College outside the US?

b_r_um
Mon, 06 Oct 2014 00:20:28 +0000

Admission procedures vary drastically by country, university within a country, and major within a university. You’ll have to be a bit more specific if you want a concrete answer!

That being said, there are a few issues to consider besides application procedures:


Language. Most universities teach undergraduate degree programs in the native language of the country their are in. Which European language(s) do you speak, or are willing to learn in a full-immersion gap year? (College in the UK is almost as expensive as college in the US, so you wouldn’t save much money by staying in the English-speaking world.)
Recognition of degrees. Depending on what you want to study, you may not be able to use the degree back in the US. Physics professors or computer programmers can move between continents just fine. But anything that requires a professional license (e.g. teaching, health professions) or works with country-specific knowledge (e.g. law, accounting) isn’t easily portable.
Disadvantage on the job market in the US. If you’re hoping to take your European college degree back to the US, you’ll face significant obstacles finding a job. You can’t easily present to an in-person interview in the US. Your references may be European and not easy to contact. And Your European university won’t be helping you find a job in the US either. (American colleges often have on-campus job fairs, recruiting programs and alumni networks to help put you in touch with the “right” people; no such guidance for you from a European university.)
And no, you can’t easily work in Europe either. Depending on the country, you may not be allowed to work locally at all during your college education and post-graduation work permits may be hard to come by as well.