Going to college broadens horizons, both academically and socially. For me, it also opened up my world-view. I had never met so many people from around the world until I went to Plattsburgh.
It also made me wonder: Why do they come here?
American schools are incredibly expensive, and prices seem to be only climbing as the years go by. A lot of American kids go overseas for school too, mostly in the UK.
So now I’m left with another question: Why do we go there?
At first, price was my main concern for college. As a kid going in on their own, I really had no other choice.
But some American or international students have their parents’ support or scholarships for college, enabling them to go overseas.
According to Quacquarellis Symonds World University Rankings, a website that ranks colleges across the globe, 13 of the top 20 best universities are in America.
So I think it comes down to the type of person going to college.
If my parents had offered to send me overseas, I would have jumped at the chance. I knew what major I wanted to study; I have an intense love of travel. Going out to see the world and living in another country would be an amazing experience.
I’m sure there are quite a few of us who feel the same. Some of us would have jumped at the chance, but I’m fairly certain there is also a number of us who would pass on it.
Talking with my international friends supports that idea. Many of them have parents who were willing to pay for an American-priced college degree, but they also had scholarships offered to them.
They all seem to like America too. All of them miss home, which is probably the hardest thing about studying abroad other than a language barrier, but there isn’t a single international student who I’ve spoken to about their home life that said they wished they hadn’t come. I think that’s an important detail too.
I had spoken to a few people in the past who studied abroad, and they all said the same thing. All of them would do it again and always encourage it.
If I ever got the chance, I would love to. But right now, Plattsburgh is my home away from home, and I still get the cultural diversity here too.
Email Amanda Little at amanda.little@cardinalpointsonline.com
