Should I study at an international college???!!

Student Lounge International Students
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Hello!! I’m a senior in high school and I’m in the process of committing to a college. I’m stuck between University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign or Underwood International College- Yonsei University in South Korea.
To be honest, I really want to experience a new culture and explore my roots as a Korean-American. I really want to attend Yonsei University but everyone I’ve been talking to is discouraging me from going to Korea. They’re concerned that I won’t be able to find a job after I graduate. (I’m planning on going to graduate school in the US, so will it be that hard to find a job??)
Others are concerned that Korea will be too hard/different since I’ve grown up in the luxury of the suburbs. But I believe getting a degree internationally will allow me to deepen my studies in a way that just a semester abroad couldn’t hope to provide. However, I understand people’s concerns because it’s such a huge risk. But I feel like it’s a risk I’m willing to take. Yes, going to college in the States is the safest bet, but I don’t want to live my life in regret. If I really don’t like Korea, the worst thing I could do is transfer back to UIUC the following year. I acknowledge that things may not go the way I planned but at least I tried. I know that UIUC is a great school and it would be dumb of me to reject the offer. It’s only a couple hours away from my home whereas Yonsei is half way around the world. I have family in Korea and I also have a cousin that goes to Yonsei, so it’s not like I’ll be alone.

I’m really stressed because I don’t want to disappoint the people I care about who want me to go to UIUC but I know it’s my life and my decision. So, I need your opinions!
What do you think I should do? How hard is the job market for people with a international degree? Pros/Cons? For those of you who have studied internationally, what is your experience and how was your process for finding a job?
These are only a few questions, but don’t be afraid to give me more info! I need as much thoughts/info/opinions as I can get! Please tell me your experience, and your thoughts.
I have until May 1st to decide:)

thank you so much!

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I cannot tell you what you should do, but I would like to give you a few points to consider while making your decision:

What do you want to go to graduate school for? Most American students do NOT go to graduate school straight after college. Graduate school is expensive and doesn’t actually provide an advantage over a Bachelor’s degree in many cases, especially with limited work experience. There are exceptions: it’s common to go straight from college to professional school (med school, law school, etc) or into PhD programs. All of these paths require a lot of preparation during college to execute properly, which may not be possible at a non-American university (pre-med requirements, access to undergraduate research opportunities, etc).

In many non-American countries undergraduate students don’t interact much with faculty. This can cause problems when you want to apply to graduate school in the US. PhD programs in particular put a lot of weight on an applicant’s letters of recommendation and undergraduate research experience, which students at foreign universities may not have access to.

You would be missing out on a LOT of networking that happens in college in the US. Internships, employers recruiting for full-time positions, classmates, classmates’ parents, professors, etc. (It’s one of the many reasons why students who study abroad often end up staying abroad. You will start building a life and a career where you study, and you’d have to abandon all that and start from scratch when you move back home.)

Universities in most non-American countries organize their curriculum differently, which can lead to all sorts of issues when students want to transition back into the US. For example, a foreign university may not allow you to complete the pre-med requirements which you need to apply to medical school in the US. (The pre-med requirements may include 5 chemistry courses, 3 biology courses, 2 physics courses, 2 math courses, and 2 English courses. That’s a LOT of extra courses to take on top of your regular coursework and many foreign universities are unable or unwilling to provide that flexibility.) As another example, some American universities require that transfer applicants complete a set of general education requirements at their original university, which may not be available to you at a foreign university.

Is money a concern? Taking into account scholarships and financial aid that’s available to you in each country, could you afford to study at either university?

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Another issue is that studying abroad is not a piece of cake. Many students find that their grades just don’t “keep up” when they’re in the foreign country, competing with the local students. Sometimes, the cultural issues play a role as well. And when you try to “transfer back”, your GPA’s shot and you have to go to a community college to “make up” these grades.
In addition, if you got a scholarship, you’d lose it since those are typically only given to freshmen.
Is there a way for you to go to Yonsei as a nondegree student, perhaps taking Korean language&culture courses and other classes for internationals? This way, you’d know whether you want to stay or if you’d rather have the traditional college experience. In addition, you wouldn’t jeopardize your freshman status and you wouldn’t have to submit your GPA since you’d be nondegree.
Would UIUC allow you to take a “gap year” abroad and defer your admission?

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The US is the global mecca of university education. Students in Korea and elsewhere dream of studying in the US, not the other way around. Unless you go to an overseas university w instant name recognition (e.g., Oxford, Cambridge), you’re going to get blank looks in the US wherever you apply for a job. Additionally, by being overseas, you will miss out on all the job fairs, networking, and job placement services in a US college. Graduating from a school in Korea will also make admission into a US grad school harder.

Why is a semester or year of study abroad not sufficient to satisfy this? Is your command of Korean language college-level? Or is it casual home-banter level?

It’ll likely be a cram grind rather than the quintessential American college experience.

If money matters, consider that there typically isn’t as much aid available for transfer students. You may also end up having to repeat a lot of coursea you took in Korea if the credits don’t transfer.

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… and if things don’t go well, you may not get into UIUC again. UIUC isn’t a given at all, considering 1° budget cuts and 2° you can’t be sure your Korean grades will be the same as your HS grades.

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I am a Korean, and i would NEVER go back to Korea to study in Korean University when I am used to AMERICAN education.

You will have so much harder time keeping up with other students. The competition is much fiercer, and its much more cut throat.

Why would you put yourself in much harder and less rewarding position??

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@paul2752
Didn’t you know the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence?

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I came on to this post all ready to say ‘go for it’! I completely agree that getting a degree in another country/culture can be a wonderful experience. But then I saw that you want to go to Korea, so I have two questions:

  1. How fluent are you in Korean (reading, writing and speaking in academic areas)? If magically all your classes were taught in Korean starting today, could you do as well as you do in English? If not, are you close enough that doing language classes in summer school in Korea this summer would be enough?
  2. Have you ever done any schooling in Korea? If not, you genuinely do not understand the difference between both the universities and the student bodies in the US and UK.

For a start, the relationship between professors and students is much more formal and hands off than in the US. Class participation is not a thing. There is much more emphasis on learning exactly the material, in exactly the way it is presented, and much less on interpretation or independent thinking. Also, although Yonsei is a private university it is huge, and students are numbers (the university itself refers to the course registration process as both a competition between students and a ‘lucky draw’ for getting the classes that you need).

[url=<a href=“http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21588373-there-are-perils-country-having-all-your-children-working-too-hard-one-big-exam%5DThis%5B/url”>http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21588373-there-are-perils-country-having-all-your-children-working-too-hard-one-big-exam]This[/url] article is talking about getting in to college in Korea: students raised to work and study this way would be your classmates. And because Yonsei is one of the big 3, virtually all of them will continue working and studying this way to be the ones hired by the big firms at graduation. The competitiveness is breathtaking, and it keeps an invisible barrier between students- even ones who are friendly with each other.

If your family finances can handle 5 years of university for you AND your answer about your language skills is a very strong ‘yes’ AND UIUC has a deferred admissions policy / gap year option, then go off to Yonsei and see how you like it. Otherwise, imo stay home and go for a year or a semester or a summer to Korea.

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@GMTplus7 eh, I m more of practical person, so maybe I am an odd ball.