The new year means a new start. For college students, this means application season and the beginning of the next academic year. When it comes to applying to a university abroad, you need to do your research to make sure you’re picking the right one.
There are many factors to consider when picking a university, but here are 6 of the most important ones that you should consider when applying to a university abroad.
How to Pick a University Abroad in 2023
1. Know your preferences and choices?
You cannot research all schools in the world. You need to begin your process of Picking a University Abroad by setting criteria according to preferences and choices to limit the search. So you can create a manageable shortlist of schools which can be researched furthermore. Here are the questions you should get answers for:
- Why do you want to study abroad?
- How long do you want to study abroad?
- What do you want to achieve from the study abroad degree?
- How much living costs can you be able to afford abroad?
2. Where do you want to study?
It’s time to fix the country you want to go to for your further education. Almost all the countries in the world are open to accepting students coming from other countries to study in their universities. You can start to do some research by checking countries, and cities that meet your expectations. You can consider the following things:
- What is the language of tuition?
- What are the tuition fees?
- Are you a big city person or do you prefer smaller cities?
- Which countries are famous for the subject you want to study?
- How will studying this course in this country benefit me?
- Are there career opportunities after studying this course?
- What kind of environment do you expect while studying abroad?
- What are the student visa requirements? Will you be able to meet them?
Some of the popular countries international students choose to study in are:
3. What subject do you want to study?
What do you want to study? In which subject do you want to study in that particular country you have chosen. There are primarily the following things that you should consider while deciding
- What are you good at?
- What are your passions?
- Which subjects do you most enjoy learning about?
- What skills do you want to gain during your studies abroad?
- How does the job market look for the subject fields you are interested in?
Finalizing the subject you would like to study can help you cut down the countries in your study abroad destinations list. Go through the following list of fields are select your subject:
- Management courses
- Engineering courses
- Information technology courses
- Medicine courses
- Arts courses
- Hospitality and tourism courses
- Banking and finance courses
- Law courses
4. Find the list of schools abroad
Once you have decided on the course, Now you will be able to select your preferred universities based on the courses and curricula they offer. You should start researching about the schools in the country you have decided to study in.
You can go through the websites of the universities and check the campus, facilities, and so on. Your decision must consider the following questions:
- Are you looking for a private or public university?
- Are you prioritizing the popular colleges or affordable colleges?
- Are you looking to study in the local language of the country or English?
- Are you eligible to study in that particular university?
- What kind of school and experience are you looking for?
- If you are looking for campus accommodation, check whether this facility is available or not?
Below we have mentioned the top 10 ranking Universities in the world as per the QS world university ranking 2022:
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- University of Oxford
- Stanford University
- University of Cambridge
- Harvard University
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
- Imperial College London
- ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
- UCL
- University of Chicago
5. How do I research my shortlisted schools?
Once you have gone through the above steps you will be able to shortlist interesting schools. Go through the websites of the schools in the location that you are interested in. Do they match the criteria you set up? Look for the following:
- Popularity
- Available programs
- Intakes available
- Admissions procedures
- Deadlines of the application
- Tuition fees
- Scholarships available
- Campus life and activities
- How big the school is
- Accommodation options
- Rankings
6. Get advice from others
You should also look at external reviews. What do students, both current and former, say about the school? Go through the social media accounts of the schools for example Facebook, Instagram, Trustpilot, etc. Read the reviews on google.
You can learn a lot from external reviews. You can check our student experience articles. The best way is to talk to the students directly. You can connect with some of them online.
7. Finalize the school
It’s time to finalize your University based on the above-mentioned steps. Once you have done your research you should get answers to the following questions:
- Which schools can you afford?
- What is the scholarship program that could help me out?
- Which schools do you find likely to have a chance to be accepted based on their admission criteria?
- Which schools have the most attractive location, campus, accommodations, or facilities?
We hope you enjoyed our blog post about how to choose a university abroad. It’s never too early to start thinking about where you will study in 2023. We are excited to share with you our list of the 7 most important things to consider when picking a university abroad.
If you’re still not sure where to start, we recommend checking out this detailed guide on how to study abroad. Thank you for taking the time to read our article, we would love to hear from you on future topics!