Going To College/University
 

I'm in my last year of school and I haven't decided what to do when it's over. I'd like to know your experiences of college wherever you are. I'm thinking of going to college abroad (I live in Ireland), and I basically don't have a clue what I want to do. I'd be especially interested in America-based posters, just a general idea of how you go about going to college , what it's like etc..

You're in Ireland you say? Unless you have the money to spare, I'd advise against coming over to mainland Britain for uni. The fees are astronomical compared to some areas of Europe, and some people here will hate you right now.

Yeah I certainly don't plan on going to Britain, I was thinking more North America. I don't know why, Ireland has a very good third-level education but I just want to get out and live somewhere else, or else I'll probably be stuck here for the rest of my life.

What kind of programs are you interested in? Or will you be taking more general courses (undeclared major) for now?

It's funny that you say you'd like to get out of Ireland to study in another country. I have two friends who are in university there because they wanted to leave North America! One of them is originally from Atlanta but now she's attending NUI Galway, and the other one is from Toronto and attending University of Limerick.

I don't really know, something along the lines of business maybe. It's hard to get information on colleges in America (or at least I'm finding it hard).

As I said Ireland seems to have a great third-level education system, it is just for personal reasons I'd rather move to the US. (I was born in America, so I can sort out passport).

So I'm guessing you are an American citizen, which means that you might get a domestic tuition rate (instead of an international rate), even if you do not have a mailing address in the US. At least that was my experience when I was looking at universities a few years ago - I was born in Detroit but I have Canadian citizenship as well because my mom was born here.

As far as finding information on schools, they all have websites you can visit. I think it may come down to what state or even what city you'd like to study in for 4 years, as well as your budget for tuition and the grades you got in high school (or whatever the equivalent is over there). Keep in mind that the Ivy League schools (like Harvard, Yale, Brown, etc - Ivy League - Wikipedia), although they have outstanding programs in business and such, tend to have very high tuition prices, and stricter guidelines for admittance.

I'm in Canada, so I'm not too sure about what the best schools are for what you'd like to study. But I do know that there are plenty of excellent colleges and universities in the US and it's just a matter of budget and where you'd like to live, like I said before.

The best thing to do is cover those basic answers to the questions that BD asked then you can pretty much find the best business schools through an extensive google search based off of where you would like to live state wise and how much you'd like to owe in student loans basically.

I went to college in the US (and was born and raised there as well). What do you want to know? :)

Although it may sound contrarian, generally speaking it's cheaper to go to school & live in red states. Further, considering the fiscal situation on a national level, and the fiscal divide between traditionally red & blue states.... these differences are likely to heighten.

However, true to stereotype, most college towns - even in red states like Tennessee - tend to be quite liberal. Whether Lawrence in Kansas, Austin in Texas, Atlanta in Georgia or Nashville in Tennessee - all blue towns in red states, all cheap to live in, and all fun. Well, Lawrence is full of hippie run off from Kansas City, but no town in perfect.

But, yeah, my general advice when looking for a place that is cheap & has loads of culture: blue city in a red state.

edit: if you're curious, I attended schools in the following cities: Aberdeen, South Dakota - Chicago, Illinois - Kansas City, Missouri - Billings, Montana. My rent in Chicago was $750 (splitting an apartment, mind you), whereas everywhere else it was around $300-200 to split a place & $500 for a 1 bedroom.

I'm English and was looking into going to Uni in America, I even took the mandatory US exams and was accepted into the University of Illinois, the fees proved to be too much in the end however. You're looking at around $45k annually whereas in the UK you'd be paying that amount for the 3 years of a BA degree (with the tuition fee increase). I really was gutted not to be able to study in America but I'm estimating a debt of £20-30k (I get to avoid the rise in tuition fees) instead of £83k following the end of my studies.

It is quite funny that you are keen on leaving Ireland for your studies, as Trinity college and Queens in Belfast are two high up options for me when I hopefully go to Uni. Looking at what people have already said now, it looks like the US will have enormous fees as well as the UK, plus you might have to gp through some hassles with student visas etc. I can't claim to know a huge amount about how the system works yet, but I reckon mainland Europe would be your best bet. Hell, they even teach some courses in English there.

I've been enrolled in 3 different colleges which were all very different from one another. I had a great time at each in their own ways. I love it and I'd recommend it to anyone. Not sure what the prices would be for someone overseas. If you live outside of the state you are going to college in, I know the fees are a lot higher but I don't know if it's even higher for being international. Different colleges have different prices though. If you go to a big school (Ohio State, Penn State, UCLA, Wisconsin, the list goes on) it will be expensive. Smaller schools with like 10,000 or less kids are half the price of the big named ones though.

You really need to have a lot of money at your disposal if you're thinking about studying abroad, the fees will be sky high. Why study abroad when you can get free fees here, as well as a grant if you're living away from home and have no part-time job. Plus there's every type of course you can imagine here and getting into a course after you finish school is very little hassle. At the moment you should try and focus on what type of course you want to do, think of something you have a keen interest in and if there's a good job market in that area. Then look around the various colleges and universities and see if they have any courses that suit you, go to plenty of open days as well and pick up booklets and talk to people.

You can always go working abroad as well after you finish college, which is something I'm currently looking into at the moment.

Another option to consider if going to college in another country is too expensive is going to college in Ireland but spending a semester or two studying abroad.

The fees arent that bad if you start out at a community college for two years then transfer to a 4 year college. There might be special financial aid for international students.

That's another point. Nearly all courses that involve a language require you to study abroad for a year. I have a friend who is studying Commerce with Chinese and he went out to study in China for a year. He loved it so much he's going back out there to work when he finishes.

Thanks for all the helpful replies, some more food for thought. The safest financial option would obviously be to stay in Ireland, but I've always dreamed of moving abroad as soon as possible and going to college in the US would be the fastest way of doing that. Maybe I'm just being greedy, seeing as Ireland's third level education seems to be cheap compared to other places. I'll look into courses were you can study for a year abroad.

I understand the predicament you're facing man, I attended a fair in London which consisted solely of US Colleges and ever since then my heart has been in the US. I understand that it's better to get my degree for as a cheap as possible and then try and work abroad rather than rack up ridiculous debts before even starting work. Plus there's always hope for a transfer during your studies in Ireland, I've spoken to Illinois and they've said that if circumstances change, they'll look at ways to accomodamy Ute a transfer from my Uni in England to there, I just need to hope that I wake up surrounded by £100k.

Landon, research and find some US schools that you are interested in. Email their admissions office. Your first 2 years of college (over here anyways) are mostly General Education courses. See if you take Gen Eds over their if they would transfer here. Then transfer after a year or two. It would save you a lot of money and you'd get the same degree.