Hello, so I am currently going to a community college in the US and when I’m done, I really want to transfer to Pusan National University’s English Global Studies Program, and then go to a grad school in Japan. The problem is many people online say that a degree from these countries would be useless in America. However, there’s many factors that I think makes my position a little unique such as 1.) I’m trying to become pretty fluent in Korean, Japanese, AND Chinese, 2.) I’m willing to also get my graduate degree while abroad, and 3.) the fact that I’m going to major in International Relations(or something like it)so I think it would be good to have experience abroad with my major anyway. To put it into perspective, here’s some examples of common statements I see online that I have counter statements for:
If you just want to return to America, then itit’s useless. - But what if I go to grad school and get work experience abroad before I return?
I wouldn’t recommend going all 4 years abroad, just go to grad school in your desired country. - But what if I’m getting my ppre - recs done in America first and I don’t just want to spend time in one country, but in all of East Asia (Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan)
I wouldn’t recommend it, unless a graduate degree is involved. - Does that mean I should only get a graduate degree abroad, or bot? Because like I said, I wouldn’t mind getting a graduate degree abroad too, as long as it will have use in America
Sorry this post is so long, but I really want go to college in these Asian countries because I want to learn the language well, and because there’s no better time to spend in them than college since won’t have to work the really long hours, which gives you more time to explore, and you can make friends easier, allowing you to understand the cultures better. So basically, I want to go to college abroad for college because I think it’s the best time to learn about a country, I think it’s good for my major, and I really don’t feel like staying in the state I’vI’ve lived in my whole life, especially with the possibility of “getting stuck” here (if that makes sense). I would greatly appreciate what anyone has to say about what they think about this plan, especially if you’ve had at least a somewhat similar experience, Thank You!
Completing a degree program in a second language is extremely challenging. How fluent are you in Chines, Japanese, and Korean right now? If you would be starting from zero, you could expect to need as least one full year to get your language skills up to the bare minimum necessary for understanding your coursework. In order to do well in your classes, you will need language support for longer than that. So you need to identify a university that has a strong program for international students such as yourself.
It is absolutely true that employers in the US are unfamiliar with universities in the countries that you are thinking about. When you return to the US, you may find that you need to have your degree formally evaluated for equivalency. That isn’t terribly expensive, but it is a headache and can delay your entry into the US job market.
If you need financial aid, you need to know that very few international universities are approved as places where you can use the federal student loans. That means that you would need to get a scholarship from the place where you would study, or you would have to find a private lender that would be willing to lend you money for your studies. This means that is may make more sense for you to complete your undergraduate degree in the US, but spend a summer, semester, or year abroad just to work on the language skills you want. Then you could pursue graduate studies and/or career options in the countries of interest.
Thanks for replying! Although I would do the Korean language program first, the main undergraduate program I’m looking at is one taught completely in English at Pusan National University in Korea, so I would be learning in english. Also, since I’m currently I’m currently going to a community college I’m trying to save up because I have noticed that there’s usually no financial aid in these countries. So to afford it I would need to work part time while overseas unless I got a very good scholarship. But I just want to know if getting an undergraduate AND graduate degree in these countries would be a mistake that would stop me from getting a job in America later in life. But, like I said before, I really don’t want to remain in the state that I’ve lived in my whole life, I’m really anxious to explore these countries. I also think that having experience in them would go well with my degree. However, if these decisions will make it very hard to land a job whenever I returned, I wouldn’t want to do it. But if all it would do is make me do some extra work, then I think I would do it. I’m just really confused as to how much this plan could bite me in the back later on… :-?
Well, you’ve been in one state your whole life and have never explored the rest of the US. so you want to leave?
Okay, I’m going to be a Debbie Downer.
How will you live there? Who will pay your rent? A number of these countries don’t allow foreigners to enter the workforce; did you investigate the possibility that you would not be allowed to work there? What if you can’t get a visa to enter those countries?
How will you pay your travel expenses?
What happens if you can’t pick up on the languages?
Who will be your onsite contact if something goes wrong? How will you handle illnesses or paying upfront fees for hospitalizations? You never know if you will be injured or become ill.
You do realize, that as a US citizen, you are not afforded the same rights as their citizens? International relations isn’t just about going to another country. Read some of the descriptions of the major in any college web site.
The embassy can only do so much.
I am working with a young college foreign exchange student from S. Korea. She is trying hard to learn English and feels very homesick. She mentioned that, in her experience, S. Korean women have to have facial plastic surgery because everything is based on looks and a photo has to accompany each resume. If you don’t have the right “look” they won’t hire you.
If u can’t read/write/speak the language on a college level before entering the university, then I strongly advise doing your entire degree in that country.
