Studying abroad is a widely popular activity to pursue while away at school; it’s a huge decision to make when you’re in your early 20s. It’s kind of a big deal to leave home and a familiar environment for a half or a full year, and it is definitely a decision many students do not take lightly. (Side note: props to international students who do this for the entirety of their college careers.) To me, the best way to help determine if studying abroad is a good decision for you is to make a pros and cons list. Take a read and see if this pro/con list adds any new ideas to your thinking on study abroad!
PROS
(+) You get to travel the world, meet new people, see new places, and discover new things!
Who doesn’t want to expand their understanding of the world we live in and have fun doing it?
(+) You can (potentially) learn a new language.
Depending on where you choose to study and what your language background is, learning a new language could be in your future!
(+) You will immerse yourself in an entirely new culture.
To me, this is the coolest of the pros – it seems so intriguing to really get to learn how another culture lives and to see how different (or similar) it is to the world I grew up in.
(+) You will have a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
I know it’s corny, but seriously. When are you going to be able to travel around the world with so little responsibility for such a long period of time again?
(+) You can dodge the gross, I mean lovely Ithaca weather for at least a semester.
This seems like a huge win, if you ask me.
CONS
(-) You will be away from your home country for six months.
Definitely not a small concern; missing friends and family and home is entirely expected, but I feel like the pros outweigh the cons here.
(-) You aren’t allowed because of your major or your athletic status at school.
If this is the case, then that really stinks that you didn’t get the chance to decide for yourself whether studying abroad was something you were interested in. Hopefully if you want to travel, you’ll have the time to do so in the future!
(-) You miss out on a lot of things that happen with your friends back at school.
I’m sure all of us can attest to just how much can happen in six months. A day in “college time” feels like a week in “real world time,” so multiply that by six months and that’s a lot of things happening when you’re overseas.
(-) You might be traveling to a country in which you barely speak the language.
I like to think I understand Spanish pretty well, but I’d be lying if I said that there wasn’t a small part of me worried about those times I would “need” to speak in English. Unlike Spanish class, there’s no “Okay, yeah, great, but I need to understand this in English first.” Yeah, not happening here.
(-) You could be amplifying your course difficulty (if you’re going to a school with instruction in a different language).
In my case, I hope to study at a school with all-Spanish instruction. That said, if I were to take econ in Spanish, I can only imagine it’d be substantially harder. Now, I may have to learn new concepts in English and translate them over to Spanish to better understand.
(-) I struggled to even think of 5 cons, which goes to show how I view studying abroad.
Need I say more? Of course, everyone should make this choice of their own accord – it’s a very individualistic decision. That said, it is an amazing opportunity that is difficult for a lot of people to replicate outside of college once “real life” responsibilities increase. Just like any big (or small) decision, there are two sides to every option, and while in my case studying abroad seems like a great fit for me, it might not be a feasible option for a friend. Good luck in deciding whatever you decide about study abroad and love whatever choice you make. Happy travels – whether abroad or up the slope!
