April 28
The Real Disadvantages of Studying in the U.S.: it might not help your profession
Today we’re going to talk about a potential disadvantage to U.S. university study. First, a brief look back: in our last two posts – here and here - we discussed supposed disadvantages of studying in the United States: the difficulty of obtaining visas, and the high cost of a U.S. university education. We discovered that, although there was a kernel of truth to both of these, neither represented a particularly huge problem.
In contrast, today we’ll be talking about a real disadvantage for many of those who choose to study in the U.S., and it’s this: for many professions in many parts of the world, a U.S. education simply does not provide the appropriate preparation. Let me give you an example:
A student I met from an Eastern European country had always dreamed of studying in the United States. He wanted to become a lawyer. The problem was that, in his country, a law degree is awarded at the end of undergraduate education at a specialized legal faculty. In addition, his country’s system of law was completely different from that practiced in the U.S. In other words, by going to get an undergraduate degree in the U.S., he would have:
- missed out on getting the degree he needed to practice law in his home country
- learned very little information that actually pertained to his own legal system
Now, that’s not to say he shouldn’t have wanted to study in the U.S. In fact, despite the disadvantages of a U.S. university in this regard, he ended up coming to study in the States. But even he acknowledged that those four years were in a certain respect wasted, at least in terms of how they strictly applied to his chosen profession (they were certainly not wasted in terms of his life – he had a great experience, made lifelong friends, helped him develop leadership and cross-cultural skills, and so on).
The bottom line here is that before you decide to pursue university education in the United States, you should do some research into how it might impact your chosen profession. In the majority of cases, a U.S. degree will probably advance your career. But in certain cases, due to the system used in your country, it might not provide you with the appropriate qualifications. This is particularly possible in some of the following fields:
- law
- education (i.e. getting certified to be a teacher in a public school)
- medicine or dentistry
For your consideration: do you know what you’d like to do as a career? What are the requirements in your country for having such a career? Do you need a specific degree? To pass a certain test? How will education in the U.S. impact your ability to meet such requirements?
SERIES: Why study in the U.S.?
- April 20 – Introduction
- April 21 – Diversity at U.S. campuses
- April 22 – Value of U.S. degrees
- April 23 – The Facilities
- April 24 – Practical focus of U.S. education
- April 25 – Variety of U.S. programs
- April 26 – The supposed disadvantages of study in the U.S.: visas
- April 27 - The supposed disadvantages of study in the U.S.: cost
- April 28 - Some real disadvantages of study in the U.S.: it might not help in your profession
- April 29 – Some real disadvantages of study in the U.S.: will you fit in “going back?”
- April 30 – Other disadvantages
- May 1 – So, should you study in the U.S.?
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Tags: compatibility of U.S. degrees, disadvantages of a U.S. education, European law, international students, International students in the U.S., research about study in the U.S., Should I Study in the U.S.?, study in the United States, the value of U.S. degrees, U.S. universities, will a U.S. degree help my career?
