Studying in Europe

[Anonymous]

Did you have a kid that opted to go study overseas in Germany, England, or anywhere in Europe? How did it go?

[Anonymous]

Would love to know. Also how does the transition to work go - do they come back or stay? Are there prolific career options for both paths?

[Anonymous]

Are you talking about a study abroad of a semester/year, or are you talking about attending university entirely abroad?

[Anonymous]

My kid went to Ireland. It went well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would love to know. Also how does the transition to work go - do they come back or stay? Are there prolific career options for both paths?

This depends on the country in which they study, their visa status, and how much they like the destination. There is much lower unemployment and more opportunities in countries like the Netherlands, Germany, UK and Eire than in places like Italy and Spain. Wages are always going to be lower than here, but they might feel like the lifestyle tradeoffs are worth it.

As for employment opportunities back here, it is a tough employment market for most graduates in most subjects, whether domestic or foreign. If you have gone to undergraduate abroad, then you will need to be a little more entrepreneurial and self-starting to find work back here in general. The good news is that the kind of kids that do this usually are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you have a kid that opted to go study overseas in Germany, England, or anywhere in Europe? How did it go?

They decided to do a semester abroad instead. As it was in junior year, they were more mature independently handle any issues arising during travel and living overseas.

[Anonymous]

I can tell you for undergraduate studies in Germany you better be able to pass the C1/C2 language level exam and take entrance qualification tests. A friends IB kid with APs failed on physics and math.


Research well beforehand

[Anonymous]

My dual citizen kid opted to study at a US institution and do an exchange program to our EU home country. Even though the expense is VASTLY different, we believe the American undergrad degree is more valuable, because he's lived here practically his whole life and prefers to be US-centric. He might also find more job opportunities here. The study abroad is to test the waters at the sister institution, in case he wants to attend graduate school there... in which case, employment opportunities might also open up in Europe in his specific field.

Every country or locality has their own academic application system, with different deadlines, so researching each one can get complicated. A student visa, however, is easy to obtain once your kid has been accepted. Like student visas here, it means students are usually not allowed to work full-time during or after their program of study (not for long anyway), but if they are hired by a company, then they can switch visas.

Please also remember that non-US institutions don't do any hand-holding! Your kid has to be very independent right from the start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dual citizen kid opted to study at a US institution and do an exchange program to our EU home country. Even though the expense is VASTLY different, we believe the American undergrad degree is more valuable, because he's lived here practically his whole life and prefers to be US-centric. He might also find more job opportunities here. The study abroad is to test the waters at the sister institution, in case he wants to attend graduate school there... in which case, employment opportunities might also open up in Europe in his specific field.

Every country or locality has their own academic application system, with different deadlines, so researching each one can get complicated. A student visa, however, is easy to obtain once your kid has been accepted. Like student visas here, it means students are usually not allowed to work full-time during or after their program of study (not for long anyway), but if they are hired by a company, then they can switch visas.

Please also remember that non-US institutions don't do any hand-holding! Your kid has to be very independent right from the start.

Mine preferred to do undergrad in Europe and grad school in US. I think ultimately grad school is more relevant for longer term prospects, and my experience has been US is better for developing career opportunities fromm grad school, while quality of European universities for BA/BScs tends to be higher (with a lot of variation though).

I agree on your last point. Leaving home and going to college is scary when you are 18. Going to another country at the same time is even scarier. So it takes a strong independent kid to do it.

[Anonymous]

Had a kid who did a dual degree program so 2 years at a US college and 2 years in Scotland. Needed to get a Tier 4 visa and pay into the UK health care system.

No language issues but US and UK educational systems are vastly different. Only 2 graded assignments in UK modules vs multiple in US courses. Multiple choice problems in many US courses vs problem solving and papers in UK.

Child definitely became more independent living abroad for the 2 years he was in Scotland. As a graduate of a UK university eligible for a 2 year work visa in the UK but took a job in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you talking about a study abroad of a semester/year, or are you talking about attending university entirely abroad?

I was wondering this too. My kid spent last semester in Europe and had the most wonderful time meeting tons of other students from all over the world.

[Anonymous]

Have a whole 245 page thread about UK schools with people talking about this very topic…..