BootsnAll Travel Community

So it is liberal arts - I missed that.

My personal experience looking for jobs on the weight of my degree from a French university is that US corporate employers were skeptical of why a US citizen went abroad for college. Study abroad looks good; when all of your study is abroad, people wonder what's wrong with you. I'm not making prescriptions here - I thought, and still think it's screwed up, but that's the way the job market is in the States. Everywhere in the world, a degree from a US university opens a lot of doors. Not so much for those from other countries. Degrees from European universities are good for the European market, although it's really hard to break into the European job market on a US passport.

The school in.. Utrecht, Netherlands has a program for teaching dutch. They figure a year of hard core study to pass the proficiency exam (language course is something like 1500E/ section, so about 9k for the year, I think). Tuition is not as cheap as some, and housing is, I hear, a bitch, but always an option. If you go fully enrolled, you might be able to get federal funding, since it houses a US licensed vet school.

j.

Currently I'm enrolled in a Master's program (history) at a US public university, having graduated from a private liberal arts school. My goal is to eventually get a Ph.D. (in history) from Central European University, in Budapest, Hungary. Aside from the fact that the classes are all in English (being incorporated under the New York State Department of Education regulations), I (plan to) focus on Central and Eastern Europe, particularly the historic relations between Germany, Russia, and Poland, which makes studying in Eastern Europe a good idea (and, in my mind, a must).

I can imagine that American companies/schools wouldn't want to hire someone if it appeared they had studied abroad largely because it would be 'easier' (whether or not it was). However, I imagine that if by studying abroad you've enabled yourself better access to better research/study opportunities, the companies would be glad to have you.

I'm not sure what your intended career plans are, but a foreign degree can cause you a bit of trouble looking for work. I got my BA in the US and my MA in the UK. A number of the jobs I've considered applying for require that any degree earned outside the US and Canada be certified through some official certifying agency and it's not cheap. If the transcript is not in English you'll also need to pay to get all your academic records translated. Maybe this is only the case for university teaching jobs as they're all I've looked for.

The other issue, actually getting into a foreign university, is something I can only talk about watching foreign students do it here. I'm teaching in the ESL department at a community college in New York and despite the fact that many students do eventually succeed, more than half remain mired in the ESL program for years unable to take classes in their intended majors until they've reached quite a high level of proficiency. From what I've seen in joint grading sessions with the ESL and English departments (the final class in ESL is considered the equivalent to English 099 and the finals are graded together), my college has tougher standards for non-native speakers than native ones. Some of the writing from native speakers that I failed but saw the other grader pass and then passed by the tie-breaker (all of whom are from among the English, not ESL faculty) was abysmal. On the other hand, some ESL students had a few "foreign" sounding errors but were otherwise quite fluent were failed. There does seem to be a stigma against L2 English errors; I'm curious how this applies to L2 errors in other countries.

Hi - I'm reviving this post because I am also interested in studying/enrolling in an Euro university. I'm in a similar situation as the OP'er -- in my early 30s, have my bachelors, have worked and gone to school for some time (even went to grad school in political science but did not finish my dissertation) and am currently considering a career change.

I'm teaching h.s. social science, but my passion is Italy and travel. I'm considering different options: the year long accelerated (traditional) MBA (at Bocconi, Politecnico, MIB), Master's in Tourism (at MIB, IULM), or Masters in Gastronomy programs in Italy (at University of Gastronomic Sciences)-- or my default is teaching in Italy. Of the schooling options, all of the programs are instructed in INGLESE (English) -- and I believe they have Italian instruction for non-native speakers after classes. My plan is to work in Italy after graduation -- I don't want to return to the USA immediately.

Do you think that in this situation the schools in the USA would "look down" on my schooling?

Btw, the MBA is a MBA, but the Masters in Gastronomy and Masters in Tourism are Level 1 (for those of you who are familiar with the educational system in Italy).

Thanks for any help!

Vinorosso,

There are a few issues that may come up for you:

1. An Italian MBA will probably be frowned upon by most U.S. employers. It is, in fact, even frowned upon by Italian employers, who (these days) seem to value an MBA from a Northwestern European or an American university far more than they do those acquired from an Italian university. (Every successful Italian businessman I know --and I know quite a few, man of taste and means that I am , has an MBA from a foreign university.)

So, the Masters in Tourism or Gastronomy might make a better course of study if you're set on acquiring a degree in Italy. Certainly it will be valued more by potential employers.

2. As for staying and working (legally) after completing your studies, this can be difficult. Many threads in this section can speak to this process in greater detail, but, essentially, working under the table means working low-paying jobs. To work legally, you'll either need to find an Italian firm to sponsor your work visa (a rare occurrence these days) or an American company with a job for you to do in Italy.

Alternatively, if you're of Italian stock, it might be possible for you to reclaim your citizenship via jus sanguinis, at which point you'll be an Italian citizen and can work where you'd like.

Hope that helps.

I have been thinking about school again and I want to do the same...study in EU. I want to change my career and study something related to Health or Social policy. I want to work for the UN (a childhood dream of mine) and was hoping to study in EU with an aim to enter the UN. I really don't have a clue where to start.

Hey CO

What happened to the post on some schools in Copenhagen? I did not have a chance to bookmark the link.

-Madhu

Sorry, Madhu, I was trying to trim down on my extraneous posts. Here it is again:

KU's MSc (and BSc) Public Health programs.