Hey guys!
It's been a while since my last post about Turkiye burslari. Now the winners of scholarship for 2015 are known and many of you who won the scholarship are getting ready to move to Turkey. I guess that by now most of you have signed the scholarship agreement and are waiting for a Student visa and further information about your flight tickets, Turkish language course and dormitory placements. Since this year The Victim bayram is at the end of September you might arrive in Turkey a bit earlier or later that in the previous years. Anyway, again you need to wait for the official email to come.
In this post I wanted to write down some ''warnings'' and negative sides of the Turkiye burslari. As you've probably noticed until now, you need to get used to WAITING and being PATIENT. Here are some other things you should know, before moving to Turkey (with Turkiye burslari scholarship). Anyway, I would like to state here that this post is NOT about trying to convince you not to come to Turkey. It is not! I just wanted to inform you about some negative aspects, so you can be PREPARED and survive these first days in Turkey.
When you'll come you'll soon realised that not many officials speak ENGLISH. This can be stressful for most of the students who don't speak Turkish. Anyway, it's still a mystery how most of the students can enroll to university or have their ikamet done :) That is why among the first words I've learnt in Turkish were imza (signature), isim (name), soisim/soyadi (last name), anne (mother), baba (father), İngilizce yok (No English). During the first months in Turkey, dictionary will be your best friend.
Health insurance (SGK) will not be paid soon. Even though Turkiye burslari covers your health insurance, I must say that they are really late to pay it. New students are waiting for several months that YTB activates (and pays) their health insurance. If you have any health related problems you might consider arranging travel health insurance for the first 5 or 6 months! Even the ''old'' students are waiting 2 or 3 months at the beginning of every academic year before their health insurance is active again.
Dormitory. Well, even if some dormitories are really awful, some might be really great. Last year's students even stayed in private dorms, which are almost like hotels. So, Turkiye burslari probably sent you a questionnaire, whether you want or not staying in a state dormitory. Even though you might respond with ''NO'', they will still give you a place in a dormitory. This is great, if you need a room, however, if you will need a room after a year or two staying in Turkey, this is not great at all. It's a problem. The team will say you that they gave you this opportunity when you arrived and even if you haven't registered at the dormitory it's your problem. They will not care and not help you to apply for a new dormitory, nor pay for your stay there. So be careful!
This can really be a problem since the flats are really expensive in big cities.
Ikamet / Residence permit. There are many stories about that. All foreigners in Turkey can tell you one. Well in the last 3 years, the procedure of getting a residence permit has been changing. More about that you can read in my post Study in turkey #3: How to get student residence permit? I've updated post this July. Turkiye burslari will pay, or better said reimburse you the money you've spent for the residence permit. You'll get this money a few months after the process, so make sure you'll bring enough money when you arrive in Turkey. There is another trick. Some students are lucky and instantly get their residence permit for 4 years, meanwhile other need to extend it every 1 or 2 years. The Turkiye burslari team will only reimburse your first ikamet's money. So, if you won't be lucky enough to get an ikamet for 4 years, you'll need to pay it by yourself, everytime you'll extend it.
Bring enough money for 2 months. A scholarship is paid on the 2nd of each month. This means that about 1 month you'll need to survive on your own expenses. Usually, during your first mo, th you'll be spending more money than usual, because you'll need to buy books, pay ikamet, buy transportation card, etc.
P.S: For more info about other scholarship opportunities, plese check my new post, Study in Turkey #5
Labels: Foreigner in Turkey, International Student, scholarship, Study in Turkey, Turkiye burslari