The Real Disadvantages of Studying in the U.S.: will you have trouble “going back?”
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009Here’s another potential disadvantage of studying in the U.S. that you should consider: in certain countries, and within certain professions, people who possess U.S. degrees are viewed with suspicion and even resentment.
To use an extreme example to illustrate the point: in certain authoritarian countries, if you possess a U.S. degree the security services may suspect you of being a spy. Really, it happens.
OK, for most of you this will not be a problem. But you could suffer from suspicion of your degree in other ways:
- colleagues may be threatened by your degree.
- colleagues may feel that your degree doesn’t apply to the “way we do things here.”
- colleagues may have negative political feelings about the U.S. as a country, and apply those feelings to their relationship with you.
Are these reactions fair or reasonable? Absolutely not. But they can be surprisingly common, especially in fields like economics, politics, public policy, and so forth. I once met a group of Harvard graduates who had studied politics, but who were almost completely ignored by the politicians in their own country, and had all moved onto different fields.
By the way, this in no way applies only to U.S. universities. Usually, if this kind of attitude exists at all, it will exist in relation to foreign degrees in general.
The bottom line is, be aware of the “culture” that exists within your chosen profession, and ask yourself, would holding a U.S. degree help me or hurt me here? How will I fit in “going back?”
For Your Consideration: do you know what you’d like to do as a career? Do you know someone within that career who has studied abroad? How is their degree received among their colleagues?
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.?
