<p>hi, my family is from Portugal I am 1st generation American-Portuguese and I've been interested in going all my years of University in Portugal, I love it there very much and I think I would love studying there even more.
I have Portuguese citizenship, so there is no need for visas, telling me I cant work while being s student in Europe, and that I wont get the same benefits as natives, because I'm almost positive I will.
I speak at about a B1/B2 level on the European language scale of Portuguese (I grew up speaking it). I've done various research and many sights said that that is enough to attend University in Portugal but I still don't think so, should I go Abroad to Portugal my senior year of high school just to ensure I know the language as fluent as possible for University?
Has anyone ever/ have any experience with all years of college abroad?
Is there dorming? (I've done research but didn't find that there was much dorming)
How do I apply? online? or should I go there and apply?
any extra information/advice I'd love to hear, thank you</p>
<p>I don’t want the following to sound negative. Sounds like an exciting and doable plan but you need to look into each of the following properly and discuss with your family so that you get to execute the plan cleanly and without any nasty surprises later on.</p>
<p>What major do you want to do? Can you do it in Portugal? </p>
<p>You need to research if your career after college will be affected by studying in Portugal. If you want to be a doctor or teacher you could find grad school very hard or impossible to get into back in the USA without an American degree. </p>
<p>You are a Portuguese citizen BUT you are not a Portuguese resident. You don’t live in the country and won’t be except for being a student. You need to find out how to become one otherwise you will be treated as an international student with less rights to work, higher medical insurance etc. Find this out now rather than leave it to chance.</p>
<p>Will studying/residing in Portugal affect your right to stay in the USA afterwards? Find this out or you might find yourself unable to rejoin your family after graduation.</p>
<p>Be careful if you’re planning/need to work to fund your education. Tuition fees are nice and low there but the chances of finding part time work are much harder these days as so many people are having to take up part time work as there’s not enough full time work to go around. </p>
<p>As for language fluency, you need to contact the universities directly to see what they want. You might have to pass an external exam to prove it like international students have to do for English before they can study in America.</p>
<p>Next, you also need to contact the universities regarding their general entry requirements. Seems like entry is usually via competitive national exams. They may have alternative methods of entry but I couldn’t find anything out about them. </p>
<p>Lastly, and please don’t take this too harshly as you are 1st gen American and your English is miles better than my Portuguese will ever be, but you might also want to work on your written English. It is understandable but there are some grammatical mistakes that still mark you out as a learner. Read, read and read some more. This is even more important if you want to return to the USA to work. No one is perfect in their native language, let alone a second language. I’ll rephrase. Your English is fine but it could be great if you want it to be :)</p>
<p>Good luck with your research and for whatever decisions you choose to make!</p>
<p>Most universities charge tuition on the basis of residency, i.e. where you (or your parents) paid resident taxes for the last few years. Make sure that you would be entitled to the subsidied tuition rates rather than the international student rates.</p>
<p>Also, your Portuguese should be stronger in order to thrive at a Portuguese University. It should be at least level C1, check about this before you try to enroll. If you have already a B2 level you should consider spending time to bump it up to at least C1. You will need it. Think of all those lectures and all the academic papers you will have to write about specialised subjects.</p>
<p>I wanted to add, please familiarise yourself with the Portuguese University system. Do you still have family in Portugal that could give you up to date information or refer you to reputable websites? You really need to know what it is like to make an informed decision. Your parents may or may not be familiar with the current system if they never attended college themselves or did not keep up with current events and/or educational reforms in Portugal.</p>
<p>Wow sounds like fun</p>