I’m an American who just started my first year of undergraduate studies at the National University of Singapore last month. I chose Singapore over the US because I wanted to live abroad, and Singapore checked pretty much every box for me: it’s in Asia, tropical, safe, developed, and English is the medium of instruction.
Now, even though NUS is a great university by global standards, the reaction I’ve gotten from many of my family members and friends is that choosing to study abroad as an American is inherently a downgrade, regardless of the university or country. That’s where my question comes from.
College/Universities in the US are mostly about networking, you pay mainly for the connections you make.
The education is a good bonus.
Education outside of the US seems to mostly favor the education part with the networking as a good bonus.
Experiencing a new culture in your formative years is of massive use, especially if you get a decent grip of the language and continue to use it later.
New cultures, new ideas, new norms, new languages, new foods, new concepts, these are all things you will get by studying abroad.
Even if your actual studies doesn’t lead to a specific career in that field, the cultural and language exchange will always be beneficial.
Those are skills that can be applied to any industry/sector.