<p>I'll be applying to the University of Oxford come October and am concerned about scraping together enough spending money. Long term funding for the actual tuition, college fees, etc is not an issue, but money to run out and buy various doo-dads, visit cities, purchase some indigenous apparel, etc is. </p>
<p>I was wondering, since vacations appear to be so long over there (especially for the summer proceeding enrollment, which lasts from the end of May to the middle of September :O ) if it would be feasible to get some jobs during these spans of time. (I would assume that I would need some type of student work visa, which I hope would not be too difficult to obtain.) Does any one have any idea of how the job market is in the UK and Europe? Would getting an internship/job over the summer months be feasible? Should I apply for jobs in December while I'm in the country interviewing for school?</p>
<p>I'd also like to spend some time/work in France -- although I'm not sure how ornerous the process for the latter would be -- and at the moment my French is only on the upside of mediocre as I just started private tutoring fairly recently. So any tips about English speaking work/programs over there would be great. It had been my idea that I could perhaps wave the soon-to-be-Oxford-educated card (if I get in, of course :) ) under the nose of some State Department branch over there in order to try to snatch something up...</p>
<p>Is any of this realistic at all? Or do I just need a big charge card?</p>
Legally work anywhere, or just France? The whole Shengen thing is a bit confusing, because I’m not sure if I receive a British work visa if that would apply to the rest of Europe because I’m not an EU citizen.</p>
<p>So, know any particular rich Frenchies that need help? English is my strong suit.
How would I go about advertising my services over there?</p>
<p>Redroses, you can legally work in France. You can get a work visa. Further, as a student, there is a kind of work visa called a stagiere. My daughter has worked in three different jobs in France three different summers and is going to be working in France again this Sept. through May. She’s American. She is currently working for the summer in Switzerland.</p>
<p>soozievt, May I ask what type of job your daughter has acquired part-time? How the wages are? If she finds the more relaxed European work ethic to be pleasant?</p>
<p>And, if I may veer a little, does she have access to government healthcare like most other Europeans?</p>
<p>You just assume I am assuming? I’m simply planning ahead in the best case scenario. Of course nobody is guaranteed admission to any top university. However, I think it would be prudent to have my ducks in a row now as opposed to waiting until June, if accepted, to start thinking about any of this. Surely that is not unreasonable?</p>
<p>I do appreciate your concern though, and yes, there is a plan B. If it makes you feel better, feel free to blot out the Oxford portions and leave the remainder. I plan to spend a gap year abroad if I am forced to enroll in a US university, so the same questions will apply.</p>
<p>I appreciate your enthusiasm for your dreams of Oxford, but your visions of “the more relaxed European work ethic” and the idea that the US State Department is going to care about some mythical “soon-to-be-Oxford-educated card” are both unrealistic.</p>
<p>The European work ethic is not relaxed when compared with the American work ethic? Is European’s boderline indolence not the crux of the continent’s debt problem, which lead to incidents like what occured in Greece and the French being up in arms about raising the retirement age a year?</p>
<p>Also, do you have any more concrete advice about how to go about obtaining a job and funds while in Europe?.. If the State Department isn’t feasible, that’s fine, but at least give me some more crumbs to go off of. :)</p>
<p>Europe’s debt problems are cultural and structural, just as the USA’s are, but the famous “relaxed work ethic” there generally applies only to civil servants, union employees, and people who can go on the dole. As a part-time foreign worker, you will not fit into any of these categories. Many Americans believe that Euros spend all day on smoke breaks and pop off from work early for their constitutionally guaranteed 6-months’ annual vacation (just kidding). However, it’s just a stereotype, no more true than the view that all Americans are obese gun-toting religious fanatics.</p>
<p>It will be hard for you to know what kinds of work visas and jobs are available to you until you have an acceptance in hand and have applied and received a student visa. You might want to go to a website like The Student Room (for UK students) and look at some threads there.</p>
<p>Plymeth, my daughter did not work part time in Europe, only full time. </p>
<p>To answer your question…
Jobs my daughter has had in Europe…</p>
<p>Summer of 2006…English Teacher and Counselor in a residential summer camp with French children who were in this English immersion program in Southern France.</p>
<p>Summer of 2007…architecture intern at an international architecture firm in Paris.</p>
<p>Summer of 2009…architecture intern in an architect’s office in the French Alps. </p>
<p>Summer of 2010…researcher in architecture / building technology at ETH Zurich (a university) in Zurich, Switzerland.</p>
<p>Sept. 2010 - May 2011…architecture work in an architect’s office in the French Alps.</p>
<p>All of these were/are paying jobs. The research job in Zurich, however, is being funded by a grant my D was awarded by a European foundation, and not her employer.</p>
<p>It is my understanding that this is not the magical trump card you may think it is.</p>
<p>If you don’t get into Oxford and you were planning on taking that gap year abroad rather than go to a US university, how were you planning on supporting yourself?</p>
<p>Plymeth - I have European clients and I assure you they work just as hard as we do; it is just that they protect their vacation time more assiduously than Americans.</p>
<p>Let me see…
For the English teacher/counselor summer job…it was a while back and so I forget the specific time frame but my D learned of this position from a local person who saw a listing for it and my D applied…maybe she applied late winter or early spring and did phone interview in spring and was hired and then secured all her paperwork before going for the summer. </p>
<p>For the architecture firm in Paris, my D had seen a listing for an intern in one of their American city firms and decided to just independently write the Paris firm to ask if she could work for them for the summer. I can’t recall the specifics but she likely was looking into this in Feb./March and got it lined up in April for the summer position. </p>
<p>For the architecture firm in the French Alps last summer, my D just researched firms she liked, no job openings posted and she wrote the architect cold…again, I don’t recall the specific dates but likely around Feb./March and he agreed to hire her likely around April or early May for a summer job. </p>
<p>For the research job this summer in Zurich, my D knew the professor over there who had been a PhD student in her program here in the states prior to becoming professor over there. She wrote him and asked if she could work for him doing research this summer and he wanted her but did not have the funds as she is not a student at that university. This was likely back in Feb. or so. She then applied to a European Foundation for a grant for this sort of thing and she found out she won it, probably back in March or so, for this summer. </p>
<p>For the arch firm job this coming fall, D wrote the architect she had interned with last summer and while he is a one architect office, she asked if she could work for him (not as an intern) this coming year and he liked her work a lot and so created the position for her and asked her how much money she needed and he agreed to it. I can’t recall exactly when that was but likely back in March for a job for this coming Sept.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl: For the gap year, room and board, travel expenditures, and things like that would not be an issue. However, like I stated earlier, I would like to be able to earn my own money just to blow. I don’t need help supporting myself, but I do need help finding opportunities to be able to spend more than I normally would be able to.</p>
<p>soozievt, Thank you very much. It looks like I have a bit of research to do. Did these positions all require a college degree? And did your daughter need to be fluent in French to work at the English camp? (If you don’t recall that’s perfectly fine)</p>
If it makes you feel better, feel free to blot out the Oxford portions and leave the remainder. I plan to spend a gap year abroad if I am forced to enroll in a US university, so the same questions will apply.</p>