<p>As encouraged by Middlebury our daughter is spending her junior year studying abroad in New Zealand. An English major, she has enjoyed her classes and professors in New Zealand more than those at Middlebury. She has discovered that she can complete her BA by November if she stays, thereby graduating a half a year early and saving quite a bit of money. She would miss spending her senior year with friends at Middlebury, but she has made new friends in New Zealand. Moreover, she has found her Kiwi fellow English majors to be more congenial and less competitive than many of those she encountered at Middlebury. Her grades at both institutions are uniformly excellent. Apart from name recognition and prestige it is hard to see a downside. She wants to return to the southwest to live, and Middlebury doesn't have much name recognition here. Completing her degree in New Zealand might actually make for an interesting talking point in job interviews. It's her decision but I'm inclined to agree with it. What do you think?</p>
<p>If she wants to do it and it’s beneficial for her academically and financially, why not?</p>
<p>Not worth it IMHO. She’s so close to earning her degree from one of the most prestigious small colleges in the US. Despite what you might think, the Middlebury brand is worth quite a bit (even in the southwest), and the school’s profile is rising. Don’t discount the alumni connections that come with a Middlebury degree. I’m quite sure that her NZ university will have little or no alumni presence in the US. You spent lots of money paying for her time at Middlebury; it would be a shame to throw it all away when she has one year left. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>p.s.–I’ve spent some time in NZ. It’s an enchanting place. It’s very easy to come under its spell, particularly in the South Island. But her time in Middle Earth will come to an end, and she ultimately may regret this decision down the road. </p>
<p>I’m not sure I agree entirely with @arcadia; in my experience “non-degrees alums” can remain tightly connected to the institutions they didn’t graduate from, if they choose. My place of employ (another SLAC) has a fair number of people who left for degrees elsewhere (e.g., decided they wanted engineering or fine art, or dropped out to take over the family business when a parent died) but who participate actively in reunions, give generously, and are alumni in all but the formal paperwork. Middlebury may be different, of course. Employers in my experience don’t care all that much about brand, and international experience is a positive. They can still see she was admitted and hopefully did well at both places.</p>
<p>Coming from Texas, I had never even heard of Middlebury. If it were my daughter, I’d tell her to do what she wanted. A young person who has the initiative to study overseas would mean more to me as an employer than a degree from a school I hadn’t heard of.</p>
<p>What’s Texas? 
</p>
<p>Just because you haven’t heard of a school doesn’t mean that 1) it’s not a good school; or 2) others won’t know about it. Reminds me of a t-shirt a friend of mine wore while we were studying abroad. On the front it said “Swarthmore” and on the back: “We’ve never heard of you either.”</p>
<p>In all seriousness–If she ever wants to get an advanced degree, there may be other considerations as well. It’s important for her to be happy, but she should really think long and hard about the long-term consequences of both scenarios (and it might be that the New Zealand route is better for her). If she ultimately wanted to live and work in NZ or Oceania, I’d say stay in NZ. But being a Midd grad and witnessing first-hand the very strong alumni connections, networking opportunities, and grad school admissions boost, it’s hard for me to discount the value of those things. </p>
<p>The one person I know who ended up staying on at their study abroad uni eventually regretted her decision. It turns out she fell in love with a boy and couldn’t imagine leaving him. He broke up with her three months after they graduated.</p>
<p>My thoughts align with yours, Irishdoctor. If this were my child I’d share my opinion and support their decision. </p>
<p>Everyone I know has heard of University of Phoenix. What does that mean, however?</p>
<p>Irishdoctor: I am sure whatever you and your daughter decide will work out for the best, and you can take comfort in that. These decisions seem stressful at the time, but in the long run, things generally evolve in such a way that we are able to convince ourselves that our decision was the best one for us. </p>
<p>As the parent of a Midd grad and a Yale undergrad, I will say two things about the “prestige” of Midd vs. other schools: </p>
<p>1) It is true that there are other schools that are more well-known than Middlebury, but I could not be happier that my child selected Midd. It commands great respect among anyone who understands what college is really about, incl. grad school committees. A Middlebury degree is a very special achievement. Arcadia seems to be trying to help your daughter not give up something that will be a lifelong source of pride, especially when she is so close and has so much already invested in it. My child who is at Yale also applied to Midd, but bypassed many other more well-known schools. </p>
<p>2) There were two “no-go” zones for us as parents when looking at colleges for our son and daughter: Schools where many of the students are prestige-driven and possibly wish they were somewhere else, and schools that have large job-oriented populations (undergrad business, e.g.). Students who choose Middlebury, in general, really want to be there. They are drawn to its unique environment and most love it. All of them choose it over other great schools - that is part of what makes Middlebury special. </p>