Chapter 30 Part IV: Two knives for studying abroad, experience plus foreign language

Dear Teacher Xu: I graduated from a private college in Xi'an in 1999 with a self-examination diploma, majoring in English.Near graduation, by chance, I entered the Xi'an office of BP (China) Investment Co., Ltd., and after half a year's PART TIME, I became a sales assistant.In June 2001, he jumped to the Xi'an office of Lucent Systems (China) Network Technology Co., Ltd. as an administrative assistant.One year later, in July 2002, he was transferred to Tianjin Branch as an assistant to the general manager. My academic qualifications are mediocre, or even not good. Maybe I am lucky enough to be in the position I am today.I think my career development has reached a bottleneck period, and it is difficult to move forward. If so, I can only wait for luck and transfer to another position.After much deliberation, I can only do sales.In fact, I am more interested in marketing, and I have always wanted to develop in this direction.However, limited by academic background and work experience, he has not been able to achieve his wish.So I want to study abroad to recharge. According to my financial ability and personal background, I entrusted an intermediary company to handle it, and got an offer from a foreign university, graduate diploma. I will enroll in February next year, and it will take 2.5 to 3 years to get a Master. time.

The problem that bothers me is: many people have objections to my going abroad.The reasons are: firstly, my job is not bad now, and it may not be as good as it is now after I return from abroad; secondly, China has developed very well in the past two years, and now I should spend time to seize the "base area" and wait until I return to China after studying. I am afraid that if there are too many monks and too little food, the huge tuition fees and three years of good time will not be worth the candle. I am only 23 years old this year, and I have developed relatively well among my peers.From leaving home to Xi'an and then to Chengdu, I have never really settled down. My ultimate ideal city to settle down is Shanghai or Beijing.So I want to "live and work in peace and contentment" in these two cities after returning from my studies.If I go to Shanghai and Beijing to seek a job like this, I am afraid that there is not much hope.

I am now wandering about this all day long, unable to work, study and live normally.My family and friends can't give me practical advice, and everyone seems to be unable to weigh the pros and cons of going abroad for me. I very much hope to get out of this chaotic period as soon as possible, and I implore Teacher Xu to give me some guidance and advice. Xi'an University Dear Xi'an University: I warmly congratulate you on your professional success!Your success is an example worth emulating and proud of for all college students. At the same time, I also support you to study abroad to further improve yourself.You have been working for three and a half years since you graduated. This experience is basically enough for you to study abroad and support you in finding a very good job in the future.So I support you.

When you go out to study, you must come back with a serious degree, especially for people like you who study general education rather than specialist education, you need a degree to prove that you have achieved something abroad. Therefore, it is not a bad thing to spend two to three years getting a master's degree, one year more than others.Because, you only studied for three years in college, and you earned a year more than those undergraduates.Therefore, it is fair and reasonable to spend this profit at the master's level. You are going to New Zealand, I have no objection.However, here I want to give you some ideas, which may be useful to you:

For example: a master's degree in the UK is one year.However, because one year is too short after all, it may not be able to give you enough cultural and professional influence.From a financial point of view, going to the UK for one year is economically more cost-effective and indeed attractive, as long as you realize the problem of this one-year degree and make up for it.The so-called compensation is to have a lot of contact with daily life, social reality and human geography in the UK while studying, and to master more Western values ​​and ways of thinking. There is also a master's degree specially designed for junior colleges in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand: first study for a year of pre-master's, and then study for a year of master's degree.This is also a good choice for you.

I encourage you to study abroad.Don't underestimate your ability to learn, let alone the great value that western education can bring to you!With your excellent work background, if you spend a little more money and choose a better school, you will definitely get a good return on investment. This is the so-called question of whether you can find a better job in China after studying abroad, which is not a problem.I support you to study abroad with confidence: you have proved your professional success in China.Since you can get appointments from three Fortune 500 companies with a college background, when you get a master's degree from a Western country, these companies will definitely be very eager to join you.Compared with the present, your salary and position will undergo a qualitative leap, and your life will enter a higher level.

Happiness is at the peak, loneliness and depression are also alpine. congratulations! Xu Xiaoping Dear Teacher Xu: Hello! I did not expect to hear from you, let alone receive a reply in such a short time.So please accept my sincerest thanks first. In fact, I have always had the urge to resign and go to New Oriental to take classes. My offer is conditional. I must get an IELTS score of 6.5 in exchange for an unconditional offer. Although I am learning English, I don't seem to be very sure about the score of 6.5.But is it too risky to resign? Although the agency I entrusted told me that there should be no major problems in applying for a visa, if my visa is rejected at that time, wouldn’t it be a waste of money and resources?

