International Advice for US Student

<p>Hi! I'm currently a sophomore in high school in the US and I'm extremely interested in European universities for my undergraduate education.</p>

<p>As of now, I'm doing very well in my studies with a high GPA(which I plan on maintaining), am on the honors track, and I've begun taking courses at a local university last year. In addition, I'll be taking as many AP classes as I can in the next two years. I'm also involved with a number of languages, and I plan on immersing myself even further before I graduate. I am studying German at the university level as well as French, and I will be keeping up with these two. I plan on adding at least one other language to my studies next year, if not more. However, my focus for the future is in science: I'm passionate about biology as well as research, in general.</p>

<p>I love travel, and have already experienced a number of countries outside my own. Honestly, I can't see myself staying put, and this obviously affects my choice of university. I've heard about possibilities to study abroad, of course, but it's only for a year or less and I'd like to complete my entire education overseas. I'm primarily interested in Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, and Denmark, but I'm open to just about any other European nation. </p>

<p>I know that being American makes me ineligible for many, if not all, of the no tuition programs, but I'm curious about what my options are for low costing universities(or at least more reasonable than majority of the American ones). I'm also concerned about the quality of international programs available, are they competitive with American universities? Or on what level, rather. Also, will my proficiency in French and German help me with acceptance? What I'm looking for is just some guidance to achieve my goal of an education outside of the US, like what the best approach is and what I should expect to face.</p>

<p>Have you looked at Jacobs University Bremens? They provide a world-class education in English to students from around the world. I did not apply there, but I would suggest you take a look!</p>

<p>NP</p>

<p>I have not heard about it until now, and, after looking it up a bit, it’s incredible! Though I’ll definitely do a lot more research on it.</p>

<p>Thank you for telling me about it!</p>

<p>why do you want to come to Europe?? The best universities are in US… if you forget UK, but as a european citizen you have to know that the methods to get into college in europe is much easier than in US, and in most countries, college’s don´t give a crap to all those ec’s you american students have, they just care about grades. So, the biggest advice i can give you is: have a great gpa and you will be set for any European college(including cambridge or oxford)</p>

<p>German public universities charge no tuition, have high academic standards and let you graduate in 3 years. On the flip side, their curriculum is very rigid and undergraduates get basically no personal attention from faculty. (Think: a German undergraduate thesis adviser might give you three 1-hour meetings. American faculty would give you weekly meetings for 1-2 semesters.) If you need letters of recommendation to apply to tippy-top graduate programs in the US, you’d probably have to do a Master’s degree in Germany first to get enough one-on-one time with faculty.</p>

<p>Courtney,</p>

<p>Check out the University Colleges in the Netherlands such as UC Utrecht, UC Leiden, UC Maastricht, etc. They are small liberal arts programs - not all of them offer science majors - where you will get attention from professors. They are part of a larger Dutch university and typically have ways for you to take classes in the university.</p>

<p>I recently visited UC Utrecht and it has a residential campus not far from the main University of Utrecht. More than half of the students are Dutch but the rest are from all over. The fees are higher for non-EU students, but still lower I think than in the US even with living costs thrown in.</p>

<p>Oh, classes in the UCs are taught in English. More and more British students are taking advantage of this option because of the fee increases in the UK.</p>

<p>Good luck and I hope you don’t get talked out of your dream before getting a chance to explore it thoroughly!</p>