@katliamom - but that’s the point of the thread! Most kids, certainly most “B students” or whatever the equivalent is (mind that in countries with compulsory college prep requirements, that B could be in the compulsory linear algebra class) could reach both their professional and their academic interests in Apple university their home country, and usually for a fraction of the cost. They won’t find the experience, though, and in most cases won’t gain the prestige they can gain from Orange university in the US. And if you have very very strong, very wide ranging intellectual and extracurricular interests,the kind of student that would be a candidate for a top university in the US, there is no other place in the world where they can find a match.
Don’t tell me you are all scratching your heads thinking “well we only think we are the greatest country on earth, with the best universities in the world, why do they all want to come here?”
To International students: What is fueling your interest in a US university over one in your country
@Tigerle, You’re not telling me – or most other posters on this thread – anything we don’t already know. But you did answer OP’s question as to "what is fueling your interest in a US university
- "college experience"
- prestige from university in the US
- a fit for those with wide ranging interests
Thinking back, I recall this conversation with my son’s HS counselor. Must have been over a year ago.
Me: “He doesn’t know what he wants to study yet”
Counselor: “He told me he has narrowed it down !”
Me: “He did ???” I am close to my son and was surprised that he knew something I didn’t.
Counselor: “Sure … He said he has it down to … Math, English, History, Engineering, Psychology …”
After a semester I would say college hasn’t helped at all (in this respect) !!! The list has only grown :-).
I honestly don’t know anywhere in the world that provides such opportunities to explore. Would really be interested to know of any others.
@Monsterkitty, I agree that these opportunities are probably unique. Where I live, by the second change of major you lose both your public aid and your legal claim towards maintenance from your parents, and the semesters spent on a former major that wasn’t directly related would be considered “lost”. Whereas it all counts towards your kids degree.
Very few students are true polymaths, though, which are truly both equally interested in as wide a selection of subjects as well as equally talented in them. I would think that most non US students are rather confused, if not even put off by things such as Core or distribution requirements and holistic admissions, which is after all just another expression of the search for the well rounded person. I certainly recall most classmates to be extremely happy about never having to take another math/social studies/fine arts/pick your poison of choice class, and being able to finally focus on a field in which to shine. For these students, a narrow focus might be a better fit, and distribution requirements might feel inefficient.
@katliamom, I think I did talk rather extensively about the uniqueness of institutions that do not just cater to a student with wide ranging interests, but specifically focus exclusively on students who are academically very strong. Or not, as the case may be…there is truly a pond for every type of fish. And there is lots of info around to find out precisely what kind of pond you are getting into, academically and socially - but with a almost unlimited choice of fields in most places. Yes, pretty unique.
I think my children may be more lopsided than I was, and may be better served at a place like Cambridge, UK. But it’s just so much fun salivating over the options that exist!
Im from ethiopia. The biggest reason is the liberal arts education, the fact that i can double major and that they involve more than just studying. In schools here the govt decides your major and you might not get your top choice minors are already paired with a major and youndont get to pick a schol the govt can put u anywhere in the country. There are none or few research opportunities and the facilities( housing and dining) are terrible. There is no sense of community. Us universities offer a much richer experience
@Tigerle “Very few students are true polymaths …” I absolutely agree. Your 2nd paragraph describes me to a T. I have little aptitude for most subjects. I hated the distribution/breadth requirements in college. I felt they were a waste, taking time away from my true interest. I looked for the easiest classes/professors. Yet, I struggled thru many of them. 30 years later however, they are the courses I feel had the most profound effect on me. The courses I avoided are my regrets. You may agree that few vocations/careers or even life in general allow one to be narrow in focus. I greatly value that I was “forced” to broaden my narrow self.
I have never been a proponent of a one-size-fits-all/what-is-right-for-me-is-right-for-all and thus I would totally agree that for some a narrow fit and focus may indeed be the best and perhaps only choice. I would however venture that such folks are as rare as the true polymaths.
For many of the international students I work with, a main reason is fear of discrimination in their school/professional/personal life. In some countries, being a different ethnicity or religion, sometimes being a girl or being gay, means your odds of success are compromised. Often, if you don’t come from the right school, the right neighborhood, or the right family, your odds are basically nil. “The cream rises to the top” etc doesn’t apply - a person’s efforts or intelligence matter very little if they don’t have access to the right channels/places/people.
