University?

[LastPoet]

[Longhorn]

Seriously tho, ninja

[KevinM1]

Shouldn't your existing school be able to provide you with relevant material? In the states, we have guidance counselors who have a shit load of information - university rankings, often based on majors, scholarship info, etc. Moreover, seniors go to college fairs where universities and colleges set up booths with info about their programs and campuses, and everyone just sort of knows about the prestigious schools through our culture (like, MIT is pretty good at that technology stuff, apparently (yes, sarcasm)).

[LastPoet]

I'm not sure where I claimed to be either superior or brighter than anyone, here, my irascibility aside. People shouldn't ever be understood taking into account only their failures, but we should linger on the failures more, nonetheless, in order to be able to learn. I think you made a strawman out of me, and this is why we're not able to speak like adults.

Kudos. Your self description is quite accurate.

[Excited Penguin]

Shouldn't your existing school be able to provide you with relevant material?  In the states, we have guidance counselors who have a shit load of information - university rankings, often based on majors, scholarship info, etc.  Moreover, seniors go to college fairs where universities and colleges set up booths with info about their programs and campuses, and everyone just sort of knows about the prestigious schools through our culture (like, MIT is pretty good at that technology stuff, apparently (yes, sarcasm)).

It should be able to. I don't see how merely wishing it were so will change anything in this regard, though. Besides, I don't live in the United States of America, mind you.

Nevertheless, I'll pursue every source of guidance available on this. This is why I thought it best to also start a thread here, asking fellow free thinkers about it. What's so bad about that?

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I'm not sure where I claimed to be either superior or brighter than anyone, here, my irascibility aside. People shouldn't ever be understood taking into account only their failures, but we should linger on the failures more, nonetheless, in order to be able to learn. I think you made a strawman out of me, and this is why we're not able to speak like adults.

Kudos. Your self description is quite accurate.

I see. Well, I can't say much more than this really, namely that you figured me out wrongly.

[KevinM1]

Shouldn't your existing school be able to provide you with relevant material?  In the states, we have guidance counselors who have a shit load of information - university rankings, often based on majors, scholarship info, etc.  Moreover, seniors go to college fairs where universities and colleges set up booths with info about their programs and campuses, and everyone just sort of knows about the prestigious schools through our culture (like, MIT is pretty good at that technology stuff, apparently (yes, sarcasm)).

It should be able to. I don't see how merely wishing it were so will change anything in this regard, though.

Well, I didn't know that your school (apparently) doesn't have much in the way of resources from your first post. I've encountered a lot of people on various forums who have asked similar questions about finding the right university for them, and many are simply unaware of what they have available to them where they are, or simply forget to use them.

Besides, I don't live in the United States of America, mind you.

I know. I brought up what I experienced in order to have you think about whether there's similar resources/opportunities in your country you could utilize in your search. There was an implied "Can you do this kind of thing where you are?"

Nevertheless, I'll pursue every source of guidance available on this. This is why I thought it best to also start a thread here, asking fellow free thinkers about it. What's so bad about that?

...nothing? It's hard to suggest an avenue of inquiry for you to pursue when no one knows if you have already exhausted some on your end before coming here. We're asking questions in order to better figure out what we think may yield the best results for you, not challenging you or doubting your intentions.

[Excited Penguin]

I think I gave enough info to go on in the OP. If I had thought it necessary to add anything at all, I would've done so. But I think you can pinpoint my situation pretty well given my stated intentions and the circumstances I described as my own.

I also have an older brother who went to university in Thessaloniki, Greece. He got a scolarship there, and he's advising me on where to go to right now. What I already said about wanting to go somewhere to work and make enough to survive college was his idea initially. I don't know what to add to that, exactly.

Let me try and further put it into perspective, though:

I have no money.
My own country won't help me much.
I have an EU passport.*

New info:
I've got slightly better than average[but this is subjective] grades. I can't exactly put my finger on how good or bad my grades are, not really, since I didn't apply anywhere yet and so I don't know what particular criteria they would use for measuring grades in order to accept/reject applications.

...Anyway, based on this, I hope to achieve higher learning somewhere abroad, preferably somewhere better than where I'm presently at. If you can tell me something valuable about it, great, if not, still great and thanks for trying. Sorry if I came off as defensive for a moment there, Kevin.

