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Originally when I started my degree, my goal was to become a French high school teacher. As life continues, plans and goals can change, which happened to me. Fortunately, I ended up in the UK where university is seen more as a place where you learn transferable skills, in comparison to the Netherlands where I’m from and where I started off in uni, allowing me to apply to different graduate schemes. Did it make the job search easier, probably not, but my odds were so much better than back home. It’s a lot more accepted here to have a humanities background and work in a business setting. Believe it or not, I now work in finance and I couldn’t be happier with the choice I made to study a subject I’m passionate about.

@@bluegaming2746 that’s amazing your school provided this! I wish more schools would offer flexible learning opportunities like these.

Thank you for your comment! I will definitely leave them an online review. And always great to hear from other female DIYers! Have fun on your projects 😃

Hi thank you for your reaction. I fully agree with you that it is great that the Netherlands has subsidised education, however, having “free” and/or “government funded education” is not an excuse for the Dutch system. There are several other European countries where ‘state’ education is of good quality and funded by the government but the system is not nearly as complicated what we have or the system is more lenient (eg Belgium, Finland). Nor is it the case that Dutch students who show more promise enjoy more subsidisation or better quality education than those in other levels. Those in higher levels might be in education for longer but the government is not specifically aiming to support those who show promise more. I would even go as far that there’s a lack of support for those who show promise. As much as I’m happy the Netherlands has government funded education, so do a lot of other countries within Europe. All with their own issues of course. Unfortunately, for a lot of students one system might work wonders while the next leaves them hanging. To your point of spending more time to finish a university degree, it’s not that dutch students will acquire more degrees in this longer timeframe. (This is a generalisation:) dutch students tend to acquire a 3-year bachelors degree (180 European Credits/90 American credit hours) in 4-6 years. They’ll be around the age of 23/26 when done. If they then decide to pursue a licensed profession in, for example, the medical field they’ll need to add on a 3 years master’s, which most students do not complete in 3 years either, so students will be around the age of 28/29 when they are able to enter the workforce as a GP or equivalent. If they plan on specialising within the field (eg surgeon, anaesthesiologist) they’re looking at even more years in education.

Maybe the one year I lived in the US had some influence? Other than that I have no idea 😅

Hi! Thank you for watching. This video is mainly about how I felt going through the job application process after uni. There’s a separate video up on my channel with advice on how to get on a grad scheme. I do believe that it is partly a numbers game and partly getting better at interviews thanks to practice as you interview over and over again. Which boils down to not giving up on the applications which can be incredibly frustrating and demotivating. But I really do think that the main thing is to not give up and learn from your unsuccessful applications. Which is really difficult sometimes. In the year I was applying I had several things that weren’t helping, one being covid and the other being an ongoing Brexit. This meant that lots of companies were hesitant to hire EU citizens as some would require visa sponsorship while others don’t and it was sometimes unclear for companies what the situations was as companies don’t tend to sponsor very junior people. Multiple times I had to stress that I did not require a visa. Besides that, as an EU person my school marks and info does not fit into the application prompts. For example I didn’t do GCSEs because we don’t have them nor do we have an equivalent back home. So multiple times I had to reach out to companies as I couldn’t submit the application form as filling out gcse marks was a mandatory field. One company went as far as saying that they couldn’t continue with my application if I kept on refusing to share my gcse results. 🤦🏻‍♀️ The other obvious thing was indeed my degree subject. French isn’t the most logical subject to get on a grad scheme with. However, during the assessment centres, there were multiple other applicants who studied history or English. In my grad scheme cohort I think we’re 50/50 on business related degrees vs other degrees. Lastly, the other things that impacted me were my lack of experience in applying to jobs as well as my lack of experience of having a job.

Hi! All my normal clothes sizes are in the description. I’m 176cm/5’9

Thank you! I appreciate your help offer but so far I’m pretty sure I can manage the editing myself.

@@Steffie228G Ok no worries! Let know whenever you need a video editor. 😊

Hi! I wouldn’t say that the quality of education is poor in the Netherlands, on the contrary, I think the quality, especially in elementary school is great. However, when it gets to high school I believe it greatly depends upon the child as well as whether or not the plan is to stay in Netherlands or venture out internationally. For the more international outlook I would consider international school but if that’s not a priority it depends on the child and what’s best for them. Despite my dislike of the education system for high school, the quality is still really good for free state schooling. Sorry for not giving a more straight forward answer but there are too many variables involved. I hope this helped either way.

