Today, there have never been as many options available to us when it comes to choosing where to study. With colleges and schools around the US and abroad offering a range of facilities and support to their students, it’s just as easy to study hundreds of miles away from home as it is to take your program at the local college where you live.
Along with moving around the US to get a different living experience when completing their education, today we have seen a huge increase in students who are applying to study abroad. There are many reasons for this – not only can tuition fees in certain overseas countries be much cheaper than those at home, but there’s also the amazing opportunity for students to immerse themselves in a different culture, make new friends from around the world, and have a unique experience that they wouldn’t get at home.
If you are considering applying for an undergraduate or postgraduate program of study, there are many reasons to consider widening your search to colleges and schools outside of the US We’ve listed some of the best reasons to consider studying abroad for your degree.
#1. See More of the World:
For many young people today, seeing as much of the world as possible is on the top of their bucket list. If you can’t wait to travel as much as possible and explore different countries and cultures, then studying abroad could be one of the best ways for you to achieve this. Although you won’t be strictly on vacation, your weekends and breaks can be spent exploring your destination and the surrounding areas, which can quickly become the highlight of studying abroad. In addition, studying overseas can be your ticket to seeing even more of the world. For example, if you choose to study in Europe, you can then get cheap flights, or even trains and buses across borders to explore other European countries in your spare time, something that would be really difficult to achieve if you remained at home to study!
#2. Improve Your Career Prospects:
Along with being able to tick as many of your travel plans off your bucket list as possible, studying abroad can also be a wonderful method of improving your career prospects, and perhaps even permanently working abroad in the future. For example, if you enroll on a doctor of medicine program at a Caribbean medical school, you can gain a lot of experience working in their healthcare system and build a network of professional contacts, which can lead to you being offered a permanent job as a doctor in the Caribbean once you graduate. If you hope to move and work abroad in the future, then why wait? Choosing to study abroad could be the perfect start to your career journey.
#3. Learn Other Skills:
When you study abroad, it’s not just the knowledge and skills surrounding your chosen degree program and topic that you will learn. Depending on where you choose to study, there may be opportunities to learn a new language. For example, international students in Sweden are given the option to take free Swedish language classes alongside their degree program, which can be immensely useful for anybody trying to stay on in the country and pursue a career there after graduation. Even if you decide that staying in your chosen country of study isn’t the right decision for you once you’ve completed your program, the benefits of being multi-lingual can be immense in both the US and around the world.
#4. Take in a New Culture:
Learning about other cultures and diverse ways of life can improve you in many ways; opening your eyes to a new perspective can be very educational, and many international students find that it’s this part of studying abroad that helps to shape them as a person. Many international students have never lived abroad before and are used to the culture at home; once you arrive in your host country, you’ll likely be fascinated by the different way of life, or in some cases, the similarities that you find to how things are done back home. Living in a new country means that you’ll be able to immerse yourself in new customs and traditions, incredible new foods, and different social environments to the ones that you are used to at home.
#5. Make Friends for Life:
One of the best parts of being an international student is the opportunity to make new friends from a diverse range of backgrounds. In most cases, students who arrive to study abroad do so on their own, as many no longer have the ‘safety net’ of their friends back home. Although you will, of course, maintain these friendships thanks to the internet, you’ll need to socialize and make new friends to truly enjoy your new life abroad. This is a really exciting part of overseas study; chances are there will be plenty of other international students who are in the same situation, so finding new people to team up with is certainly not difficult. Also, you can discover many new and exciting activities and hobbies together that may not have been available to you back home. Don’t forget, even after your program of study has finished and you choose to return to the US, you should make an effort to stay in touch with the friends that you have made abroad. Not only can these be very rewarding personal relationships, but you will also find that your friends from college can become very useful contacts in the future, especially if you ever hope to return to the country to pursue a career there.
When it comes to choosing where to study, the world truly is your oyster! While the US has plenty of reputable schools to choose from, if you want to see more of the world and discover a different culture, studying abroad could be the perfect choice for you.
Why do you want to study overseas? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.
