I’m considering the possibility of going to a foreign school for college, but I’m not really sure where to start looking. I’d appreciate some advice. I’m looking for specific or general school suggestions, info as to where to look, or even just advice about how to better ask this sort of question.
I’ve been favoring smaller, non-traditional schools like Reed, Hampshire, and Grinnell in my search for American schools, and I’d prefer something similar in a foreign school, but I’m not opposed to more traditional schools. I’m hoping for something cheaper than most American schools, and from what I’ve read, it seems like that’s a possibility. As for what country, Canada would be convenient, since I could still travel home with relative ease (I live in Wisconsin); otherwise, the Scandinavian countries look nice, but I’m open to most places. I have pretty wide-ranging interests, and I’m not sure which of them I want to study in-depth, so I want to go to a school with a broad curriculum.
If any more information about me or what I’m looking for would be helpful, ask and I’ll provide.
What is wrong w just doing a year of study abroad?
What are you going to do when it’s time to get a job, when companies looking for American students will be recruiting on American college campuses, not in Scandinavia? And you won’t have the right to work in Scandinavia because you’re not a citizen there.
Do you have SAT or ACT scores yet? In general, you’ll need a 26 ACT or 600 on each section of the SAT for the more selective Canadian schools.
Canadian schools are, in general, large (many times very large) public schools, similar to state flagships. Tuition will depend on what you plan to major in - majors such as engineering and computer science can have tuition alone as high as $43K CAD (roughly $32K USD). Other majors though are much cheaper - around $23-30K CAD ($18K -$22K USD).
Different Canadian schools are better for different majors. With some programs, you have to commit to a major when you are admitted, although it is possible to change.
Do you have an idea of what you want to major in? Do you want a big city or a small city?
If you are looking for a broad curriculum with lots of choice, University of Toronto would be a very good choice. Although it’s a very large school, it’s a federation of smaller colleges that you apply to. Trinity and Victoria and St. Michaels are smaller colleges and each has the culture of a LAC. UBC and McGill would have lots of curricular choice too, although I’m not that familiar with their systems.
This approach to “liberal education,” by which undergrad is an extension of high school, with general education requirements/expectations in addition to a more focused major, is almost uniquely American. There are some analogous programs around the world, but they’re few and far between. Most of the world’s universities are specialized–you have a major and you study it, full stop.
The most similar school I know is Mount Allison in Canada. Great school.
My D looked into colleges in Germany. Tuition is free, but there are very few which offer undergraduate programs fully in English. Here’s one she found, which she seriously considered - it’s fairly new and very international, but has a limited number of majors: http://www.hochschule-rhein-waal.de/en/university
As others have mentioned European universities are world apart from an American LAC like Reed or Grinnell.
What you want is specifically (and uniquely) American.
If you want to study abroad, you will have to adjust your expectations: odds are you will study in a big urban school with very few resources, sports, handholding or choice. Like a commuter college without 80% of the services American students take for granted.
I’ve actually started my application for universities in Canada and the UK, I’m also considering schools in Australia. For me Scandinavia may be an option for graduate school but not yet.
The first thing you really need to do is decide what country or countries you want to apply to schools in. Finding and deciding on which universities to apply to is the hard part. I started with google searches of schools I was already familiar with on a name basis. For example, I went to a college fair freshman year and learned about University of British Colombia which is in Canada, I kinda want to apply to that school but I’m really lazy and don’t want to do the writing…Don’t be lazy like me. Anyways…
Once you have a list of schools you should check out their International Students page, search for the entry requirements and read it carefully. There are schools that ask for AP and some that don’t, all that I’ve looked at ask for SAT Subject Tests, and require either the SAT or ACT. After you know the requirements, look for a course, in some countries like Australia, the courses are only three years. Places like the United Kingdom don’t offer Minors or Double Majors.
Once you’ve gotten the important research out of the way, you should look at the accommodations they have, Club/Societies, Sports, etc.
On most applications there isn’t a place for extracurriculars, most schools only care about your grades.
Here’s a list of Schools in Canada:
University of British Columbia
McGill University
Concordia University
University of Toronto
University of Alberta
Just google for more.
I actually recommend going to Europe because the ability to travel to different countries close by. Traveling home may be a challenge, I’ll from Cali, I don’t plane on traveling home much. For Christmas most likely, but summers are up in the air and depends on if I could afford the plane ticket.
If you have any more questions feel free to pm me.
Good Luck!
Just to add to @CollegeDayDreamer , Joint Honours courses (which I presume are similar to Double Majors) are available at many UK unis, as are Combined Honours- up to 3 or 4 subjects then narrowing, and something like a Major plus Minor often described as a main subject with the second subject. Combined sciences may be described as Natural Sciences. Start with UCAS course search and broaden from there if you are interested in the UK. You may be iinterested in Durham, UCL - though London, big and traditional. Look at places further afield in England and Wales. You will need to have some idea of direction for most combinations and all Joint Honours.
As a Canadian, I’ve heard that Acadia and Mount Allison are the most comparable to American LAC’s. Otherwise, most Canadian schools are pretty large and generally lack “American-style” school spirit. The top Canadian schools are mostly pre-professional, and you must apply directly to the school/faculty you would like to attend. (Which doesn’t sound like a bonus for you.) Also, the “rankings” of Canadian schools depend on the program. Each school has different strengths, for example, McGill is considered a top school, yet Queen’s and Western are known to be better for business. Good luck!!