The Advantages and Disadvantages of Studying Your Masters Abroad

It’s been a rough two years: class disruptions, travel disruptions, life disruptions…

For the last two years, Spring Break never came. Our passports gathered dust and our yearnings for distant shores grew distant. All of that’s about to change, now. We can travel again, we can dust off our passports and compare Masters programmes from universities abroad.

Or have you not thought about studying abroad yet?

In either case, what follows should give you plenty of food for thought.

The disadvantages of studying abroad

Studies show that, overwhelmingly, when it comes to ‘Do you want the good or bad news first?’, people overwhelmingly say they’d rather hear the bad news ahead of good tidings.

In that spirit, we present the cons of overseas studies ahead of the much more intriguing, enticing and exciting possibilities offered by the other side of that coin.

The biggest disadvantage to earning your Masters in a foreign university is cost.

No two ways around it: you need a lot of money to bankroll two years of university study, pretty much anywhere in the world. Your tuition costs may be lower than in the US – that’s an attractive selling point, but your food and living costs, along with books and other supplies will run up a hefty tab.

You have to factor in transportation costs, too, not just from the US but also while in-country.

Luckily, you may offset some of those costs with a scholarship or grant programme; some schools also offer foreign students a living stipend. You may also check if the school you’re researching allows or offers foreign students part-time work.

You could take out student loans but that means saddling yourself with debt before you even begin your professional life. It’s not the best way to finance your education but, if it’s the only way, then we suggest you shop for lenders judiciously and be very careful of the terms.

Depending on where you have your sights set on, you may find the courses vastly different from what you expected. That can be good (much easier) or bad (way harder), and the academic climate might throw you off a bit.

Not just how classes are conducted or how seriously your classmates take their studies, but everything from campus amenities – gyms, recreational facilities and clubs, to sharing a dorm with up to six or more people.

This attitude towards education, no matter where you go, is a part of a larger point: culture shock.

You may have hungered to experience life abroad for as long as you’ve known what ‘abroad’ means. You may even have favored a particular region and studied it in depth. Those are all to your credit but none of them can prepare you for actually living abroad.

How long it takes you to adjust depends, in part, on how different things are, but mostly on your attitude towards your experiences.

Because the cultures are similar, if you’re sojourning in Europe or Australia, you might not feel as dislocated as you could in Asia or Africa. How you embrace your adventure will determine its outcome so, maybe this point should fall midway between con and pro.

The advantages of earning your Masters abroad

We often understand ‘The world is your oyster’, to mean that the ‘you’ in question is perfectly positioned to reap every advantage and take every opportunity that life has to offer.

Opportunities to be a graduate student at some of the world’s top universities, for instance.

Not discounting US universities, of course. They are perpetually some of the highest-ranked institutes on the QS list of school rankings but there are plenty of schools abroad to consider, too.

Some of the greatest benefits of a graduate programme abroad include getting to experience how other schools operate, meeting students from other parts of the world and discovering life outside of the US.

Perhaps you’ve been studying languages. This would be your big chance to develop your language skills beyond the classroom’s confines; to interact with people for whom your second language is their native tongue.

Should the idea of learning other languages never have crossed your mind, it surely will as you study abroad – English-speaking countries aside.

You may have your hands full with coursework, exploring your new surroundings and learning about the culture. Just don’t overlook the benefits of bilingualism. In fact, you might get a jump on learning your host country’s language with a private tutor.

Besides boosting your language abilities and employability – foreign study looks really good on your resume, studying abroad will have an amazing effect on your confidence levels.

As eager as you might be for this adventure, take into account that you’re leaving behind everything that’s safe, comfortable and familiar to you. You’re headed to a place where maybe few speak your language; where even the food may be radically different from what you’re used to.

Granted, technology can keep you connected to ‘back home’, but still.

There will be quakes, as mentioned earlier, but imagine how unshakable you will become as you meet and triumph over all of those challenges, all on your own. And when you return stateside, diploma in hand and imbued with confidence…

Cons aside, if you meet the academic requirements and have the money and the will to undertake this journey, then the world will, indeed, be your oyster.

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