uh yeah I'll be I'll basically be explaining that so see you guys in the next one stay safe may Allah bless and protect you bye