Daughter prefers study-abroad uni to Midd

arcadia
Tue, 25 Mar 2014 19:15:18 +0000

What’s Texas?

Just because you haven’t heard of a school doesn’t mean that 1) it’s not a good school; or 2) others won’t know about it. Reminds me of a t-shirt a friend of mine wore while we were studying abroad. On the front it said “Swarthmore” and on the back: “We’ve never heard of you either.”

In all seriousness–If she ever wants to get an advanced degree, there may be other considerations as well. It’s important for her to be happy, but she should really think long and hard about the long-term consequences of both scenarios (and it might be that the New Zealand route is better for her). If she ultimately wanted to live and work in NZ or Oceania, I’d say stay in NZ. But being a Midd grad and witnessing first-hand the very strong alumni connections, networking opportunities, and grad school admissions boost, it’s hard for me to discount the value of those things.

The one person I know who ended up staying on at their study abroad uni eventually regretted her decision. It turns out she fell in love with a boy and couldn’t imagine leaving him. He broke up with her three months after they graduated.