<p>My family is planning to move out of the US this summer, the same that I will be moving into whichever college I decide on (that college will be in the US) </p>
<p>My parents keep telling me to defer for a year so I can go with them, its a plan that sounds both like an amazing opportunity, and a bad decision.</p>
<p>I love my family and will miss them a lot but I feel like I need to go away from home, or wherever they are to grow up & though it's not the biggest deal, I am old for my grade and don't want to be in a college year with people much younger.</p>
<p>It would be a great experience to go see another country and culture but I don't want to
a. get distracted from my studies/lazy
b. not be in the same year as all my friends</p>
<p>*also, going to college where they will be moving is not something I care to do. I know studying abroad allows me to go see them but most schools say that I cannot study abroad for my first year.</p>
<p>where are they going? if they are moving there, you will still be living there during the holidays and during break. it's not like you are going to be living on your own forever!</p>
<p>if you defer, you might forget a lot of things and not do so well in college.</p>
<p>The first thing you need to do is check with the school you are attending and see if they will let you defer your freshman year- if I remember correctly, many will not.</p>
<p>well asia is VERY difficult to live in permanently!! it's so homogeneous. my friend who graduated college married a japanese girl and moved to tokyo. it's very hard for people from the west to live there, because the culture difference, language difference. and feeling that you just don't belong...he likes the experience, but i don't think he is happy. he loves his wife, and her family so he is tolerating it.</p>
<p>i think it is a 'lost in translation' situation...if you have seen that movie...</p>
<p>it would be a great place to visit during summers and holidays, but i think you are better off on the east coast studying. your parents will always be there, but your studies should be more important becuase that is your future.</p>
<p>but in the end it is YOUR decision. you should decide on what's best for you and where you are in life at the present time...</p>
<p>You would gain SO MUCH from living abroad for a year. I've stayed abroad and I honestly can't stop talking about it. Even though I was in Kyoto, Japan for two weeks, it just had a big impact on my perspective of different cultures. I stayed in Israel for 7 months and I haven't looked at things in the same way.</p>
<p>You would also bring A LOT to the classroom- I bring up my abroad experiences every now and then and people are generally impressed.</p>
<p>I doubt that you'll forget anything completely. You'll catch on after a few weeks, I wouldn't worry about "forgetting anything" in school unless it's been more than two years. Heck, I still remember some of my precalc stuff even though I haven't seen math in four years.</p>
<p>what about going to a college in asia and transferring to a u.s. school (if you can do that) after one year (only if you can speak the language though) or what about taking a bunch of online cores through a college you got in? not sure if this helped at all but i figured i try....</p>
<p>ticklemepink: ive lived abroad before and so agree with you on the experience! true college will always be there... </p>
<p>kingmears52: i thought about that but the education system from what ive heard from people in asia is INSANEly competitive and im a hard worker but not up to that par... yes and a language barrier would be a problem unless i went to a university that taught classes in english</p>
<p>No offense, but I find study-abroad mongers annoying. I frankly couldn't care less if you spent 2-3 months in Paris. I've traveled and lived extensively in other countries, so maybe I'm just used to it, but you don't hear me yapping about it to every other person I meet. My dear lord if I listen to another idiotic soph/junior think they're "oh so cool" and talk about how they have "perspective" because they lived in Rio I'll lose it.</p>
<p>I think you'll be missing the opportunity of a lifetime if you don't go. It's not a big deal not to be entering college the same year as your current friends. Given that some students take 6 years to finish college, you may be finishing college at the same time as your current friends, though, frankly, that probably won't matter that much as you'll probably have developed even closer relationships with friends you'll meet in college.</p>
<p>While living abroad, you could take courses in the language of the country you'll be living in. That would give you an opportunity to keep your mind sharp in an academic way while also learning more about the culture of he country you're living in.</p>
<p>The fact that you're old for your grade also is no big deal. People in college don't pay that much attention to age, but to mutual interests. Except for required freshmen classes, college courses may have students of a variety of classifications taking the classes, including even graduate students.</p>
<p>ticklemepink - Not really. I always ask "what perspective exactly?" To which the answer is that people live differently, a different culture, etc etc. Which is all very nice, except very few people actually apply the cultural absorption they gain into anything useful. I have no problem with the concept itself, it's just it seems to have little effect on the majority of college students who go abroad and lack world empathy or understanding at any level in spite of it. The problem is most people study in other countries with the mindset of a tourist.</p>
<p>Oh I agree. I saw a lot of that with my friends in the program. It was VERY sad really. But what I mean in my perspective is understanding the culture and society deeply not what tourists see. Also, these people tend to travel together and not mingle with the locals. So like for example, let's say there's a demonstration in Tel Aviv to protest the Education department's tuition hike which happened a year ago while I was there:</p>
<p>Tourist: Israel really changed my perspective of being an American! Like, there was a rally in Tel Aviv where Israeli students gathered to protest a tuition hike. We get that lot in the US but they actually do something about it. This is really democracy! We're so uncool.</p>
<p>Me: No, it's more than that. In Israel, the parents don't pay for their children's education so the students have to defer a year or two after their Army service to work so they can at least pay for part of their schooling and take loans for the rest. So for them, to pay that much is a lot of money compared to us- their standards of living is much different than ours. Also, the students are complaining because not only they have to pay more but there is no student representative in the decision-making process. So the students are also clamoring for a voice in this decision because they are the ones who have to pay. They really act on it- they'll lock the gates to the universities and storm and break up "secret" classes held off-campus somewhere. They care about their own education and want to make sure every shekel they paid is put into good use.</p>
<p>And I can talk forever on that issue.</p>
<p>So this is why I encourage the OP to go abroad anyway if he uses his time very well by hanging out with the right people and not travel with other Americans.</p>
<p>I agree with whoever said that s/he is tired of listening to all the people who went abroad for a year or so and come back babbling about how "studying abroad is such a great opportunity" and suddenly relate everything that happens to them to some boring anecdote from their trip. Granted, it is a great experience...but, how do I say this....NOBODY cares how great that semester in Germany was, or how you volunteered in Brazil. Keep it to yourself. I've lived abroad and been traveling basically since birth, and I never have the need to tell everyone about it.</p>