*My country is not in the EU, though. I have a romanian passport[Romania being a member of the EU] because... Well, it's complicated, really.

And Moldova won't get in the EU anytime soon either, at least based on recent developments:

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-e...t-moldova/

Grand Theft Moldova

It set off chaos in the local banking system and led to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund suspending financial aid to the country earlier this year. The European Union also froze funding for Moldova until a new government was formed. These moves prompted fears that the country might default on its international obligations.

[I_am_not_mafia]

So I just passed my final exams and need to look for universities to go to... I was wondering if anyone could give some piece of advice or tell me how to better look for them?

Additional info: I'm not very rich, in other words, my family can't exactly pay for my university, even though they might be able to help me somehow but I'm not sure I want that...

 I'm practically a citizen of the EU, having a Romanian passport and all. 

The plan is to go and work for a year so I can get myself through college, and, if I'm going to some place like Germany or Austria, to also learn the language at the same time. 

Of course, plan B would always be to stay home and go to a local University but being how my country is the poorest in all of Europe you might imagine that the higher education system is not exactly among the best or even in good shape.

So could you offer any advice at all in this general direction? Even non-specific life tips for a youngster like myself would suffice, if nothing else. It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Germany is a good idea because the education will be free. I spoke to a Romanian woman when I was living in Germany and she was moaning at how she felt that she was discriminated against when looking for work though because of her nationality. A German education is good though. I think Finland also pay for your university fees but then you'd have to learn Finnish. German is a much more useful language to learn because so many more people speak it. Not just Germany but in Austria and Switzerland as well.

I don't know how the language compares to Romanian, but I know it's more difficult to learn German as an English speaker than say the other Romance languages like Italian, French and Spanish because of the grammar. But it's actually an extremely ordered and logical language once you have figured out the rules, and completely phonetic. Personally I love the language. It's fun.

Moving to another country is always a good thing even if you return to where you came from. It makes you more worldly and gives you more confidence to change your situation in the future.

Quality of life in Germany is very good, although the bureaucracy will drive you utterly nuts. Sometimes commonsense can take second place to rules. Tax is high as well which means the cost of living is also high. But at least in Germany your taxes generally go towards making everybody's life better.

[I_am_not_mafia]

Forgot to add, you have to be able to support yourself in Germany, which means either having money or a job. This is because you have to pay medical insurance. But the minimum medical insurance isn't actually much. The minimum you have to pay will be about 150 euros a month. Medical insurance is mandatory.

[Excited Penguin]

IANM, I have already taken Germany into account, based on that reason alone[free tuition]. I also think it would be good to consider Germany over any other non-english speaking national entities for those same linguistic commodities and finesses. Thanks a lot for reinforcing that idea for me. 

 And yes, Romanians do seem to have it hard sometimes, among fellow Europeans. Maybe it's because of the whole gypsy stigma not rubbing off. But I don't think us Moldovians have the same Image-Problem exactly, even though we share a curious history, a culture and a language with the Romanians*. For one, nobody seems to know about us existing in the first place. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. We would most probably be known for being among the laziest, most alcoholic and stupidly religious peoples on earth, based on statistics alone.
*

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We are all descendants of the Roman-collonized and interbred Dacians and, more to the point, since the ancient times of our forefathers, Moldova has been thrice over part of Romania, historically and politically speaking, and some would say that's still where it belongs today. 

My country has been repeatedly and forcefully stripped away of its freedom and desecrated by the Russians ever since the beginning of the nineteeth century. Before the turn of this century, it had been engulfed and regurgitated by the URSS until any trace of individuals' dignities, economic prospects or genuine culture seemed to be hopelessly lost.

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But then there's France too, which from what I gathered, basically, receives anyone at all and only keeps the very best -- or those who can keep up with the huge pressure and high demands.

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Forgot to add, you have to be able to support yourself in Germany, which means either having money or a job. This is because you have to pay medical insurance. But the minimum medical insurance isn't actually much. The minimum you have to pay will be about 150 euros a month. Medical insurance is mandatory.

It depends on how 'high' of a sallary I would be able to get in Germany while studying at the same time, for me to be able to tell whether that's much or not. I know about the need to work, though. It's obviously the only way I can ever hope to achieve that low hanging Bachelor's degree, barring a miraculous scholarship or a billionaire benefactor[those two have about the same chance of happening to me, by my reckoning].