Hi all. I came across this thread while I was searching “American University in Bulgaria” (AUBG) on Google. Then I cannot help logging in to give you my insights since I’m a current student here. Maybe I’ll be biased since I love the school, but I will try to give you my honest opinion.
First, we have something in common about the financial problem. Then AUBG is an ideal place for you because of its affordable education. You can go to my profile and see that other than AUBG, I applied to Smith, MoHo… All have a good reputation of giving aids to international students. Still, with a contribution of 5-7k, it’s hard to get into these schools, let alone receive some aids. But with 5-7k, you can surely go to AUBG.
So, is it easier to get into AUBG? Honestly, yes. Does this mean the quality of education is worse? I probably say No. The professors coming from the US, Bulgaria, Italia, Germany… Not all, but some have really impressive qualifications. The education is Liberal Arts styles as US colleges. Some graduate stds work in McKinsey, Google, HP… It’ll be long to list everything here. But you can pm me, and I’ll give you my insights about the professors, majors, and minors in AUBG.
About safety, since most ppl above worried about this problem. I don’t know well about other parts of Bulgaria. But Blagoevgrad (the university’s city) is 99% safe. I believe the capital Sofia is safe too. Actually, I saw some refugees, but other than that, there are no other problems. I didn’t see anyone using guns here. You can check the city in Google Map: https://www.google.bg/maps/@42.0205196,23.1004253,3a,75y,26.97h,72.4t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1syxAdUuhefz5E3dA9uDZIog!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en
In short, the city is pretty nice. In Fall and Spring, you can even see colorful umbrella hanging. Too romantic for a students’ city =)). There are even bars and night clubs if you’re a party person.
Last, my most favorite thing about the school is the student body. 50% are international students (although there are mostly from Eastern Europe, we have American, Asian and Western European as well). They are all extremely nice. I don’t know about other international students from other countries, but I come from Vietnam, and I have a lot of friends studying in the US (from Ivy League to top 50 NU, top 200 LAC…). Most of them tell me that they mostly hang out with only Vietnamese, or maybe other Asian students. It’s hard to hang out with American students except for some friends of mine studying in Europe or the US in High school. Last semester, I had a close friend from the US, and one from Spain. They both missed the school a lot when they came back to their home countries.
Just asked me questions if you still want to know more about the school. Omg, it had been a year I believe since I last logged into CC.