School Abroad?

I’ve always wanted to travel outside the US, so now as I"m starting to look at colleges I"m also thinking about doing this abroad.

I know that there are some countries that have free/ ultra cheap tuition, but this doesn’t factor in the cost of living etc. I’ve been looking at Sweden and Germany, but Sweden looks pretty unreasonable as you need to have the cost of your entire school stay in your possession before you are granted extended stay. I’m really open to anywhere in the world as long as it’s within my means to study there.

I guess what I"m asking is if anyone with more experience in this than me has any advice to offer? What paperwork and funds I should have with me and what I should be aware of to go to school abroad.

EDIT: I plan on staying in or near the country I do my studies in. Also, one of the main reasons I’m not doing college in the US besides the appeal of doing it abroad is that I’ve heard that, if done right, school can be cheaper in foreign countries.

Is this for your undergrad? If so I’d stay in the US, go someplace that is established and not expensive; University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign, SCAD, Kendall College of art and design (Grand Rapids,MI), some of the Wisconsin state schools may be places to start. Look into them and then maybe study abroad for a year or so, maybe do grad school abroad.

Most country’s will want you to prove that you are self sufficient for at least a year. If you are borrowing the funds then you may be able to get paperwork showing this, or the money up front so it is there (in your ledger). If the school is very cheap, like say in Sweden it is due to a significantly higher tax rate then seen in the US. Also typically only the smart ones go to college, unlike in the US. Some schools to look at: University of Huddersfield (UK), University of Coventry (UK).

Yes this would be my undergrad. Is the “accepted route” for schooling abroad a domestic undergrad and then getting a masters abroad?

I have an undergrad from NCSU, but did a study abroad at the Universidad de Pais Vasco, Spain (in architecture/language) between my 3rd and 4th year, then did a MA in Branding Strategy about 10 years out at Brunel in London. Here’s a little about these experiences, maybe it will help

For the undergrad study abroad, for me it was a fantastic experience. If I were to do it again, I think I personally would have picked a different school and focus (straight ID rather than Arch, though it did open doors later). For the 8 month culture experience I wouldn’t change anything. If you can do a different language, I think it is a plus (but hard!). IMO, undergrad is a good time to slip in language courses as masters degrees can have a lot more life complications happening on the side and in some programs humanities are required anyway. Japan, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Korea, France would be good pics for locations/languages (I’m sure there are great programs in Latin America/Spain/China too). Usually undergraduate programs have exchange programs set up that can make the cost the same as your home University, which is great. All in all, doing a study abroad in your undergraduate program can give you a more worldly POV helps you in the international professional world - it definitely helped in my first professional jobs.

The masters experience was good, but less of a cultural experience. As it was an advanced program, I would imagine the mix with international students would happen even in your home country. It can be expensive as well for non residents, more than double the cost of nationals. European programs are usually a 1 year masters, without breaks, vs 2 years in the US - I think this is good to get it over with and distract your life a little less, but 2 years of immersion in a new subject is still a good thing. The school was good for what I wanted, and much of a MA is personal investigation into a subject you want to focus on, so you really get out what you put in on your own. Good teachers with real world experience to guide you are vital though. Doing a it abroad can good for making contacts in a target country as well, as academics can get access to people/companies more easily, outside of interview situation, and dissertations are great for that. The UK programs have a lot more writing in the programs than in the US, IMO. Things I would change? I would have done the degree earlier in my career, and during it, tried to get on-site company experience in the branding strategy world before joining a more product design centric firm (my end goal anyway so I jumped on the opening.) You always wonder about the premier Universities you didn’t choose, the RCA’s of the world, but the cost, program lengths, and locations were prohibitive for me at the time

Hope this helps!

This is the main thing I"m thinking about, I plan on leaving the US anyways and I’m worried about landing a job in the EU, so this would be a big help.

Thanks for the help!