Most students must submit their applications to study abroad. Students can’t wait to start their careers in a new country. Senior and friends would have given you a beautiful picture of the perks of studying abroad.
- It will not be as rosy a picture as you have painted for yourself when you study abroad. You get to visit a lot of places and experience international culture. But when you study abroad, you also don’t have the luxuries which you enjoyed back in Nepal. People post pictures of the nice places that they have visited. But nobody tells us the amount of work that goes into running a household abroad.
- Another misconception they have fed us is that studying abroad is chill. Once you get into a good university. Studying abroad, if not less, is equally competitive as studying in Nepal. We have to work towards building a strong profile to get good grades. Focus on your assignments and research projects and make sure you can stand out from other recognized universities. Keep in mind, working hard is the secret to success, whether in Nepal or abroad.
- Students have to do minor jobs to earn their living expenses. In Nepal, we lead a very comfortable life where parents hand out pocket money. With living expenses so high abroad, students can’t afford to ask their parents. Like severing at a restaurant, working in the parking lot, or assisting in the supermarket. In Nepal, we feel shy to work in the example above.
- Students might not come home very often when they are studying in a different city in Nepal. Either you come by bus or micro-bus. If you’re traveling by flight, tickets are not expensive. We can come home very often once every 3-4 months. We can’t do that when we are studying abroad. Tickets can be hard expensive than expected. So we have to think twice or thrice before traveling. So just mentally have to prepare yourself for it.
- Friends are like family, so make sure you make good ones. While studying abroad, students spend all their time with friends. If you have a superficial relationship with your friends, then soon you will start missing your family.
- Students will have to look for jobs themselves. In Nepal, colleges spoon-feed us when they bring companies to campus. When we are abroad, it doesn’t work like that. University doesn’t care whether you get placed. That is the student’s problem or headache. You need to attend career fairs, send out applications, network with company employees, talk to professors and do anything to land the job.
- People won’t tell you that soft skills are important to succeed in a foreign country. Whether it’s public speaking and writing or presentation skills. Like, having excellent communication skills will help you build rapport with people from all across the globe. Presentation based assignment helps student to communicate easily. So if you have excellent presentation skills, it will fetch your brownie points and improve your overall GPA. Nepali colleges don’t focus on excellent writing skills.
- Fun facts: when you study abroad, you’ll discover a lot of new food cuisines based on the country. It’s very hesitant to try Asian food, but later we have to adjust to country food and dishes.
- The Most important thing is to save money abroad studying. When students study abroad and start earning money. We like to buy the latest stuff to establish a status for ourselves. We have a lot of wealth in terms of NRS when we come back to Nepal.
- Settling abroad is not the only option. We also need to settle permanently there. Many people do this by choice. But some people do due to pressure in doing so. Settling abroad is not the only choice. You can work there for a few years and recover your loan amount and return to your country. You can get a marvelous job and stay with your family.