10 Things to Consider Before Studying Abroad

Many people would readily agree with me that studying abroad has both short time and long term benefits. If you read my previous article, you will just conclude that there is no substitute to studying abroad.

But before anyone makes the decision of studying abroad, the following things should be seriously considered.

1.      Why are studying abroad? If you are planning to study abroad, have you taken time to ask yourself why you are going abroad? Are you just going abroad for pleasure? Or is it that you just want to get a foreign certificate? As you know, studying abroad is not cheap. It costs a lot of money. Some parents put their lives’ savings to send their children or ward to study abroad. Others sell properties worth millions of dollars to make this a reality. Because studying abroad isn’t just cheap, you need to consider seriously why you are going abroad to study. If I may ask you, “Is the programme or course you are going to study abroad offered in your home country?” If yes, I mean if you are satisfied with the ‘quality’ in terms of the educational facilities, qualified lecturers and the competitive certificate offered in the university/college, then you need not go abroad. Going abroad if you are satisfied with the ‘education quality’ offered in your home country is tantamount to carrying coals to Newcastle except you are planning to go abroad for a change of environment.

2.      What do you want to study? The second question to consider is the course you want to study. Is it engineering? Medicine? Marketing? International Relations or Geology? Determining your course/ programme of study will make you determine where you want to study because some courses are best offered in a particular country. Take for example, if you are planning to go for Information Technology (IT), you might consider going to USA or India, India is becoming the leader in IT now. Ukraine is good in some specialised courses like Engineering. You may consider USA or Canada if you are planning to go for Medicine or Nursing.

3.      Your proposed choice of country:  You need to consider seriously where you are planning to study. Some people make the mistake in the choice of the country the want to study. Not all countries are good to study a particular course or programme although they may have institutions there. It really doesn’t matter the number of universities/college they have there, but what really matters is how good these institutions are in terms of the quality of lectures are the graduates they have churned out. What if after completing your programme, you cannot work with your certificate because it is not tenable? In the USA College Board for example, all accredited universities and colleges are listed there with their ratings. Before you choose a school, you may contact the diplomatic section of the country that you are planning to study if they issue visa for such programme or else your application will be rejected.

4.      What is the course/programme requirement? Most universities/college requires prospective international students coming to their school to study to have taken some foreign exams like: SAT, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, IELTS, IGCSE, ACT, etc. This could vary from country to country. Countries that consider an applicant as part of the English speaking countries in most cases will not require the TOEFL test from the applicant (although you may need IELTS if you are going for your graduate programme).  If you are still confused, all you need to do is just to check-up the requirement on the school’s website (or the department you are applying to if you are going for your graduate programme). Besides, you need to meet up with the score’s requirement for any of these exams as required by the school. You may need to get a good score in SAT, TOEFL, GRE or GMAT. But the school will always state this on the website.

5.       How much will the programme costs?  Do you know how much the programme costs? Only few people consider how much it will cost them to go for their programme. While doing this, you need to put everything into consideration: the school fee, the accommodation, the books, medical, insurance, upkeep and some other miscellaneous expenses.

6.      How much do I have? Another thing to consider after knowing what the programme will cost you is how much you have for your study. Can you boast of hundred per cent of the fee for your programme’ duration or just fifty per cent of the fee? Please bear in mind that if you are studying medicine, you might spend up to five years. That means you have to budget for five years, or at least one year in case you are able to get a job. If you have part of the fee, how do plan to raise the other fee? Don’t just assume that when you get abroad, you will get work and this will help you to augment your fee and other expenses. What if you were not given a job or you did not get one? In planning to study abroad, you have to plan for the worse.

7.      The Climate/weather: Before planning to study abroad, you need to give consideration to the weather or the atmospheric condition in that country. Most school state this on their website or in the brochure or you will be told during the pre-departure briefing or when attending a school’s presentation. Some people cannot cope with harsh weather while some people can. Some others are allergic to cold. If you are the type that is used to hot weather/sunshine, going to a cold region like: Australia, Iceland Russia, Canada etc. will not be an advisable decision because of your health  except you say you can cope or acclimatize.

8.       Your documents: I am sure that you know that you will need some documents when you are travelling. Your international passport is number one; your admission letter/offer is number two; then you will need to get your insurance, yellow fever vaccination (this may not be required by some other countries), health or medical record, traveller’s cheque, credentials and visa. Remember, the immigration will check these at the airport!

9.      Who is your recruitment agent: Knowing who to consult when making the all-important decision of studying abroad is very important. By the way, “Who is processing your admission for you?” If you meet experienced recruitment agent, s/he may take the stress off your neck. But if you consult with quack, s/he will multiply and complicate your problem. Some people believe that they can process their admission themselves. Yes, you can. But it will take you weeks or months. But if you meet with experienced agent, it is just in a matter of days or a week at most (if you submit all the required documents).

10.   Booking and Ticket: When you have got your admission letter/offer, the next thing to do is to start booking your ticket without delay. If you waste time about this, you may not get a seat for your flight and this may affect your resumption or probable your ‘Orientation’ if care is not taken.

So if you have everything ready, start your booking and be ready to travel.