When it comes to education, students often have a hard time making decisions regarding what would be best for them. One thing in specific takes up most of their time to think about: should they study abroad or not. It, indeed, is a difficult decision since many things should be taken into consideration before making a final resolution.
But this article is here to make the process a little easier. Having studied abroad in school for nine years, I have learned a few things and would like to share them to help you decide. So, here are five reasons why you should definitely study abroad if you have the chance to.
1. Better Education
Certainly, better education is the fundamental reason why you decided to study abroad in the first place. Education is obviously very important to everyone’s lives, so a person must seek the best opportunities possible to gain the best education. Therefore, before deciding to study abroad, you must do a lot of research about the country that is the best for the major that you want to join.
Don’t pick the country depending on what is your aesthetic, but remember the specific, fundamental reason that you want to travel for. Not only that, but there are many other factors that should be taken into consideration.
Since picking a country is not easy, here’s a list of the top 5 study-abroad countries according to a survey done by educations.com in 2019:
- New Zealand
- Spain
- Thailand
- Canada
- Mexico
"The rankings are based on these 7 factors:
- To experience a new culture
- To achieve career goals
- To have an adventure
- To make new friends/widen the professional network
- To access higher-quality teaching
- To study for free
- To attain a visa ” (educations.com)
2. Learning and Adapting to a Different Culture
Being exposed to different nationalities has many benefits. Most importantly, it teaches you acceptance and makes you more open-minded. One of the key reasons for racial discrimination is that people don’t acknowledge that everyone’s the same.
However, exposure to a different culture teaches you that these people aren’t so different from you after all. Also, when you’re exposed to a different culture, experience their traditions, and learn to live with them, you become enriched with memorable experiences, and you get to do and see unexpected things every day.
Moreover, you become a live representation of your own culture and origin, so you also get to share your own traditions with everyone else. Nevertheless, it is important to create a good image for yourself and your country through your actions since people will immediately create the first impression on your country based on their first impression of you, so make sure that it’s good.
3. Becoming Independent and Responsible
There’s no doubt that studying abroad teaches independence and responsibility. When you force yourself away from your family or acquaintances, you have no choice but to depend on yourself and become responsible. The things people used to do for you are now done by yourself for yourself.
You will find yourself learning new skills and doing things that you never thought you’re capable of doing. It also helps you become more of an adult and generally a dependable, well-rounded person.
Staying away from people you love will be extremely tough for you at first, and you might feel like you regret your choice to study abroad. However, the more you stay in this new place, the more you will feel like it’s the best decision that you’ve ever made. You become a more sophisticated and respectful person, and once you go back home, you will notice a great difference between yourself and everyone else around you.
4. Learning a New Language
Traveling abroad helps you learn a new language. Learning a new language is a hard commitment if you’re not forced to do it. You might be very dedicated and passionate at first, but then you lose interest when you feel like the language is too hard or you’re not improving. However, being surrounded by foreigners forces you to speak their language so that you can easily communicate with them.
Furthermore, interactions and communications are the best teachers. Being a multilingual myself, I can assure you that you can never learn a language except if you have conversations with someone in that language. Being put in survival mode, in which you must learn this particular language to be able to speak with people, makes the process of learning a new language easier and faster.
5. Job Opportunities
Studying abroad not only grants you a better education but also prepares you for your future career. As mentioned earlier, studying abroad has many benefits that enrich the person with quality traits. As it helps in your daily life, it also helps when you apply for jobs or even start your own business.
Almost all job employers often look for independent, responsible, and organized people, so you will definitely be a great fit for them. Employers are also interested in people who speak more than one language. The more languages you speak, the better opportunities you get.
Moreover, multilinguals often earn more money when working. In fact, reports have shown that pay differentials for bilingual workers can increase base hourly pay anywhere between 5-20% per hour. Furthermore, there are full-time and part-time jobs that require only people who speak more than one language. You can make use of this by working in your free time and also gaining a lot of money! Some of these include:
- First or second language teacher, private tutor, online tutor
- Interpreter
- Translator
- Tour guide
- Travel Youtuber
Studying abroad might be a difficult step to make, but it surely has more advantages than disadvantages. Though I must warn you that it will be hard, as time passes, everything will get much better, and you will find your way around. Once you do, you will witness your life change for the better.
