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Counsellor Joseph Tavares discusses ways to help students decide whether an education overseas is really the right path for them
Going to another country for university studies is a very mature decision, and the most important step of the decision process is to know exactly why you’re doing it. When I ask this question to my students in Brazil, them simply saying that they want to go to a ‘prestigious’ school in another country is not a good answer. When I hear them say this, I tell them they need to re-evaluate why they want to study abroad in the first place. That’s because a college education isn’t a pair of designer jeans or a handbag, but rather, it’s a commitment to self-improvement and a launch pad to future personal and professional success. The first step to this commitment is knowing why you want to go.
There are great university options in just about every country in the world, yet so many students think about studying in the USA, UK and Europe. Why is that? The truth is, there may not be a single answer, but what I tell my students is that they need to know their answer. In fact, I tell them they should have the capacity to be able to tell a stranger in no fewer than 100 words why they want to study at a specific school. Until a student is able to do this exercise, then it’s my belief they need to continue self-reflection and research. Otherwise, they will be wasting their time with the actual college application process.
So how do you go about self-reflection and research in the college search? Well, before you do any research, you need to consider what the benefits are to studying abroad. For example, when I talk with my students about the options that exist in the USA, UK and Europe, they get really excited when they find out about schools that have strengths in areas of study that we may not even offer in Brazil, when they learn about the idea of a residential college experience and how education at some schools often goes far beyond the classroom, and how they can attend college with students from all around the world and have a truly international college experience. For some students, these aren’t things they are necessarily looking for in their universities. That’s perfectly fine, but you need to know that about yourself before you make a decision about whether to stay or go.
After you understand the benefits to studying abroad, it’s important to familiarise yourself with tools and resources that will allow you to get to know prospective colleges - especially if you won’t be able to visit campus before you enrol. Only taking advice from one person is a bad idea. Especially if that person is an older cousin or former classmate who is telling you to go to the same school they did. There are hundreds of publications and websites that were created to help bridge the divide between campuses and college-bound students. Knowledge is power, and if you are applying to schools that you won`t see until move-in day, then you need to know what each school’s campus, classrooms and student body look like. You need to know the curriculum like the back of your hand. You need to know each school’s strengths and, more importantly, their weaknesses. Pictures can be very helpful for your parents, especially those who might not have attended a college in another country. Translating schools’ websites or brochures together, if not everybody is fluent in English, will help make sure everybody understands and feels comfortable with the choices you are making. By the end of the college search process, you should be able to speak about your final choice as if you were already an enrolled student. Yet do not underestimate the amount of time you need to spend researching. My recommendation to my students is that they begin the college search process during their junior year, so that they can truly focus on the application process during their senior year.
Many students are surprised that even after they finish the application process for schools in another country that I again ask them to weigh the pros and cons of studying abroad. They think that because they have invested so much time and energy into the process, including convincing their mother or father that they should study in another country (oftentimes no easy task), that it would be fruitless or worse - a step in the wrong direction to invest time and energy into re-evaluating whether or not to stay at home. They are even more incredulous when I tell them they need to take out a sheet of paper and do a side-by-side comparison of studying in Country A vs. Country B. Weighing pros and cons on paper may seem ancient, but I have seen this simple task literally change the fate of a number of students that I have worked with. Many tell me that in a matter of minutes the final decision is perfectly clear. I pretend to be surprised, but honestly I’m not. You see, what I don’t tell my students is that the methodology they are using to make choices is 100% fool-proof, and that their final decision should most definitely make a lot more sense when they are at the close of the application process than when they began it or even were in the middle of it. That’s because the secret to knowing if you should stay or go away for college is figuring out exactly what you want.
Written by Joseph Tavares (2011)
Upper School Counselor
Pan American School of Bahia (Brazil)
