The admission process for most universities abroad will begin in January and February. So now is the ideal time to start your hunt for the right school for studying abroad.
What makes a school right, you may ask? The right school is the one that helps you realize your untapped potential, educates you on global standards, and offers exposure that helps you grow as a person.
Now that you are preparing to embark on an overseas journey, let’s help you find a school that is best for you.
Know Your Purpose
It’s important that your purpose of overseas education is clear in your mind. For this, the question you need to ask yourself is – why I am going abroad to study? You can basically put your answer in one of the following categories –
- Academic – your purpose is purely academics based. You want to experience high-quality education that will help you gain unparalleled insight into your field of study.
- Career – your purpose is to land yourself your dream job or start your own business. For this, you are looking forward to knowledge that will help you attain practical know-how in your field of study.
- Lifestyle – your main purpose is to experience a new lifestyle in a new country. You want to gain cultural insight. Your education is a secondary priority while cultural exposure is primary.
Knowing your purpose will further help you in selecting the right course for yourself. For instance, if your purpose is lifestyle, you can go for a course with less duration and has more grades for extra-curricular activities.
Know Your Constraints
The abroad educational scene is so vast that at first, you will have no clue how and where to begin. The first step that you should take is to understand your constraints.
What constraints are we talking about?
- Budget – how much can you afford to spend on the course and your living expenditure?
- Visa – which countries’ visa can you not apply to for education?
- Program – List the basics that you are looking for in a program.
- Place – do you know the spoken languages of the place? Can you adjust to the climatic conditions of that place?
Once you’ll answer the above-mentioned questions, you will definitely know which schools are completely out of your reach.
Instead Of Google, Use A Portal Dedicated For Finding International Universities
Only if a genie could appear and you could ask him – find my school. Alas, only if it was that easy.
Are you trying to google universities? Well, this will not only consume a lot of your time but you are also likely to find outdated information and spam content.
The best solution is to use a portal dedicated to finding schools overseas. For instance, CatEight is the best search engine for finding primary, high school, college, and university in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and more.
You can even connect with agents online, fill your course and visa application online, and benefit from many other features.
How To Shortlist
With the help of point 1 and 2, you would be able to easily shortlist the schools.
- If your purpose is academics, find a school that has its own reputed published papers; if any major professors teach there; if they offer research scholarships or promotes research, etc.
- If your purpose is career, find a school that has a great placement record; that offers internship opportunities with top companies; that has more practical classes on their course, etc.
- If your purpose is lifestyle, find a school that offers extra-curricular activities on their course; have programs that take you around the city and help you interact; has a scoring system where major grades are decided by extra-curricular activities, etc.
How To Pick The “One” From The Shortlisted Options
Now, this is more of a personal decision. Let’s say you found two universities – one is that you liked a lot and the second one offers extra facilities compared to first at the same fees. If you are more of a heart person and if you can afford it, you can go for the first option. On the other hand, if you are more of a head person and wants to save, you can go for the second option.
The best you can do here is stay true to yourself and then decide.
Wrapping Up
We hope this guide helps you in finding the right school. You can also check CatEight – the one-stop solution for finding and applying for schools abroad in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, etc. Connect with agents, search schools, fill applications online, and more.