Education

Study Abroad: 4 Things A Student Must Probe Who Wants To Study Abroad

Published on April 4, 2020

Study Abroad: 4 Things A Student Must Probe

(Last Updated On: October 18, 2021)

Studying abroad could be a life changing experience in once life and could be worse if things don’t get right. Every year millions of students make their way to foreign countries like United States, UK, Australia, Germany, Turkey etc for higher education particularly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China etc.

Why students go to first world countries for higher education? There could be many reasons like superior quality of education, to get exposure, to secure their future by getting good jobs in earlier days of their career etc.

There are two ways people can go abroad for higher education, one by getting a full paid scholarship and second, by their own expense. If you mange to earn a fully paid scholarship then you don’t need to worry about anything except communication skills, but if you are planning to study abroad on your own expense then there are few things that you must probe.

1. Choose The Right University

If you have decided to spend lot of money on your higher education then you must choose an institute that must have a good reputation and offers quality education. In first world countries like US, UK etc there are hundreds of universities, but it is not necessary that all of them are providing the top quality education.

Getting enroll in institutions which provide inferior education then there is no point to spend money and study abroad, so never compromise on quality. So be prudent and do a thorough research on university ranking, its quality of education, its research work, its degree programs, its faculty, worth of its degree programs, about its alumni, its facilities etc.

4 Things A Student Must Probe Who Wants To Study Abroad

2. Calculate The Complete Cost

Honestly, it is not a fun to study abroad because it costs lot of money. If your guardian or father is a millionaire then there is no problem you don’t need to calculate anything, but if you belong to a modest family then you must calculate the cost of following things in advance so you will actually know whether you can afford to study abroad or not.

Visa + Ticket cost.
Your chosen university admission fees + semester fees.
Where will be your residence and its monthly rent.
Monthly transportation cost from your residence to your university.
Average monthly and daily cost of eating and drinking.
Books and daily use accessories cost.

Once you calculate the cost by doing research or asking people who are already studying there, you will get a rough estimate of your expenses for studying abroad. Now you can guide your parents or guardian about the cost and ask them a question, can you really afford to send me abroad for studies?

If you don’t calculate the cost of studying abroad and go blindly, it could be your worse experience of life because survival in a foreign country without enough money is not easy and it will put you in a profound trouble and worries. So don’t make blind jumps!

Do You Have Good Interpersonal Skills?

If you have good interpersonal skills then no one can stop you from achieving your goals. The two most important things for international student are confidence & good command over English language. If you can speak English fluently and understand the various English accents and slangs it will be a big bonus for you.

If you feel reluctant in dealing or communicating with people try to talk more and more with people other than your family members and close relatives. When you will communicate with people who you don’t know will help you to lift your confidence and building your body language.

Most of the international students who can’t speak English and fail to pick native accents they struggle a lot to adjust themselves in foreign country and understanding people. If you are weak in English then don’t waste time and start learning it.

First thing in learning English is to understand its grammar completely. Remember there is no shortcut. If you don’t understand English grammar and only try to watch movies etc you won’t understand completely and always feel trouble again and again. At times it will embarrass you.

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There are various ways to learn English. You can buy a grammar book or you can watch YouTube videos. Once you understand the English grammar its time to practice with other people. You can use Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp etc to chat with people and to practice English speaking you can talk to your family members, friends etc.

You can practice English online by registering yourself in free language exchange programs like iTalki etc. You can make friends there and invite them on Skype or WhatsApp for speaking practice. This way you will find people from all over the world, that will help you to understand and pick various English accents.

There are two major English accents US and British. US accent is the most followed accent. You can understand these accents by watching YouTube videos. There are lot of YouTube channels who taught US & British accent like JForrest English, Pronunciation Pro, Rachel’s English, linguamarina, Speak English with Christina.

4. Prepare Yourself For Doing A Job

All foreign countries like US, UK etc allows international students to do jobs for specific hours, so that they can at least bear their monthly expenses like rent and kitchen expenses, but the question is that do you have a mindset of doing a job? Have you done enough research that what type of job you are going to do?

You must thoroughly search the job portals of the country to which you will go for studies. You can find different communities who help finding jobs for international students.

It won’t be a straightforward thing to find a job in a foreign country and most important thing is that you must build a temperament to do any type of job because international students do driving jobs, service delivery jobs, restaurant jobs, nursing jobs etc which are considered inferior in the third world countries like India, Pakistan etc. You can earn a good amount of money from these jobs and you can save a lot as well.

Before you go abroad you can find an internship or you can do a night job like job in a call center or BPO. You can easily get a job in a call center or BPO if you can speak English. You don’t need a bachelors degree to do a job in call center or BPO and you can easily leave that job as well.

The benefit of doing a call center job is that you will get an experience plus it will improve your communication skills and will help you to understand the native English accents. But to do a night job you have to step out of your comfort zone and sacrifice your night sleep. It will also help you to get a job in foreign country.

Hopefully these 4 things will help you to prepare you both mentally and physically to study abroad. If you like this post don’t forget to share with other people. Share your feedback in the comments section below.