#精品长文创作季#
About the Author:
Ms. Ai has more than 10 years of experience ------ the study abroad service industry, and has helped several students apply to their favorite universities. In addition to the summary brought by the accumulation of a large number of cases, as a mother with children, I have always thought about the role of studying abroad in a person's education and growth. Finally, the following text was formed, hoping to inspire parents and students who are interested in taking this path.
This number has been authorized by the author
1. What kind of children and families are suitable for studying abroad?
First of all, what kind of Chinese children and families are suitable for choosing this path as an alternative to higher education?
The reason why I use the word alternative is because most people (families) are not firmly on the road of studying abroad at the beginning, or in other words, we did not choose the path of bilingual kindergarten-international school-study abroad for our children at the beginning, but took the initiative to move to (or were forced to step into) this road while walking, or because the child himself strongly requested and longed for it, or because the child himself was not suitable for traditional test-oriented education.
Therefore, this article is suitable for families who have certain financial means, have uncertain ideas about the path of studying abroad, but are interested in choosing to go abroad for their children to pursue higher education at a university or above.
As far as the children themselves are concerned, those children who have distinctive personal characteristics, in-depth thinking ability, and are good at exporting are more likely to be suitable for Western education. As we all know, the difference between Chinese and Western education systems lies not only in language expression, but also in the way of thinking and habitual patterns; we are accustomed to the herd, standardized, and indoctrinated education style since childhood, while Western education prefers individualized expression. In other words, it is not advantageous to only emphasize that you are a good student without showing your own personality, because what professors want to see is not how good you are in the traditional evaluation system in China, but who you are and what you want to do. Keep this in mind (whether it's for an interview or an application) that your standardized test score simply means that you have a basic level of language proficiency and learning ability.
What they want to see is why you want to study this field, what kind of preparation and effort you have made, what expectations do you have in this area, why you are a good fit here, or rather, what they want to know is not how you submitted a high score, but a very logical and common sense and impressive story. This means that students themselves should have a clear self-awareness and professional opinions, dig deeply, express them accurately, and infect others and make others agree. This ability to think and express is not only important for admission, but also for studying abroad, because the output of the students examined by the professors includes not only answering questions, but also class sharing, group assignment contributions, and essay writing.
Second, children with strong self-management and adjustment skills are more suitable for studying abroad. Needless to say, in a new environment and culture, children have to deal with most of the things themselves, including time allocation, financial management, living arrangements, interpersonal relationships, and so on. In short, a child with personality, growth, independent consciousness and self-learning ability, and good at self-management will be more suitable for studying abroad.
2. Some confusion about studying abroad
In fact, most of our families may face a dilemma is the economy, if this study abroad millions or millions, if it is spent for children to study abroad, then it cannot be used to support children to buy houses in the future, and our entanglement and hesitation also lies in this, this money in the family assets is not small, is an either/or choice. Since the user and beneficiary of this money is the child himself, let him participate in the decision-making, so that he can bear the pressure and learn to take responsibility while benefiting (at least we must slowly guide the child to choose to bear). If they have the courage to make such a choice, then we can also believe that they will have the courage and ability to overcome the difficulties in the process of studying abroad, and make the experience more rewarding and exciting.
Of course, if you start your study abroad career as an undergraduate, this education fee must still be very considerable (the cost of Hong Kong, Macao and New Zealand is slightly lower, and the cost of Eastern Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia is lower, but it is also hundreds of thousands of nearly one million expenditures, while in developed areas of Britain and the United States, undergraduate fees plus living expenses may involve millions of economic expenditures). Therefore, when it comes to studying abroad, we must also take into account the family's financial strength and future planning, which is beyond doubt. It will not only consider the feasibility of economic supply, but also the value of economic input and output.
After all, in today's economic environment, education is no longer a sure-fire or short-term profit. It can be said that education is more of a medium- and long-term investment.
