Convince your parents you should earn a degree abroad by talking about your employability after graduation.
Students struggling to convince their parents that overseas study is a good idea should look into whether other students from their country will also be at the school, experts say.
When United Arab Emirates resident Megha Merani tried to convince her parents that she should get a degree overseas about 15 years ago, she had two strikes against her.
"Not only am I from a conservative Indian family, I am from an Indian family who lives in the conservative Middle East," says Merani, now a 32-year-old newspaper reporter in Dubai. "The idea, for my mom especially, of a daughter living by herself in a foreign place is just unimaginable."
Merani spent a few years going to school in her home country before she successfully made the case that she could get a better education abroad. Then, in 2002, she hopped on a plane and made the roughly 7,000-mile journey to Toronto, where she enrolled in York University.
"It was the experience of a lifetime," she says. "I live in the desert. It was like I went to a polar bear's home."
1. Emphasize your seriousness: Talia Varoglu, a 21-year-old from Colorado Springs who is now pursuing a bachelor's degree at the University of British Columbia, says one way to persuade parents of the benefits of an overseas degree is to make it clear that you have thought about how it will affect your personal and educational development.
"Students can frame it as, 'Mom and Dad, I want to have a chance to expand my horizons while still contributing positively to my future goals,'" she says. "It’s a good way for a student to sell it to their parents and say, 'I'm not asking you to just let me travel for a year. I am really invested in my education and want to have that experience in a really meaningful way.'"
2. Talk about employability: Students looking to hit the books in Europe, the U.S. or elsewhere can make their case in terms of job prospects. When employers see a resume with study abroad experience, they are more likely to consider hiring that applicant, experts say.
Pursuing a degree overseas signals to employers that students have flexibility, cultural awareness and an understanding of how other people work and think, says Anne Mullen, who advises international students and others as senior tutor at Oxford University's St Anne’s College.
3. Look for similar students: When Merani went off to Canada, her parents wondered if she'd be surrounded by students with a similar cultural background. To ease that anxiety, Merani suggests students contact the school to see if there are any other students from their country or culture. If so, she says they should get in touch.
"It doesn't always matter to the student but it does to the family," she says.
4. Reaffirm you will make safe decisions: Safety is definitely a concern for many parents, says Aaron Andersen, director of international recruitment at the University of British Columbia. He says one way to address the issue is to emphasize that any time a student leaves home to go to school, he or she is going to have to adapt to a new environment.
Students can ask their parents to trust them to make good decisions wherever they are, says Theresa Johansson, assistant director of global education at the College of William and Mary.
"Not only am I from a conservative Indian family, I am from an Indian family who lives in the conservative Middle East," says Merani, now a 32-year-old newspaper reporter in Dubai. "The idea, for my mom especially, of a daughter living by herself in a foreign place is just unimaginable."
Merani spent a few years going to school in her home country before she successfully made the case that she could get a better education abroad. Then, in 2002, she hopped on a plane and made the roughly 7,000-mile journey to Toronto, where she enrolled in York University.
"It was the experience of a lifetime," she says. "I live in the desert. It was like I went to a polar bear's home."
1. Emphasize your seriousness: Talia Varoglu, a 21-year-old from Colorado Springs who is now pursuing a bachelor's degree at the University of British Columbia, says one way to persuade parents of the benefits of an overseas degree is to make it clear that you have thought about how it will affect your personal and educational development.
"Students can frame it as, 'Mom and Dad, I want to have a chance to expand my horizons while still contributing positively to my future goals,'" she says. "It’s a good way for a student to sell it to their parents and say, 'I'm not asking you to just let me travel for a year. I am really invested in my education and want to have that experience in a really meaningful way.'"
2. Talk about employability: Students looking to hit the books in Europe, the U.S. or elsewhere can make their case in terms of job prospects. When employers see a resume with study abroad experience, they are more likely to consider hiring that applicant, experts say.
Pursuing a degree overseas signals to employers that students have flexibility, cultural awareness and an understanding of how other people work and think, says Anne Mullen, who advises international students and others as senior tutor at Oxford University's St Anne’s College.
3. Look for similar students: When Merani went off to Canada, her parents wondered if she'd be surrounded by students with a similar cultural background. To ease that anxiety, Merani suggests students contact the school to see if there are any other students from their country or culture. If so, she says they should get in touch.
"It doesn't always matter to the student but it does to the family," she says.
4. Reaffirm you will make safe decisions: Safety is definitely a concern for many parents, says Aaron Andersen, director of international recruitment at the University of British Columbia. He says one way to address the issue is to emphasize that any time a student leaves home to go to school, he or she is going to have to adapt to a new environment.
Students can ask their parents to trust them to make good decisions wherever they are, says Theresa Johansson, assistant director of global education at the College of William and Mary.
5. Enlist the help of other adults: At one point in her negotiations with her parents, Merani reached out to a sympathetic professor in Dubai who helped her make her case.
"If you have an adviser or a counselor or someone you have been working with, bring them in to talk to your parents," she says. "That meeting was no longer than 30 minutes but it changed my life."
6. Try to lessen the cost: Students should come up with a realistic budget for what their international education might cost, and then think of ways they can reduce it, experts say. For example, while there are limited scholarship opportunities for international students, in some countries students can try to work to bring their costs down.
U.S. students should note that the price of a degree abroad, even in a place like the United Kingdom, will likely be "significantly lower than what students are bracing themselves for" considering U.S. tuition, says Johansson. On the flip side, non-U.S. citizens might be startled by how high tuition is in America.
7. Get them involved: Whatever you do, make sure your parents have as much information as possible about your school of choice, Merani says – that way they feel in control. Introduce them to the website. Give them a virtual tour.
"For me, it was like my whole family was going to university," she says. "Not just me."
Source:/usnews.com/education/
No comments:
Post a Comment