Therefore the US offers a chance at changing that perception or at least to show that they’re worth and be themselves.
For the superstars, there’s also a real risk of being stunted, since access to “top” programs may depend on things they have no access to (such as attending the proper feeder school) or being a legacy (when 80%+ students are legacies and almost 20% others come from specific feeder schools, the odds of someone making it are more than dismal.)
As Yerin states above, a great attraction also is the sense of community, the fact “learning” isn’t simply “go to class, take notes, go home to your studio and memorize those notes” but that the campus or the college is thought as developing the whole person and that there’s such a thing as a “college personality”.
In recent years I’ve seen a greater fondness for Canada, since it used to be that college graduates could become lawful permanent residents after 3 years working (work permits being rather easy to get and not the obstacle course the H1B is); the change to counting the college degree as worth one year toward the 3-year requirement has had even more people excited, so that I now hear more about Canada than about the US.
The students aren’t as interested in “getting a job” in the US/Canada as they are in getting experience, and worried that they won’t be able to return to their countryso that the ability to work is seen as a temporary fix to a problem, “in case we can’t go back”. In most cases, because fo these students going to the US is a way to overcome national issues, they hope their US degree will help them, but know it may well not be sufficient to do so and they worry they may be stuck (for instance, when they return, they may hear US degrees are garbage and they need to start from scratch at an open-enrollment university - because the person in charge can say that and block them for fun or can’t conceive a dark-skinned person may have succeeded above garbage picker or because the person there hasn’t heard of the college - all of those are alas true examples). So, Canada offers a guarantee to the students that if they can’t return home for whatever reason (as the safety issues may or may not be gone) they can stay legally until things are better over there and at the very least are sure they can get professional experience and establish themselves before they return to their home country.
However, Canada doesn’t have the “community” and the “liberal arts” philosophy, which is where the US wins still.
These are all very interesting opinions and descriptions.
yerin2021, it amazes me that the government decides. Is it free? Can anyone be assigned to a school? Do students from your country who go to college elsewhere tend to return to your country afterwards? Who pays for getting educated outside your country for most students? Is it rare to be able to afford it?
@PotterheadKE I totally get what you are saying because I’m also in Kenya and I cannot even begin to explain why I want to study abroad. Hope we can talk more and get to help each other out.
@Xscorpio: you have to think it through, and be able to articulate it well,because that’ll be part of the questions you’ll b asked to answer.
For me, the ability to explore does help a lot. I have very diverse interests, and I have not had much exposure to anything other than pure science thanks to the Iranian Education System. So I see going to an american college as an opportunity to widen my horizons.
Also, I am a very ambitious person, and I would benefit greatly from going to college with like minded people.
Those of you who are planning to study in the US, do you know others who have done it and then returned to your country? Naturally if they accessed a broad education (liberal arts) not available in your country, they lived the experience. But how was the degree considered once they returned? Do people in your country know the specific universities and view certain ones as prestigious or worth getting or is simply studying in the US considered to be a plus or is the US degree sometimes considered less valuable-as it is less specific training?
@lostaccount
Very few Iranians go to us colleges, so I can’t comment on that.
But as far as prestige goes, Iranians view Us universities in this way :
Tier 1:Harvard - stanford
Tier 2 : mit, Princeton, Columbia
Tier 3: Berkeley, ucla, Virginia,
Tier 4 : the other top 20 schools
Tier 5 : the rest of the colleges.
Tier 1 universities are known by everybody.
Tier 2 universities are known by most relevant people.
Tiers 3,4 and 5 are not as famous, and are generally only known by knowledgeable people and academics.
@Soheils I know it’s how Iranians view the schools, but you know your classification is not entirely correct, right?
@paul2752 that is not my view . I am aware of the reality, but my compatriots are often unaware.
I do not actually try to correct them though, since they resist any other view, and their misconception works to my advantage.
Applying to US from UK. The biggest reason is the flexibility. In UK we have to apply to a particular course and stick to it. It is almost impossible to change mind afterwards.