Do u have dual citizenship? How are u going to afford college overseas where you’ll get no U.S. federal aid/loans? As a foreign national in Korea, do u get financial assistance?
Getting your degree abroad in country-X isn’t going to be viewed the same as getting your degree abroad in the US. American & British university degrees have de facto cachet all around the world. Only Korean nationals are going to be impressed w a top university in Korea.
What’s wrong w simply doing a one semester study-abroad program?
To start off, I actually am currently studying all 3 languages, and for Japanese, I’m about to finish my 3rd year at class I take on Saturdays, so I’m not worried about learning the languages. Also I’m trying to enter an English taught program. And aunt bea, I don’t want to go because I’ve lived in the same state my whole life (in plus, I have visited other states), it’s just that if I decided to go to college in the U.S, I definitely couldn’t afford out of state tuition, meaning I would have to stay in state. I really just want to go so I can get good at the languages and cultures more. Also, I’m pretty sure South Korea allows foreign students to work around 20 hours a week, and the university I want to go to has some positions for english speakers to teach part time. I know international relations isn’t about going to another country, I just think it would be good to have experience in these countries. I also saw that they also offer a degree in english “Korea and East Asia”, which would interest me. And GMTplus7, if I just did a semester abroad, it wouldn’t be enough time to pick up on the language, plus it would be hard to pick which country (between all of the East Asian ones). On top of that, I feel like it would be hard to afford, considering the high price of US universities, so I would probably have to stay here. One last thing, I’I’ve lately been thinking about going to grad school in Hong Kong, and I’m pretty sure degrees from there are pretty good. So, if I got my Bachlor’s degree in South Korea and my grad degree in Hong Kong, would that really be a bad idea?
You still haven’t answered the dual nationality question. If u got your degree overseas, would you have the right to work in that country? Or would u need a work visa?
As an American who has been living/ working overseas on different continents, I’ve been in a hiring position for local & expatriate staff. The CVs that get taken most seriously are those from locals, from the same nationality of the company, and from candidates from Western universities, primarily US, Canada & UK.
My bad, I looked it up, and if I understand it right, you can work on a student visa but not until around 3 months have passed and you need to upgrade to something called a d2 or a d4 visa
Keep in mind that most countries will not grant a work visa to foreign nationals unless the company cannot find a citizen to fill the position. Therefore to justify hiring a foreign national over a citizen, the foreign national typically has to have a graduate degree or years of work experience.
Private colleges give FA and/or merit scholarships irrespective of state residency. Plus, some public universities give generous merit scholarships to attract OOS students.
Apart from the money issues everyone else has brought up, I think it is necessary to remind you that, a degree from a US university (even just a standard public one, as long as not the really small local ones) is useful almost everywhere in the world, including any of the East Asian countries; however, in most cases, a degree from a East Asian university will only be recognized in the country that you got the degree from.
Although it is quite interesting to see someone from America want to go to school in East Asia, I personally think this move is very risky. Before I comment any further, may I ask what make you that interested in these countries and how deep you want to get into the society? (That is, are you ultimately wanting to live/work in there, or just visiting) And It is really necessary to actually gain your degree from there to have the experience you wanted? It really sound wiser to me to go a US university and then go to these country through whatever study aboard program they got.
Even a graduate degree is involved, I would still say staying in US is the better choice. Just as GMTplus7 mentioned and what I said in the beginning of my post, degree from Western universities are generally valued much and much more than the ones from East Asian universities, and the difference in value grows significantly as you move up the level (this is especially true when comparing the top schools in both sides).
One more thing I think you should keep in mind is, there is a reason why every East Asian want to get out of their country so badly.
I understand that a degrees from the us is more useful, that’s why I’m wondering if a degree from these countries could even be used to get me a job whenever I decided to come back. East Asia really interests me because their cultures and languages are so different and interesting. Also, I really like their scenery, such as the forbidden city In China. I know I could just wait until after I got my Bachlor’s, I just want to go there because I think college would be a great time to learn about the cultures and really improve my language skills a lot. So I guess it just sounds boring to me to go to college here because I’ve because I’ve lived here my whole life and just really want to explore these countries. I know that sounds a little hard - headed, but it just seems like such an interesting idea to go to college. However, if their degrees are really that useless here, then I guess I would have to go to college in America because I definitely wouldn’t want to redo college. Also, wouldn’t a degree from Hong Kong be pretty valuable in here?
One thing to think about is in most East Asian societies, the preferred route is undergrad at top East Asian college followed by a grad degree in a US/Canadian/European university. Another is attending a university which isn’t regarded as “top” within those societies is pretty risky as some lucrative/prestigious career paths will literally be closed within those societies as they’re often reserved for graduates from the top domestic universities or those holding graduate degrees from US/Canada/Europe…especially topflight universities.
