By Ingrid Chang (UC Los Angeles)
Studying abroad is a profound investment in your future with benefits that extend far beyond the duration of your program. It’s an experience that shapes your perspective on almost everything, and it enriches your personal life in countless ways.
To this day, I’m still digesting the experience and it has helped me make lots of decisions that forward my young adult life. Let me give you the top reasons study abroad is a priceless investment, and hopefully you’ll find that you can make it work for you!
1. You’ll have opportunities you can’t get at your UC
Study abroad allows you to take courses and get involved in opportunities that just aren’t available at your home university.
I chose to study abroad in South Korea with the intent of learning how technology and sustainability are integrated into everyday society. I wanted to see how its culture influences technological adoption and ethics and how industry operates in tandem with the global economy.
I was able to curate my coursework to my satisfaction. I took:
- A graduate class in Global Smart Cities from the Civil Engineering Department
- Computer Convergence Application, which covered a breadth of machine learning and data mining techniques
- City, Media, and Culture in East Asia
I also took a Chinese presentations and seminars class to see how Chinese is taught to Koreans and learned so much about the unique ties between the two ethnicities.
Pro tip: Consider taking social science and humanities courses abroad even if you’re a STEM major. STEM classes are more or less the same in any country, while social sciences and humanities classes provide the experience to learn the content from the unique perspective of the country you’re studying in.
2. You’ll learn what you don’t like
The earlier you learn what you don’t like can be just as important—if not more so—than discovering what you do like.
I would argue that the earlier you can have the kind of exposure that study abroad gives you, the better. The study abroad experience is formative, and it will shape how you think about everything. So, it makes sense to get the most value out of it. It’s easy to romanticize places and experiences without having lived there yourself. Even if a place is wonderful, the complications and challenges of being a foreigner, of living alone—away from friends and family, can be daunting. I learned that community is important to me, and it was something I’d never had to think about before!
I was fortunate to meet people I got along with very well, and formed lifelong friendships with them. I also realized I would not do very well if I were to move internationally for work without more structured systems. I also realized that the language barrier was more of a challenge than I expected.
These findings may seem obvious, but it’s different when you experience it firsthand, especially with the added complications of cultural understanding. In many ways, study abroad can change how you think about yourself and your own country.
3. You’ll improve your résumé and job interviews
I’ve been asked about my experience studying abroad in work contexts more times than I can count, and adding another prestigious university on my record only helps!
I was interviewing for full-time roles while on study abroad—and let me warn you—studying abroad during recruitment season can be extra stressful!
My unique coursework abroad enhanced my academic background, making me a stand-out candidate. Whenever I mentioned I was abroad and explained the weird time difference required to schedule calls, it piqued the interest of my interviewers, who would immediately digress from their standard script and ask what I was taking away from the experience.
As my experience was quite formative, I was able to speak candidly about all the ways studying abroad has made me more attuned to global industry needs, explain differences in consumer wants and needs, and talk about global economics and geopolitics. Living and studying abroad at a young age is an impressive talking point in any context and will paint your growth and maturity in a favorable light.
4. You’ll reshape your life goals and have no regrets
It was critical to me that study abroad would kill the curiosity I had about what it’s like to live abroad. I can tell you now that didn’t happen.
Studying abroad fueled my curiosity about living in different places and helped me form worldwide connections so that I could! Now, I am more confident than ever that I want to pursue my childhood dreams of living and working abroad. At the same time, I’m more realistic and practical about how to go about it. I know for a fact that I saved myself a lot of trouble in the future compared to if I’d dived straight into working abroad without any experience or support.
It’s not the same as visiting a country for fun, no matter how long you live there, as it is to study there. By studying abroad through university-facilitated systems, you can take advantage of another school system with all it’s accompanying resources and support while having the privileges and forgiveness of being a student. You’ll have a better idea of how people in another country are educated and how they think differently. You’ll also be primed to have intellectual conversations with peers from that country and others, as studying abroad often comes with plenty of international students from around the world. It’s an environment that is difficult to replicate after your undergraduate years.
5. You’ll build resilience and find new opportunities
Studying abroad presents challenges that will test you in ways you are unlikely to get in other situations.
Studying abroad gives you the perfect amount of partial guidance from your advisors and program support so that you’re not tossed directly into the deep end. Try to remember—culture shock is good for you!
I gained a better understanding of how credit cards work and have greater confidence that I can figure out any new public transportation system. I became thicker-skinned and learned to ask for help when I really needed it. Studying abroad almost forces you to lean into discomfort, but it will teach you that comfort with new experiences is a muscle you can train, and the more practice, the easier it gets.
6. You’ll grow in profound ways
Speaking from personal experience, studying abroad definitely made me a richer person.
The experience will enhance your life both personally and professionally (no statistical guarantee, though) because you will have access to opportunities that weren’t available before you studied abroad. There are obvious ones, like clubs and activities you can join, new people you can meet, research, internship, and work opportunities you didn’t have before. Then, there are the less obvious ones, like a new network of people from which to glean global perspectives and even free housing with friends you’ve made all over the world when you travel to their countries.
Because I studied abroad, I am capable of feeling more, and I’m empowered to do more because of the knowledge I’ve earned and the connections I’ve made. I am also confident that my experience will be of great value in my future career, especially when I decide to pursue global opportunities.
Study abroad doesn’t end when your program ends. You’ve become a part of a rich community with all the people you met, and I still message and call my international friends regularly. Especially whenever something is going on in the news, so we can discuss perspectives and I can learn from people who are actually there on the ground!
I know I will continue to draw connections and insights from my time abroad, and you can’t put a price tag on this type of investment.
If you’re unsure, ask yourself this question: Will you regret it later if you don’t? In your heart, I’m sure you’ll find the answer that will serve you best, and you can make it work.
Learn more about the long-term effects studying abroad has on your future:
- See the 10 skills UCEAP returnees say have paid off forever.
- Ingrid started a new student club when she returned to UCLA, but there are many ways to stay globally connected.
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