Studying for a bachelor's abroad, should you do that?
By: Alessio Fino
Tags: University, Travel, College, Study Abroad, Students

Most students choose to enroll in local bachelor’s programs, but what about the curious ones who are dreaming of studying abroad?

The end of high school is such an insightful moment for any student, it is the moment that marks both the end of an era when teenagers are considered just ‘grown children’ and the beginning of a new one, the one that approaches adulthood. Those who choose to go on with their education attending university face the tough choice of which faculty to attend, in this essay, however, we will be discussing the choice of where to attend university.

There is a lot of discussion going on whether it is better to get a bachelor's degree in the home country or abroad. I have had many conversations about this topic with graduate students and the answers revealed something curious: I was first talking with a Swedish student who was studying for a master’s degree and at some point, he would say: “I went abroad for my master’s degree, but I would never have done it for a bachelor’s, in Sweden I was told that Swedish universities are better than others for bachelor’s degree, while master’s degree can be attended anywhere”. The funny thing is that a German student told me the same exact thing about German universities, claiming that they were better for bachelor’s programs. And so on, the answer was pretty much the same for any student I interviewed. Every one of them was told his home country’s universities were better. From this, I deduce that no one really knows what he is talking about. So if you are concerned about the quality of the education in a particular university, you would have to dig a lot deep, possibly interviewing undergraduate students, I found out this the best way to get insights not filtered by prejudices.

Since the research about whether a university is good or not is something apparently impossible to classify on general terms, but just by actually talking to who is attending that very university, let’s talk about another aspect, not less important: Going abroad means to leave your home and throw yourself into the world, which first seems terrifying, and it actually is, I can tell because I already went abroad to study. But it also means that you are living an adventure, you are exploring a new place and a new way of living. This means being thrown in a place where people have very little expectations from you, and where you can easily reinvent yourself and choose who you want to be. I think this is the real benefit that a student gets from studying abroad, it enhances growth in a unique way.

Young people who are appealed by traveling, visiting new counties and merge with different cultures have a golden opportunity in this particular stage of their lives. Once high school is over for a brief period of 3–4 months your duties are essentially non-existent, and a new, exciting chapter of your lives is about to start, but if the dream is to study abroad, how can one do that?

Universities often consider bachelor's degree programs to be attended mostly by local students in pretty much any country. Thus usually there are no programs made to assist international students. This is totally different for students applying for a master’s degree abroad who usually can get help from the university they got their bachelor's degree from.

In order to enroll in a bachelor's degree program abroad, you will basically need to apply as you were a local student, but you’ll need additional papers and documentation, plus you want to be sure that you can afford to live abroad for the academic semester duration, this is something taken into serious consideration in the enrollment phase.

University websites are the first thing to look for, they have tons of useful information, even though it may take a lot of time to find it unless the website is well-organized, which almost never is simply because of the enormous amount of information that has to fit in. If you are not sure about which specific university or course to choose that is fine as long as you have a rough idea of what you are aiming for. You will find out that you won’t be able to enroll in some programs because you may not dispose of the language requirements, or there is a limited number of applicants admitted and you find yourself not being one of them, or other unexpected complications may come into play, so it is important to have a backup option.

The most important aspects you should focus on when planning your life attending a university abroad are:

Language requirements

In most countries, bachelor's programs are run in the native language of the country the university is located in, and being fluent in the host country's native language is a key requirement; in most cases, a language certification is also needed. The level of fluency required ranges between B2 and C1 in the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). A language certificate is crucial if the university you are applying to is from a country whose language is not your native language.

2. Affordability

Attending university is expensive, and it gets even more expensive if you are living on campus or renting an apartment. This is probably the most relevant thing to pay attention to, but there are several ways to deal with this.

Apply for scholarships: Scholarships may be issued both by the high school you graduate from, independent organizations, and the university you wish to apply to, anyone is eligible for a scholarship for merits, which either require the candidate to take a preliminary test where the top performers will win a scholarship or are based on the student’s GPA. If you manage to get among the top performers in this environment, you are eligible for substantial financial aid both for tuition and accommodation on campus. Writing a motivation letter to the entity which issues the scholarships can help and many students end up doing it to increase their chances of getting a scholarship.

Find a part-time job: Around universities, it is possible to find different structures such as pubs or restaurants which look for students to perform simple jobs such as cashiers or waiters for 3–5 hours a day, that allows covering a large portion of the expenses while allowing to have enough time to study. It is advisable to look for a part-time job well before your departure, there are countless mediums through which it is possible to achieve this: Through LinkedIn it is possible to contact all the employers offering job opportunities in a specific location; send DMs (direct messages), cold call and send emails to all the employers who would possibly hire you. By contacting around 50–70 people (it is an amount way larger than it seems), at least one will say yes, there is no point in waiting until you arrive in your host country only to find out most job opportunities have already been taken. Please note that if you are applying to a university in a non-English-speaking country, while the faculty may just require you to be proficient in English since it’s the language of teaching, applying for a part-time job will require you to be fluent in the local language as well.

Work online: There is a wide range of jobs that can be performed from anywhere, all you need to have is a laptop you can work with, sometimes even a mobile phone could be enough. The main requirement to get a source of revenue on the internet is to have a skill other people are willing to pay for. You may make an account on Fiverr or Upwork and work as a freelancer, otherwise many companies give their employees the possibility to work entirely from home and thus from anywhere in the world; if this is the case, once again the advice is to email, DM and contact as many companies as possible and ask to be hired, please put adequate care in what is written in the email. Do not spam the same email to a hundred companies but write very specific emails for each one letting them know why you are very motivated to take that job. Since the opportunities you can find online are nearly limitless, focus on working on something you really love, your academic and professional results and levels of stress will benefit enormously from this.

3. Accommodation

In the USA colleges are the rule, and getting accommodation on campus is usually the cheapest and simplest option. In Europe, however, colleges are not that popular and if you come from abroad you would have to rent a room or a small apartment close to the university. Depending on the cost of living of the chosen country, this can get quite expensive, one way to cut the cost of living off is to live with a housemate, so to halve the rent, be sure you find a housemate you can get on well with, otherwise sharing accommodation would just turn in an unnecessary source of stress. Hostels offer cheaper accommodation, they are not so popular, but they are still a viable option if you dispose of limited financial resources.

This is a collection of general tips focusing on the points about attending university abroad that require the most attention and on how to develop the mindset to cross common misconception barriers such as the fact that you need to be in the host country to look for a job, very few people would tell you that you can get employed and have a good way to pay for your living expenses before even getting on the plane. I hope this article was helpful to outline and explore the topic in a very broad way; more articles are to come where I will talk about more specific cases.

Good luck with your next big choice, feel free to contact me, and tell me how your big choice is taking shape.