With a few exceptions, top East Asian universities’ prestige is mostly confined to the undergrad level even within East Asia and a grad degree from a US/Canadian/European university usually trumps one from even a top domestic university for jobs/government/academic positions.
So are you saying that if I got my degree from an east Asian country, then I should get my graduate (which I’m pretty sure is possible)? If so, I wouldn’t mind doing that because I saw a good Asian studies graduate program at uh manoa, which seems really interesting.
What is the career endgoal(s) for getting the graduate degree(s)? If you want to be a translator, concentrate on learning the languages thoroughly. You DON’T necessarily need to major in East Asian Studies for that. What you DO NEED is the talent AND work ethic required to learn the languages thoroughly and well.
Two friends who are professional translators in East Asian languages never majored in East Asian Studies. One did his major in English lit and the other has an MFA in the Arts. Neither were native speakers or heritage learners either.
Unless you intend to work in academia or work in a limited number of jobs requiring such graduate degrees and you are admitted to a PhD program WITH FULL FUNDING, you could easily end up with tens of thousands or more in debt without a job matching the skillset or worse, one where you’ll have a hard time paying off that debt.
I have several friends in that situation after finishing up one or more Masters degrees which don’t provide much/any FA/scholarship/fellowship funding and trust me…having such debt hanging over your head is seriously limiting.
I have been considering being a translator or interpreter, but I’ve heard if you want to do it, it’s good to have another skill under your belt, like Asian studies for example. Sorry if I’m confusing, but wouldn’t you agree that if I wanted to become good at the languages and major in something like Asian studies, then it would be good to go abroad in those countries to do so? Think about it, wouldn’t you trust someone more so if they learned about certain cultures and learned how to speak the languages in the countries they come from, rather than someone who just learned about them at an American college, where you’re not so much surrounded by the information you’re learning?
Asian Studies is an area studies academic field, not a skillset…especially in the non-academic workplace context.
Also, if you have the talent and put in the work ethic necessary to learn the languages well, you can do just as well with shorter term immersion programs whether it’s summer study abroad, Middlebury College’s notable intensive immersive summer language programs(Can’t speak any language other than the one being studied for the term), or even pick it up post-college through programs like JET.*
Another thing to keep in mind is that due to political and other factors, you may not necessarily get the best Asian Studies education in East Asian universities…especially if they’re not top-tier ones. Quality and perceived reputation even within those countries tends to drop off rapidly beyond the top tier or two.
It’s one reason why many who are familiar with the East Asian studies field…including yours truly look askance at some folks who make statements like “Wouldn’t it be better for you to go to [insert East Asian country here] to study its history/politics as an undergrad”. Answer: Not really unless you’ve already had enough background to know what topics will not be covered or glossed over due to political, cultural, or academic prioritization factors. It’s also a reason why most East Asian students who want to pursue Asian studies in academia actually come to topflight US/Canadian/European universities to pursue PhD programs in those areas.
As for cultural immersion, that can only work if you’re able to live and dorm mostly with domestic East Asian students on a constant basis which isn’t always encouraged by college/national governments. For instance, when I did study abroad in Mainland China, all international students/study abroad students had to stay in the international student dorms by college/government mandate. Took a lot of effort and going out of my way to integrate myself somewhat with a group of Mainland Chinese students because of that residential separation back then.
Several friends including one of those translators strengthened their topflight language skills on such programs after taking a few years of said language as undergrads at American colleges.
The U.S. government is begging for and paying for people to learn Korean, and many universities around the world are starting to have dual degree programs with universities in Korea or have branches of their universities located there (same could be said of China, but not so much Japan these days). Universities with dual degree programs in South Korea include Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern. A university with a branch in Korea is the State University of New York (SUNY): http://www.sunykorea.ac.kr/. Some intensive Korean programs within the U.S. but with required study abroad are with the language flagship programs.
You don’t need to plan on working in Korea to make use of Korean language skills. As an attorney, I have seen some legal projects requiring Korean language skills pay top dollar – far more than for the same project to be completed in English. Becoming fluent in Korean in both the language and culture – which you can only do living there realistically – can prepare you for many different career paths.
If the naysayers have you nervous about actually getting a degree abroad, then by all means plan on studying a year abroad in Korea. If you really want to go for it, then don’t let limited vision of others stop you from getting your entire bachelor’s degree abroad, but do plan on coming back and applying to graduate programs in the U.S. that will look favorably on the degree. It is true that at the graduate level especially, U.S. universities are favored, and that’s why it’s not uncommon for 40% or more of graduate students in a degree program to be international.