Date Posted: 7/20/2012 12:55:55 AM
Posted By: Kitavi Membership Level: Gold Total Points: 1987
After completing form four, you get your results and then you manage good grades to secure a place at public university. But until then, you have at least one year to lounge at home before public colleges and universities invitations to freshmen start coming in. But those who can afford private universities don't have to wait for the one year, and can be freshers. There is other group of form four school leavers. Those who have not scored enough points to earn a place at a university; and those who have scored enough points but do not want to study in Kenya. I can only imagine how busy you are scouting for an alternative place for higher education abroad. Firstly if you are not careful, you might play right into the hands of con artists. Many universities and colleges will place advertisements in the media, calling on applicants like you. They will invite you to join them, promising you a degree in medicine, law and all those other attractive careers. These colleges purport to be affiliated to certain local or foreign universities. Now. That's when you should watch out. If you pay keen attention to local news, you will remember that a leading university recently denounced a supposed affiliate college. The college had promised students degrees from 'mother' university. In the end, it is the students and their parents who lost time and money respectively. I advice you to research well on colleges that claim affiliation to larger institutions before sending in your application. If possible, visit the university they claim to be affiliated to, to verify their claims. If not, Send mail, call, or do all you can to be sure. It is better to spend a little time trying to understand the place where you intend to pursue your education than rush in and waste years studying, only to discover you have no papers at graduation. The ground for con artists is even larger for those intending to study abroad. First, there are those who will be offering bridging courses while claiming to be the only ones with authentic results that are recognized by the university you intend to join. They will also charge you exorbitantly for the three months' bridging course and make you bear all the costs of sending and re-sending your results, only for them to turn out not to be genuine. However, do not lose hope for the digital age and internet makes it easy to verify the authenticity of such institutions. Visit the website of the university you wish to apply to, and gather as much information as possible about it. A credible university abroad will let you know if you need to upgrade your results and direct you to equally credible institutions for the required bridging courses. After identifying, applying and being accepted to a university abroad, there emerges the biggest con game; that in form of middlemen who promise to get you a passport and a visa within a week. There people will make you pay double the charges of getting a passport they may never deliver. They answer your calls with one excuse after another or ignore them before vanishing into thin air with your original papers some of which might take forever to replace. The right thing to do to get a passport is to collect a free passport application form at immigration offices at the nearest provincial headquarters fill it carefully and pay the required processing fees. Your passport will be ready in two weeks' time.
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