@@Steffie228G Thank you very much!

Hi! I ended up choosing the job over the PhD as I struggled to find grants/scholarships. For most I either didn’t qualify for or they would only cover a very small portion of my tuition/costs. If I would have gone forward with the PhD, I very very likely would have had to find a flexible part time job at for example the uni or barista etc.

@@Steffie228G Thank you for being transparent. When the time is right, I will work wknds only. I want mon-fri to be totally invested in school/studies/research. I don't have a concrete plan rt now and I am looking into scholarships and grants as well. I'm also not resistant to working a full-time job n a part-time job before hand. Save up the part-time job funds for my degree tuition, look for a job that will help fund my edu while keeping a look out for scholarships and grants as well. Right now, I'm just trying to devise a plan because I want to be successful n able to complete what I start. Once again, thank you for responding.

most of the humanities PhD students I know that left academia after getting PhD had no problem getting a job and were given salaries well above entry level.

Thank you. Condolences to you and your family too. Wishing you and your family all the love and strength needed in the grieving process. It’s so so difficult to lose a loved one.

Hi! I’ve bought one of those foldable camp beds from Argos and put an IKEA mattress on top of the camp bed. To sort of level it all out I had a mattress topper go across both separate mattresses. It worked great honestly, just keep in mind the combined height so that it matches the existing bed. You could also just ask Castle Mill if they have a spare bed, as they might and I actually regret not asking prior to setting it all up 😅. The road out of Castile Mill is fine at night, it’s very quiet and only students who live in Castle Mill or the adjacent complex really use the road. I’ve never felt unsafe fortunately. The only path I found slightly creepy at night was the path that goes through the park and crosses a very low bridge where you have to duck down to walk underneath. But both other roads out of CM are fine, the one in Jericho and the one via the business school that is. Oxford is generally really really safe. Hope this helps!

@@Steffie228G Thank you so so much for this Steffiany!!!! It was so hard to find accurate information on CM and your video is a GEM!!!

I should have put it into more context when filming this vid. While visiting, I got the impression that in comparison to the other universities I was considering, Warwick is a lot more isolated from city life/amenities since, like you pointed out as well, its on the outskirts. Whereas my other options such as Bristol, KCL, Oxford are a lot more integrated in their respective cities.

@@Steffie228G That depends on your personal taste. The outskirts of Coventry are close to a village (within walking distance, at least for me, from where I lived), on Cromwell Lane, that has really beautiful flowers and beautiful nature (I took so many pictures that neighbours became suspicious that I am taking too many pictures of the flowers!!). If you like nature and quiet places, that is. I personally do not like busy cities, bars, clubs etc. I like nature.

Hey do you have any good writing templates?

I think it very much depends on the career that you're after. Certain jobs require a phd, for others it's a pro when a candidate has one, and for another group of jobs it's not necessarily seen as a benefit as a phd is not needed in the first place, or when entering a different field. - Moral of the story - do what's best for you and your career.

@@Steffie228G Thanks 💯

Hi! I must admit that I don’t know much about the content difference between toefl and ielts. I made the decision based on toefl being American English and IELTS being british English and given the fact that I had just spend a year in the usa, I was more comfortable with the American accent at the time. From my understanding both toefl and ielts are widely accepted tests (do double check which tests are accepted for where you need them) if both are accepted, I would go with the one where you find the testing format, the content as well as the accent the most comfortable.

I'm so sorry to hear that you're having a tough time landing a job. Keep on trying for a job that you actually like! There's nothing wrong with working a minimum wage job until you find a job that works out. I've worked one between finding out that I got on a grad scheme (january) to the actual start date (september) and I had a great time. So honestly, it's good to have a distraction while still applying for jobs that you are actually interested in + making some money is always helpful. You'll do great!! Good luck with everything!!

A first in what?

Close! But I’m Dutch :)

@@Steffie228G oh i see but your neck is not long

@@trp6062 long necks? Is that a Dutch stereotype? 😂 I was only aware of: tall, clogs, windmills, and tulips. Well, I’m learning something new everyday.

@@Steffie228G you can easily distinguish dutchers by their light eyes, long legs, long necks and long oval face with a creepy demon possessed eyes (joke) 🤣🤣🤣

Congratulations on the offer!! That’s amazing news. Wishing you all the best!!

Thank you!

