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Studying
abroad can add to the desirability of a job-hunting
candidate, but not necessarily, points out MIT's Garcia. He
suggests not jumping to general conclusions about any aspect
of study abroad.
For any
students inclined to go overseas, one of the earliest and
biggest hang-ups can be the cost. It's commonly believed,
mistakenly, that it is always expensive. Costs are sometimes
comparable with what students would spend in the US.
But
applying for financial aid is also something to consider.
"While
amounts and eligibility criteria vary from field to field as
well as from year to year, with a thorough effort you can
uncover many opportunities for graduate financial
assistance," says Patricia Wade, Dean of Student Financial
Services, Georgetown University.
For
those who want to look at that possibility, she writes:
"Explore
all options. Plan ahead, complete forms on time, and be
tenacious in your search for support."
Even
without financial aid, some MBA students such as Whitaker
find the cost of living to be less in areas such as Korea.
But many others have not found that to be the case. When it
comes to cost, there are no clear answers, and again,
educators suggest, MBA and law school students should do
some research.
Tuition
may be the same but the cost of living plays a part in any
decision.
"In
general, education and living is more expensive in advanced
countries," suggests Kenji Kitoa, a Canadian who studied
overseas in Japan.
And how
about the quality of the overseas program?
"Especially if you are going overseas for graduate study,
you need to make sure that you can receive a better
education at the overseas institution," recommends Kitoa.
If you
want eventually to live and work overseas, however,
international business school experience is almost certainly
beneficial. Olie Rollag left Chicago to study in France. "I
wanted to learn skills that I didn't feel I could get in the
US, such as negotiating on European terms, learning about
European trade and labor issues and understanding how the
French and other Europeans solve business problems as
opposed to the way we do it in the United States," he told
The Lantern, the Student newspaper of Ohio State
University.
MBA or
law students looking to work for multi-national firms might
also want to consider the overseas option for several
reasons, suggests Alan Follmar, a B-school graduate from
Arizona. "Except for students with extensive international
exposure and foreign language skills, it should be
considered a requirement for those wishing to establish an
overseas career," he says.
A minus of studying abroad, however, is that students at the
top schools miss out on the educational experience they
receive here.
Says Garcia: "Most people who come here want to attend MIT
Sloan. They want their education here. If they do a semester
abroad, they're really giving up 25 percent of their time.
That's a reality."
And a high percentage, or close to 40%, of the students at
MIT Sloan were born outside the United States. "So for many
of them, spending a semester in Europe or abroad really
doesn't add a lot of value," Garcia adds.
At MIT,
Garcia says, more students opt for an exchange program of
studying at Harvard then the number deciding to go overseas.
But the bottom line, he says, is that each student has to
take a sober look at their situation and make a decision
based on what they find.
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