How to choose where to study abroad
Deciding where to go requires looking past the university itself to evaluate the actual host city. A school might offer a progressive, diverse campus, but if the surrounding town is miserable, students will end up hating their living situation. You have to weigh the campus experience against how well the location matches your personal interests, like access to nature, wildlife, and hiking.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Choosing centrally located major capital cities over small university towns for better transit and affordability
- 2Checking if classes are taught in English or the local language before committing
- 3Factoring in the local climate for the specific months they will be there
- 4Choosing a location based on its connectivity for weekend travel to other countries
- 5Comparing the general cost of living across the available program options
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I loved studying at the University of Essex, it’s a great, progressive and diverse campus but the one thing us students had in common is that we hated living in Colchester.”source ↗
“I'm from Colchester. It's an absolute hole and I couldn't wait to leave.”source ↗
“Debating between spending a semester in colchester england at the university of essex or Budapest at corvinus university.”source ↗
“My college does a semester abroad program in Seville Spain, Salzburg Austria, and San Jose Costa Rica. Which one should I choose if I’m most interested in nature, hiking, and wildlife?”source ↗
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