Hi! Im not a native speaker. English is actually my third language. Im a native Dutch speaker 🙂

Oh wow! Thats amazing, good luck on the job!!

Hi! I fully agree with you that it is ok to work and do a phd at the same time. In all fairness, if I would have opted for the phd route, I would have had to find a job which would be flexible enough to work around my phd. Likely would have been a part time something or a job at the university itself. This is also what I saw most of my college peers do to fund their (non) funded phds and, let’s not forget, their living expenses. However, in my case, the jobs I was looking at are graduate schemes. These are full time very structured and often very demanding jobs with loads of on the job learning and sometimes at multiple locations across the country or world even. I can see one maybe figuring out a way with their employer to make sure one can attend their mandatory phd 121s, tutorials, seminars, etc while under regular employment (so not on a grad scheme) with some of these companies while pursuing a full time or part time phd. However given the structured nature of grad schemes, it is impossible to do both at the same time, even a part time phd. Especially, since the universities I was looking at, at the time, did not offer an ‘outside of working hours’ option and most of them were not located in the same city (or country). Not to mention that some of the standard working hours at these companies stretch far beyond the standard 9 to 5. I’m happy to hear that it worked out for you but in my case this combination was impossible even with a part time phd. Just to illustrate: the combination of an Oxford dphil (phd) and a graduate scheme at one of the ‘The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers’ based in London, simultaneously, is in most cases, simply not feasible. Thus, I had to choose one or the other. It was either a grad scheme or a phd, which would have involved some part time job to (partially) fund it, but the main choice for me was either going the grad scheme route or going the phd route. This does not mean that I cannot revisit the part time phd (or full time) at a later stage in my career.

@@Steffie228G Hi Steffie. Sometimes you can negotiate an off-the-book arrangement with your employer. I discussed with my COO & CMO when I started postgrad school and, despite the company not having official provisions for employees who study part time, they were willing to let me take unrecorded time off when necessary. It was entirely up to me how I want to manage my work while doing what I needed to do for school. Later when my current company brought me over to head up one of their departments, I made it clear to the CEO that I'm a part-time postgrad student and asked for a ton of annual leave days to be provisioned in my employment contract to allow me to do the necessary field work. He was fine with it. Of course, the understanding in both cases is that I do not abuse these one-off privileges but at the senior management level that's a given. So in my case, I'm a full-time employee first and a part-time postgrad student second. The C-suites that I report to tend to be quite supportive of it and are willing to accommodate in whatever ways they can..

@@kkhalifah1019 again I’m happy that it worked out for you and I’ve witnessed similar situations to yours where it works. However, that does not mean that it works for everyone and in every situation. As I explained in my previous post, the type of employment I was seeking (graduate scheme) is generally not the type that is flexible in these ways.

Sadly in many places it is not possible to do it part-time. You get a full-time employment contract but get paid.

Thank you! Will do, just posted a new vid :) (finally)

@@Steffie228G you go girl🤞

I 100% agree with you. In the end, having work experience is really important especially since I’m a humanities student and I’m in no way shape of form guaranteed a job in academia afterwards, potentially putting me in the same position I was in, after my master’s but 4-6 years later. Making it even more complicated to find a job outside of academia given my age and lack of work experience at that stage. If the job scene doesn’t work out I can always fall back on academia and potentially value it even more than I did prior. So far I’m still happy with the decision I’ve made. I definitely will be that 70 year old retiree doing a phd though 😂 still love my course but the humanities are shrinking unfortunately. (And salaries are higher outside of the humanities)

@@Steffie228G TQ for sharing. Here's a bit of inspiration for you. After over 20 years as a secondary school chemistry teacher, Susan Rawlings started a PhD at Cambridge at the age of 40 and eventually became the director of ICE, Cambridge. That gives you about 20 years to make up your mind about a PhD!

Hi! I would recommend this vid as I explain a lot about my application from a more Dutch perspective also since my application was very ‘fragmented’. ruclips.net/video/522eQmO_NRc/видео.htmlsi=_hSvIc-hk6BVuHUu I had a 7/10 average from the UvA, which was higher than the course average at that time (which you can request at your faculty or student service desk, I would recommend doing this as Dutch unis don’t have a universal grading system like abroad) & I had a 4.0 GPA from the USA (which is more universal fortunately) & 274 Dutch credits (my degree was 180 credits). Hope this helps! Good luck!