Ruotao Qiu Kristen Foster CO150.400 26 October, 2013 Is studying abroad a good choice for students?

With the development of globalization, there are more and more students decide to study abroad. Especially in China, a large number of parents want to send their children to studying overseas. As an international student, now I want to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad to get a conclusion whether studying abroad a good choice for students. And I think this information may help to answer questions by those Chinese students who want to study abroad. For this research project, I decided to pursue the question, Is studying abroad a good choice for students? This question is exigency because in my home town, a lot student wants to study abroad, especially in America. I suspect that studying abroad will make students feel alone and it cost a large amount of money. Before I could focus on the impact of studying abroad to international students, I first needed to learn more about which countries majority of students decide to study abroad. I started by reading a short research, International Exchange Increasing, from Inside Higher ED(Redden), to give a basic understanding of this phenomenon. According to the website, I found that China remained the leading country of origin for international students in the U.S in 2011-2012. Meanwhile, India and South Korea take an important part in sending international students except China. Whats more, Saudi Arabia students are fourth-largest group. It has a high rate of growth and the growth attributable to a large-scale government scholarship program. In addition, a large number of students from Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar take an important in sending

students to America. I also find other data about studying abroad in this website. In America, international students enrollment has been increasing in last 6 years, and the total enrollment in 2012 reaches to almost 800000. This article gave me a clearer picture of how and why students want to study abroad. I was not surprised to know that China accounted for 40 percent of international students in U.S. I also noticed that most international students from America like to study in Europe. These discoveries helped me better understand that studying abroad can let us contact with other cultures and changes and how it affects and is affected by us. Secondly, I want find information about duration. I typed how long do international students study in America. Then I found an article Study abroad in the United States in Wikipedia, and there are some information about duration in this website. In 2008-2009, 35.8% of international students enrolled in summer term and 37.3% enrolled in one semester. The survey also indicates that only 4.1% of students are taking 4 years college education. After that, I was focus on the benefits of studying abroad. To begin with my second point, I typed the advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad. into Google, then I found some useful articles which can exactly explain my questions. I located a study titled, Top 5 Advantages of Studying Abroad by Juett Jarred, a director of international communication in University of Indianapolis. In this scholarly article, Juett came up with 5 most advantages of studying abroad. First of all, he asserts that employers prefer to hire people who have overseas education background. In other words, people can get high job market value from studying abroad. The second advantage is that people can gain new global outlook from studying abroad. It can provide a chance to experience other cultures. Besides, studying abroad can allow students to

narrow down the things which interest them in their careers. Expanding peoples global network is another important advantages for international students. Specifically, these international relationships are good for students international job opportunities. After learning most important advantages of studying abroad and how they benefit international students. I was going to find some articles about the disadvantages of studying abroad on the internet. I discovered that there is a lot of material on Internet addiction. One of them was a feature article in a personal website. The author, Marie M, is a French student in San Diego, who is major in management. Her research focus on disadvantages of studying abroad (Marie). According to her article, I feel that the author do not agree studying abroad is a good choice for every students. She provides many disadvantages to support her purpose. I quote some key information from this article: Studying in another country does not mean you will learn another language. If u do not practice, your language will not improve. Although you can use Skype, msn, Facebook to contact your friends and families, you will still feel lonely because they know nothing about your country, school and your study life. Different countries have different standard of living. Studying abroad is expensive and you have to think whether you can afford to study abroad. If you study language before entering a college, you may lose one year. It is hard for you to adjust your hometown when you come back, just as difficult to live in a new country. Your parents will miss you and nag you.

This article provides enough reasons to answer my question is studying abroad a good choice for students? These discoveries helped understand the negative part of studying abroad.

After learning some disadvantages of studying abroad. I want research my corn problem is studying abroad a good choice for students? Opened CSU library home and typed study abroad into Article & Databases to start. Skimmed a few of the top sites that appeared. Wont read anything that was published or posted over 5 years ago. Then I found a peer-review journal Study Abroad Ghana: An International Experiential Learning."(Boateng), which was published in Journal Of Social Work Education. In this peer-review journal, authors discuss the benefits of studying abroad. At first, Boateng comes up with two factors influencing study abroad. On the one hand, The opportunities for students to study abroad are growing across the world, which is a result of globalization. On the other hand, as a most popular language, English is increasingly being used in many countries, especially in China. Then Boateng talks about the benefits of studying abroad. In his mind, people can gain social work practice experience and make international friends from studying abroad. Finally, I wanted to address something that can answer my another question: Do most international students have scholarships? I discovered that there are a lot sources on internet. I started with an article appearing in the US News in 2011. Since students spend a large number of money in studying abroad, international students should apply for scholarships or financial aid to reduce the pressure of tuition fees. This article tells us that it is easy to get scholarships in the America, people can easily be able to find all of financial aid options open to them and choose the best one which offers more money. Whats more, many American universities have coordinate overseas programs for undergraduate students. So they will offer students some scholars to encourage students to come and study in their school. It states that the range of scholarships from $1000 to $5000 for each semester. After learning some on the ways that studying abroad affect students, I have concluded that studying abroad is a good choice for students because there are more advantages then

disadvantages. And I also think people can take steps to avoid those disadvantages. For instance, though studying abroad is expensive, students can choose school which can offer them high scholarship. And students can make new friends in the new country then they will not feel lonely anymore. So students should go to study abroad to get more job opportunities and expend their eyes. As I continue with my research, I still want to do more research on the negative part of studying abroad. I want to figure out is studying abroad harmful to native students? Since most international students did a good job in studying, will native students feel pressure of compete? I hope to explore this issue next time when I do this research.
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Work Cited Wikipedia contributors. "Study abroad in the United States." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 Oct. 2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. Juett, Jarred. Top 5 Advantages of Studying Abroad. HCC Medical Insurance Services. n.d. Web. 13 October 2013. Marie M. Disadvantages of studying abroad. 21 Apr. 2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. <http://mariaabroad.com/2010/04/disadvantages-of-studying-abroad/> Redden Elizabeth. International Exchange Increasing. insidehighered.com. N.p. 12 November 2012. Web. 13 October 2013.0 Boateng, Alice, and Abigail Mercy Thompson. "Study Abroad Ghana: An International Experiential Learning." Journal Of Social Work Education 49.4 (2013): 701-715. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.