<p>My german teacher told me the other day that it's not worth studying in the US unless you're going to go to a very prestigious college (Harvard, Yale and all the others). Here (in Switzerland), it doesn't really work like that, all universities are pretty equal (difficulty wise). Since I still have to decide if I'm going to study in the US or Switzerland later, what are the pros and cons of studying in America (in general) in oppose to Switzerland (or Europe in general).
Thanks for the help</p>
<p>One thing to consider is the admissions requirements. In Britain at least, I know they focus more on standardized test scores than on academic record and class rank, whereas in the U.S. the opposite is true.</p>
<p>Germany once had great universities before they got all egalitarian (partially true in Canada too to a lesser extent). I presume the same is true in Switz.: a bunch of mediocre to decent schools. In the US we have 1000s of colleges from the best to the lackluster. If you can get into a top 50 one here I'm sure it'd outshine what you'd get in Switzerland.</p>
<p>Overall college in the States gives you a lot more flexibility to get the education you want to get. Big lectures or small classes? In-depth study of one subject or a broad liberal arts education? An intellectual or a social environment? Are more comfortable being a top or an average student at your university? How about getting your hands on a research project as an undergraduate? You just have to pick the right college.</p>
<p>You can have pretty much the same college experience as you would get in Europe but there is no point paying a lot of tuition for the same experience. It is pretty hard to say something general about American colleges because post-secondary education in the US is not standardized the way it is in Europe. </p>
<p>In Europe a university education is considered elite; if it is too hard, too bad for you! In the US everybody has the right to a college education and there are colleges that will cater to anyone's needs, regardless of how dumb (no offense) that person is.</p>
<p>Well this is something i have been myself wondering- especially about German universities. As i have lived there for two years - i know that they are almost free of cost. So i wonder why someone would be ready to spend 40000$ per year for an education in America which isn't drastically different.</p>
<p>shreya, are you referring to this sentence: "You can have pretty much the same college experience as you would get in Europe but there is no point paying a lot of tuition for the same experience."? I meant to say that an American university can give you the same experience as a European university (in which case it might be smarter to stay in Europe) but that you can get a drastically different experience as well if you so choose.</p>
<p>I took a couple of (math) courses at a German university during high school which basically confirmed my intent to come to the US. </p>
<p>Most students in Germany talk to a professor for the first time in their college career when they start working on their Master's thesis (not counting an oral exam after the second year of study). There's no real reason to talk to professors before that: you are just one out of 300 students in their lectures. When you have questions about the material you are supposed to consult with fellow students or look it up in a book. If you are really desperate, you can try your luck talking to a TA (post-docs who are usually too busy with their own research to be bothered with silly questions...). Attending lectures and taking notes was a welcome change from everyday high school-life but it is not how I want to spend my time for full 5 years (up to a Master's degree).</p>
<p>In the US I do not only get to interact in class but I have a lot more academic opportunities: I can take classes outside my major, I can get involved in real research projects (my college's comp sci department currently works on a robot project sponsored by Microsoft - soooo coool!!!), I can be a TA. I am not an anonymous shadow in a big lecture hall but an individual with a unique set of interests and skills. </p>
<p>And then there are all the non-academic opportunities that don't exist at German universities: on-campus housing, clubs, competitive athletics and a few amenities like a health center, a gym, and dining halls with unlimited meal plans.</p>
<p>I don't know if it is worth paying $40K a year but luckily I don't have to :)</p>
<p>i didn't know the details, but you see in contrast to places like India- you at least have good professors who teach!
which is basically non existant except maybe 2-3 universities in India.</p>
<p>But yes i can see your point, Lac education is indeed the best according to me too- you get the importance that graduate students are given in most universities.</p>
<p>But then i think the cost isn't worth it because i think there are very few germans and french who go for undergrad to the US in comparison to places like India or china.
But yes, in your case i can understand -i read you mentioning that you got aid exceeding tution somewhere-, but then i think you had some fantastic stats,
looking at your profile, i was surprised to see that you were turned down from the other colleges, but i realise that must have been because you were asking for quite some aid.</p>
<p>You are right that there are more Indian and Chinese students in the US than there are German and French students, but that does not mean that German and French universities are better than Indian or Chinese universities.</p>
<p>On the one hand are India and China a lot bigger than Germany, and on the other hand are German students strongly discouraged to study in the States for undergrad. I heard the same story from my principle, my college counselor, various teachers, an independent career counselor and two professors at my German university: colleges in the States are mediocre except for Harvard & Co, but those cost more than ___ (insert various numbers here) a year and you will never get in anyways. So most German students who want to study abroad go someplace other than the States.</p>
<p>Considering that German universities are targeted at the top 10% of students (imagine an underfunded UC system), it is probably true that only maybe 20 American colleges and universities have a comparable student body. But the list of colleges where the quality of education you get is higher than or equal to in Germany is substantially longer than that.</p>
<p>I'm a german highschool student an can verify everything barium just stated. Most german students study in the netherlands while the very good students aim for oxbridge, LSE or Imperial College in the UK. For example Bariums college probably offers a more personal and intensive undergrad. experience than most german universities, but it is highly unkown in Germany. Most people will actually believe it is a community college. The best argument for staying in Germany is the fact that it is ridiculously cheap compared to the US and every student here will have a hard time justifying 40000 or more dollars a year to his parents even if he got into non need blind Ivies such as Cornell or Dartmouth, unless you are rich and maybe that is one reason why barium goes to bryn mawr and has an independent career counselor ;-)</p>
<p>Indian and Chinese universities ( at least the good ones ) have hard entrance exams and even very good students do not get a score high enough. At the IIT in India, which certainly is one of the best institutions for technic oriented education in the world, they have 50 students applying for 1 spot</p>
<p>I really don't understand why the German students do not consider Bremen. In my opinion, it is a great university which offers an education pretty similar to those in the States.</p>
<p>Hi, I'm another student living in Switzerland, applied to UK and US. A lot of people around me apply to Swiss unis, most of them are Swiss. It depends on where you want to live, what you want to do after graduation and what you're looking for. In UK, as long as I study I'll graduate in three years, which is great, but studying in US wouldn't be bad, even if they are not well known by other people. I'm not sure where to go now, UK or US, but I'll have to make my decision once I get offers(if any) from US unis.</p>
<p>angelutza, I did not consider Bremen for several reason:
- I don't like the city of Bremen
- It is in Germany and I wanted to study abroad
- Its program of study is very similar to that in German universities (e.g. all German students automatically get a year of transfer credit and have to graduate in three years, eliminating the opportunity to take a lot of electives)
- As a math major I would be forced to pursue a Bachelor of Science, so I would have to take most of my few electives in the sciences instead of humanities and social sciences
- Very limited course offerings (philosophy and classics are not offered at all and I wanted to take a few courses in each)</p>
<p>henn, there are several reasons why I am at Bryn Mawr but none of them is that I am rich. (I wish I were :)) Do you want to go to college in the States or are you only interested in TASP?</p>
<p>"At the IIT in India, which certainly is one of the best institutions for technic oriented education in the world, they have 50 students applying for 1 spot"</p>
<p>300,000 applications for 1000 places.
ie: 300 applications per place.</p>
<p>bearpooh, you are not taking IIT's yield rate into account. (I am sure it is high but probably not 100%).</p>