International schools for US student

So my S26 is starting to look at schools, we are in the Bay Area, CA and he’s doing well in school. We have visited a few UCs and he’s started to look at the cost of school. I can help him with about 100k so that helps a lot with the UCs in CA but private schools outside will be tough.

He’s interested in schools outside of the US and I suggested he look into the following.
McGill and University of Waterloo in Canada.
University of Edinburgh and UCL in UK.

He’s interested in biology and engineering, something like environmental engineering or marine sciences. What other universities should I tell him to consider ? Applications are still a year away but looking at the UK schools they don’t want undecided students. You should know what you want and your high school classes should reflect your interest. How do people go about finding more into on non-us schools ?

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Perhaps I am biased. However, I think that this web site is a good place to start.

Coverage may be a bit varied depending upon which country you are asking about. There are a number of us here who have some ties to Canada, ranging from people who live in Canada, to people such as me who grew up in Canada, have half our family members in Canada, but who live in the US, ranging further to people who just went to school there or considered going to school there. My impression is that coverage for other countries is lighter, but is still possible.

For any major with “marine” in the name, IMHO you should at least consider Dalhousie University in Halifax. It for example has degrees in marine biology, ocean engineering, or marine and environmental law (this latter one might be a graduate program). I am pretty sure that there are other marine specialties there. There is quite a bit of ocean and marine related research at Dal. Here is one example:

We toured Dal a while back when one daughter was looking for undergraduate schools. We liked it quite a bit but she was looking for a smaller university. Dal is also good for just general engineering, or general biology, or environmental sciences or quite a few other majors.

Memorial University of Newfoundland is also worth considering. I have heard that they are relatively reasonably priced for international students but have not personally checked this out.

On the west coast UBC, Simon Fraser, and the U. of Victoria are worth considering. They will be closer since you are in California.

In the middle, my understanding is that the U. of Guelph has an unusual marine biology program in that it concentrates on Great Lakes biology.

For a smaller university with a good program in marine biology, Acadia University (in Nova Scotia) is worth considering. It is also very good for general biology and for environmental sciences. My vague recollection is that their environmental sciences program is separate from their environmental studies program (or at least was back when I looked) which to me makes sense since these seem to me to be different things. I am generally skeptical of most smaller schools for engineering.

I am assuming that by “100k” you mean a total of about $100,000 for a full four years of university. I do not know whether or not the Canadian schools will meet this budget. When looking at costs, keep the exchange rate in mind (which is very favorable for those of us living in the US but paying tuition in Canada). In general the most famous Canadian universities such as McGill and Waterloo are more expensive because people are willing to pay. Also, education is largely funded by the province in Canada and different provinces will have different policies regarding what they want to charge international students. Alberta and Newfoundland have some oil money which might make them a bit more generous, although I have not checked prices recently. The university system in Canada is generally very consistently high quality across many universities across the country. We did pay somewhat less than $100,000 in total for four years, but we benefited from dual citizenship plus a pretty good merit based scholarship. I am pretty sure that some universities in Canada will have some merit aid potentially available for international students, but I am not sure how much.

I might also note that our daughter did not have any problem finding a good job back here in the US after graduating from university in Canada. What she did on her first job in the US to me sounded quite a bit like the research that she got involved in while she was a student in Canada, but it was all in biotech which is not my personal area of expertise.

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wow that’s a lot of great info. Thank you! I will look into the schools you mentioned. And yes I meant $100,000 hopefully he does get some merit scholarships as well but given where we are I didn’t want to count things that he hasn’t gotten yet.

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You can also look at Ireland (their platform is called CAO and you can look up degree programs ie., “courses”, there.)

Queen’s Belfast is part of NI ie., the UK; UCAS and well-recognized. Really cool city for students, ease of travel. You do need to apply to a major unless you apply to the very selective Liberal Arts “course”.
Beside UEdinburgh, look into UGlasgow, Aberdeen, Liverpool, Heriot Watt (St Andrews if he’s got the grades).

Safeties in the US with topnotch marine science programs: Eckerd in FL, UNC-W in North Carolina. Not sure if merit would bring it to 25k though.

Yeah I am starting to realize 100k is probably not enough. I got $100 from my parents when I went to school and did it with pell grants and loans. 100k is what I have saved for him in his 529 but looks like I will have to figure out a higher budget.

You can run the NPC on UCLA and UCSD; Cal Poly Humboldt (great safety for marine science) and Cal Poly SLO; Eckerd, URI, UNCW which would not meet need but offer merit; and, just in case, Stanford and Bowdoin, since both not only meet need but are very generous - if these 2 aren’t under budget you can cross out any college that doesn’t offer merit.
Costs at Irish or UK universities are fixed and listed under International Fees (or Tuition). “Accomodations”= dorms, self catered= no meal plan, “catered”= breakfast and some hot dinner included (nothing like the restaurant-like college cafeterias at US colleges though).

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