So I am currently a sophomore studying computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon. It is an amazing school and I have enjoyed my time there thus far, but when it comes time to pay tuition at the beginning of every semester, my head hurts looking at how high the tuition is. $55K a year and I am not on financial aid, so my family is paying full sticker price. In fact, they’ve just issued a 3% increase in tuition this year, and it’s only going to go up for the rest of the time I’m here. I have done everything I can to reduce costs, such as becoming an RA and holding multiple jobs, spending no more than $10/meal, etc., but the cost is still really outrageous to me and I am seriously starting to question if it is worth it to continue paying that much tuition here.
When I was applying to college 2 years ago, I didn’t consider international universities simply because I did not know that much about them. But I’ve been reading about how US kids have been going to countries like Germany, UK, and Canada because universities costs significantly less there. However, I feel like there’s still a lot I don’t know about the experience of studying abroad. I do not have a dual citizenship in another country, so what difficulties might that present for me? What about costs of living/food? Winter/spring/summer breaks? Would it be easy for me to find an on campus job abroad? How would internship/networking opportunities be affected if I wanted to come back to the US for an internship or a full-time job?
I just think it wouldn’t be practical for me to transfer to somewhere in the US because my family does not qualify for any financial aid. Other schools of similar caliber such as Cornell, UMich(OOS), UCs(OOS) all cost about the same when I applied 2 years ago. I’m not really considering less prestigious state universities with scholarships because it isn’t like my family can’t afford the CMU tuition, it’s just that if I can go to a university abroad that is the same caliber as CMU’s engineering program and offers similar opportunities at a cheaper price, then why not? A big contender for me is University of Waterloo b/c of their strengths in CS and engineering, but even for those fields their tuition is in the higher ranges. I don’t know much about universities in Europe and Asia, so if anyone knows anything about more affordable yet prestigious engineering programs there, I am all ears.
Mostly, I am looking for responses that can provide personal experiences people have had studying at international universities when they’re from the US. I am looking for insights that the articles I’ve read don’t provide, such as COL, networking/internship opportunities, cultural differences, and other difficulties studying abroad may present.
I’m American. Born and raised in Massachusetts. I spent a year at UMass Amherst before spending a year in study abroad at Université Paris 7 and ultimately finishing my undergraduate degree at Université Paris 8 in Education Science.
Cost is one of the major differences between European and American higher education. Public universities in Europe are cheaper than their American counterparts. Based on your post, it seems like this is your primary concern.
People do things differently in different countries. If you move from one country to another without fully grasping the concept of cultural awareness, you might be overwhelmed by what you see. To an American in France, for example, teachers can seem impatient, rude or, sometimes, outright hurtful and mean. Take this imaginary example :
You paid your cheap tuition in a European university; you bought your notebooks and are in a discussion class, listening to everything the teacher says. You are involved the class and participating. You joke with teacher sometimes; you feel comfortable. You feel like you really understand what’s going on. You take your midterm exam and you get the grade back and you failed. You go and ask your teacher what happened and how to do better and he just says: “I don’t know. Try harder next time”. You ask to meet during office hours for extra help and they laugh at you and tell you to pay more attention in class. You’re outraged now. How could a teacher do that? Teachers don’t behave like that, right?! Maybe not where you come from; but when you are in another country, you play by their rules. Expect the unexpected. It’s a cultural experience as much as it is an academic one.
If you can afford the tuition at your school, stick with what you know. Save studying abroad for a time when you are more interested in cultural immersion. If you’re planning to continue your education, you’ll have plenty of opportunities. And after all, locals probably wouldn’t take well to someone living in their country with the primary purpose of taking advantage of their generous social programs…
Why not, indeed. We can debate whether Waterloo is the same caliber as CMU Afaik all the main ranking services put CMU in the top 3-5 and Waterloo in the top 20-30. Your call as to how important that is. Ditto wrt similarity of opportunities. Irl there are almost always trade offs, and it is up to you what variables are most important. .
One of the reasons that international unis are cheap is that they are heavily funded by the government- but another reason is that the whole process is more hands-off and pared down. I have seen US students trying to navigate some of the elements that @Paris8 describes.
As for Europe, the super-cheap ones are not in English speaking countries. Both the UK & Ireland charge international students a hefty premium- it may be cheaper than the US, but it’s not the super-cheap scene you are imagining.
So, that means living and going to school in a country whose language you don’t speak. Even if the course itself is in English, the admin will operate largely in the local language- and if you have been in college for 2 years you know just how hard admins can be to communicate with! And of course you have the process of living in that country. Most universities these days do offer international students some sort of accommodation, but most European universities are more commuter than residential schools.
Then there is the course itself. Take a look at Computing Science at University of Groningen (NL), which is taught in English:
They list all the courses that are required in Year 1. You might be able to negotiate out of some of the math courses- they are pretty standard- but you are swimming upstream, b/c “transferring” is not a thing, so the unis aren’t familiar with it, and aren’t set up for it. Anything you work out will be special to you, and will depend on their desire to work with you.
On the plus side for Canada, Waterloo will accept transfer credits, but you will have to meet their course requirements, which are more structured and less flexible than your current course.
Disclaimer: my experience is somewhat, but only marginally relevant to your question. I started college at a German university, finished my undergrad at an American college (Bryn Mawr) and then went to Stanford for grad school.
I agree with Paris8’s and collegemom3717’s warnings that instruction at foreign universities tends to be more hands-off than at American universities (though I am not familiar with Waterloo in particular).
I wanted to add a few words about the job market. I was quite surprised at how much easier it was to get interviews for an entry-level job with a degree from Stanford than a degree from Bryn Mawr. The conclusion I drew from that is that the university on your degree really does matter. *If you are seeking a job in the US after college/i, you’ll probably have to fight quite an uphill battle to get the same opportunities with a foreign degree that you would have with a degree from CMU.
In fact, finding an entry-level job in the US might be even harder with a degree from a foreign university compared to a degree from a good-but-not-tippy-top US university. A good number of employers don’t read applications from a foreign address. You aren’t quite as easily available for an interview as applicants who are physically in the US (though the trip from Canada isn’t quite as long or expensive as a trip from Europe). And, maybe most importantly, you are completely missing out on campus-based recruiting. I recall reading that 2/3 of surveyed Stanford alumni reported that they got their first job through the university’s career development center. I am not surprised. A lot of employers I spoke to at Stanford career fairs specifically told me to email my resume to a particular person and not to apply online on their website, because the online applications don’t get reviewed.
My former colleagues who now work at other companies also tell me that if I ever wanted to apply to their company, I should do it with a referral from a current employee, because their companies also have a bad track record of reading applications that come in through their website. How would one even go about networking at American companies when attending college abroad?
Canadian universities are kind of a hybrid between US and European universities. Profs won’t laugh at you if you ask for help, but they won’t hold your hand or give you unlimited help either. Most don’t have a career services office that operates like an American one either. You’re mostly on your own to find a job.
University of Waterloo has a coop system and an administration who helps students find coop jobs. This is the major source of career help from Waterloo. Employers come on campus to interview students. For computer engineering, students are required to do six four-month work terms. This means that students don’t get summers off. The degree takes 5 years to complete rather than the usual 4, but students graduate with 2 years of work experience.
Grading is much tougher at Canadian universities, especially at Waterloo. Course averages tend to run around the high 60’s/low 70’s. A failure is below 50%. A term average below 50% will cause a student to be kicked out. A term average below 60% will mean a student has to repeat the whole term. Students have a high amount of stress at Waterloo, especially in engineering, because of the stringent grading and the competition for coop jobs, especially ones in the US.