My entry date is next February, do you suggest that I postpone it for a year or two?Wait and see?If I want to go abroad now, should I quit my job and take the IELTS test? Sorry to bother you again! Xi'an University Dear Xi'an University: After talking for a long time, I found that there is something wrong with the suggestion I gave you. The reason is that you did not give me a complete picture in the first letter. Although you already have enough work experience to study abroad, your English is not enough to go abroad!Had I known this, my first letter to you would not have been written like that.

You know, studying abroad, English is the most important.If you don't prepare your English well, going abroad in a hurry is actually the worst choice.It is possible to make a mess of your own life.I generally strongly oppose people going abroad to study English, because from any point of view, it is better to get English done at home.Unless you have unspeakable special reasons. Now I understand that the confusion and lack of self-confidence conveyed in your first letter is that your English is actually not good enough. Let me give you another suggestion here.The advice is simple: prepare English at home, treat English as your lover or enemy, be passionate about it, and get it over with in a short period of time.Before the English score reaches 6.5, temporarily give up New Zealand, temporarily give up studying abroad, and even temporarily give up the idea of ​​​​going abroad.

But I object to your quitting your job to study English.The reason is simple: it is not easy for you to achieve the career success you have today with your educational background of a private university!It is an example worthy of my countless readers to learn and pursue.Many people who have returned from studying in New Zealand may not be able to get your good position.Moreover, your work experience here is not rich enough after all, and it is necessary to continue to accumulate some practical wisdom.Therefore, don't be dazzled by studying abroad, confused, and give up this hard-won career golden baby.

I sometimes encourage people to quit their jobs and study, to complete the language sprint in one go.But I object to you doing this.Because, after weighing your opportunity cost, I think that your career is really precious, and there is no need to fight to the death. Resignation to learn English may be a platform for many people, but it can also easily become a trap.Because learning English is not as easy as learning to drive or surf the Internet. It often takes years and years, and you may not see immediate results.For friends like you who have a good job, find a career direction, and have a good life, cutting off your own back roads in order to go abroad and learning English with all your might is a struggle to escape despair in desperate times.This era has passed! Studying abroad is risky.This risk includes whether you can go out and whether you can learn successfully after going out.I suggest you not to resign. First, you can avoid the bad consequences if you can’t get out, and at the same time, you will strengthen your capital for career development after you return to China after your studies.Your current company is the greatest company in the world.It would be a pity to lose this professional capital once you resign. You want to quit your job to learn English, which reveals your eagerness to study abroad.This mentality is wrong.Last time I was busy praising you and forgot to find fault with you, but today I caught it.Don't say that you are too busy at work to learn English.Opportunities are created by themselves.You can even have a frank talk with your boss: you want to quit your job to learn English, but you really love your company and your boss loves your job (speak it like that!), so, can the boss give you Assign less overtime tasks.It depends on how you create the best of both worlds for yourself! I fully believe that you can get to a 6.5 in IELTS while working on the side.At that time, going abroad was an elegant and calm choice for you, instead of the despair of fighting to the death like it is now. This is what I have said many times in New Oriental: English is required when going abroad.Just like shopping requires money.If your English is not enough, you should improve your English at home before leaving.Going abroad to learn English, quitting your job to learn English, and learning English without your domestic survival and development, in my opinion, are all dangerous approaches. Because the level of English teaching in China is getting higher and higher, the development opportunities are getting better and better, the quality of life is getting higher and higher, and the comparability with foreign countries is getting stronger and stronger. The historical mentality of going abroad as "fleeing famine" in the early 1980s and "fleeing disaster" in the early 1990s is ridiculous today. Even if you get a visa for New Zealand today, don't go - because, going abroad is two knives, experience plus foreign language.Money is just a knife, without good English, not only is it difficult to enroll, in fact, it also involves your study qualifications and the effect of studying abroad.So, listen to me, don't leave for now, learn English well before you go, accumulate some experience before you go, you will definitely be able to achieve the best results of studying abroad! If your IELTS score is 6.5, then write to me and let me design a better study abroad plan for you. Xu Xiaoping