Therefore, I think it is completely undesirable to regard studying abroad as a way for children to counterattack or turn over, at most it is just a guarantee in all aspects, or the icing on the cake. Therefore, for most ordinary families and ordinary children, there is no need to make a desperate bet or smash the pot to sell iron and have to send him to study abroad or to go to a certain country; on the contrary, if we lower our expectations and calm our minds, we will regard tens of thousands or millions or millions of years as a rare experience in the child's life, an experience of outward exploration, and I believe that it will sooner or later be transformed into a valuable wealth in life by the child.
So the conclusion is: if the child's own characteristics are not advantageous in exam-oriented education, or are willing to experience and experience a newer education model, then we might as well change the track according to the family's financial ability.
Let's go a little more detailed, when it comes to studying abroad, some parents may still have misunderstandings, thinking that it must be millions, but no.
With the process of global integration, the rapid development of higher education in mainland China, and the further development of a diversified enrollment system, there are indeed more tracks for further education. Parents can indeed pay attention to studying abroad in different countries and at different levels according to their family's economic strength, they can pay attention to studying abroad at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and they can also pay attention to the Sino-foreign cooperative universities and Sino-foreign cooperation projects in colleges and universities in China, so as to prepare for the later stage of studying abroad.
There are also examples around me, children who have studied general bachelor's degrees in China have finally studied overseas taught master's degrees (1-1.5 years) and successfully obtained local and major-related job offers, and the other is to study in domestic Sino-foreign cooperative universities, and finally studied taught master's degrees overseas and successfully got a job offer related to their majors in the local area, overseas taught masters are generally 1-15 years, which is more friendly to women in terms of academic system, and also avoids domestic graduate involution and employment involution to a certain extent. Therefore, the path of domestic bachelor's degree + overseas master's degree is also more suitable for relevant families and children.
3. On the selection of study abroad institutions
There are many ways to study abroad, some of which are decided to do so from an early age, many of them enter the international system from the third year of junior high school and high school, and some of them start to pass the language barrier in the second year of high school, and then study for a year of preparatory courses. These are all different from person to person, in fact, the path is always there, and it can be planned according to the child's and family's situation.
Finally, let's briefly talk about the choice of study abroad agency.
Personally, I think that in the final analysis, the connections between people and people and things actually stem from some kind of wonderful similarity at a deep level. If an individual is only obsessed with the aura of being accepted into a dream school and everything will be fine from now on, then he can easily be attracted to the boastful institution. A person who is steady, thoughtful, and treats him with a normal heart will also have several sets of school choice plans like other things in life, such as chasing high, centering, and guaranteeing, and he is more concerned about whether the school is suitable for him.
Therefore, in the face of various institutions, you only need to look at their previous cases, according to their children's comprehensive situation (graduation school, GPA, test scores, personal background) to see if the school itself can accept the reference; in addition, judge how the responsibility and experience of the teachers in charge, whether the children trust and recognize them, and whether they are in line with their aura (this is very important, after all, it is a cooperative work, and everyone trusts each other to produce the magical effect of 1+1 greater than 2).
The prices in the market are transparent and can be referred to, but this is not the most important consideration, after all, everyone has to cooperate for several months or even years, during which the pleasant cooperation and the final output satisfaction are more important than the difference between thousands and tens of thousands.
Regarding the application to the school, my personal advice is not to be too entangled in whether the school is ranked in the top 30, top 50, or top 100, and most importantly, the child's choice of major, the preference for the professor's research direction (especially for graduate and doctoral education), and the post-graduation plan (this school is more conducive to direct doctoral or employment, and whether the child can adapt to the environment).
In short, in the current situation, the role of education is a life experience, not a guarantee to a bright and smooth path, and the role of our parents for children is to guarantee the bottom, not to set up (after all, there are many comprehensive variables in the final development of children, which cannot be quantified in advance).
Treat this matter with a normal mind, discuss and discuss this plan with the child in the usual family education, and make decisions together, and at the same time do a good job of planning and preparation for the moment, step by step, because of the hard work and the results, and do not worry or fear, is the right way.
It's not that if you don't apply to the ideal school for a while, your child's future will be bleak.
In fact, in the final analysis, the most direct test of the effect of education is vocational competitiveness, regardless of whether they study abroad or not, children will eventually return to the society and establish a connection with society.
Bottom line: Studying abroad won't save you, but it will give you more possibilities, and that's true.