I'm an MK and picked a college connected to my parents' sending church. Since we were in Africa at the time, I didn't have a chance to visit the campus or talk to any professors or students--the kind of things most people expect. Fortunately (or by the grace of God, as I view it), a friend of my dad was on the college board of trustees and gave me a scholarship. And then it turned out quite well: the college really emphasized thinking for yourself, "diversity" and "multi-culturalism" before they were buzzwords, had a lot of foreign students and study-abroad opportunities, soccer instead of football. That was 30 years ago, and it's a different place now, so I can't really recommend it, but it was a good choice for me at the time.

I applied to schools in my passport country of England. Not because I wanted to, though, it had to be the UK because I was classed as a home student and it was the only place I could afford. So I applied to colleges in England, but all of them were as far as possible from the town I was born in because I hated it there and still kinda do, although my outlook has improved this year.

So really, I am not happy with it, because I feel I didn't have much choice. In my first year I felt trapped, like I was stuck here for 3 whole years and I thought some times that I wouldn't make it. But I was lucky to get on to an exchange program to the US for a whole year so I could escape. I came back with a fresh outlook on life and now I'm in the final stretch and I am more than just getting by. I'm very proud of myself this year, as I am maintaining friendships over here, which didn't happen before. So at the moment, I am satisified, not completely depressed like before, but I am still really looking forward to moving away from the UK and hopefully never moving back. It's a complicated situation. I wanted to apply to the US but I just couldn't afford the international student fees.

Well, when I was looking at colleges, I looked at mainly universities in the USA (since I've lived here for so long) as well as universities in Finland. The problem for me about Finland was the fact that my Finnish isn't of university caliber (just like your japanese, miki!), though university there is free, and I would have to apply as a foreigner anyway (since I got my high school degree in the US), I decided not to go there.

As for the schools in the US I'd always wanted to go to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, because when I was 8 or so, our dog got REALLY sick, and we took it to the veterinarian school there and they saved her life. I then decided I wanted to go there. ha ha!

I applied to the University of Minnesota, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (as well as another small UW school), but I got accepted into UW-Madison, and I've been there ever since! I'm a junior now, and I love it here. The athletics are good (Big Ten! WOO!), though I'm not a huge sports fan but I like American Football...and the academics are really good too (it's on the list of the best schools in the country, possibly even best top 25? 15? 10? I don't know figures..) It's also a college town, which I appreciate, because everything in the campus area is catered to students, and the scenery is great! I love it here! Go Badgers!

I did think briefly about wishing I could go to university in another country, but I realized pretty quickly that realistically, I needed to get a teaching degree from USA to have the easiest time getting a job teaching in an international school. After that, I mostly was looking for a place where I could do my student teaching outside the USA for my music education degree- obviously I can't stay in the USA for the whole time :) And, having never been to an international school as a student (I went to public school in all the different places we lived), I wanted to make sure it was an environment I could handle before I really got into a job I hated :)
So basically, it was all career-goal oriented. And for me, it worked out pretty well- I did my student teaching at one of the top international schools in East Asia, interviewed for and got a job at a nearby international school right out of college, and now work at the same school where I did my student teaching, doing the same job I interned for! Plus I met my husband during student teaching, so that was an added bonus :)

Q3:
In my case it was more or less a natural choice.

My father wanted me to go to university in Italy. He felt it was a more stable country and with more social rights/services than Latin America in general. He felt as a parent the duty not to leave his sons in an unstable place.

In terms of the actual level of preparation, at the time universities in Italy had a reputation for strong and demanding Engineering curricula. Since that's what I wanted to study, it seemed to me just fine.

As far as which specific university in Italy to choose, the original plan was for Triest during the first two years, and then Padova for the remaining three. Padova seemed to have some more specific courses I was interested in, yet at the end logistics dictated I stayed in Triest.

Actually I briefly flirted with the idea of US' MIT, but I didn't give it a serious go since it was all too impractical because of cost and logistics.



Q4:
The short answer is that it proved a very poor choice, because of the impact of re-entry to the 'home' country. It was a factor I did not take into account, since after all I 'was' Italian... isn't it?

The second reason it was a poor experience, is that while abroad I think I was prepared for an Anglo-Saxon kind of university. The Italian system is totally different. I recall during the end of my third year considering going to the UK, in the hope of changing the situation. At the end I gave up since, for however strange it may sound, my engineering knowledge was now in 'Italian'... it would have taken me more time to 'switch' it into English.

The third reason it was a poor choice, which at the end I think is the root cause for why it took forever to fix the previous two problems, is that the Italian university system was collapsing. I went through one national reform, and at least two administrative local reforms at my uni. Things were particularly bad at Triest.

However, I think I must say clearly that I do not have any regrets for the choice made. You see, with just the information I had at the time, I was reasonably happy with it. Things just turned out to be bad.

Well, for me it was a complete and utter accident. I didn't get the bac (baccalauréat) so I couldn't really go to a french school (at least not as a french student) and US schools are less rigid anyways (which I like) so I decided I would go to a US school.....then it was just chance...i only applied to three schools, got into two, chose the better one (although it was the only one I had never been to). Complete chance (to whom I owe a big thank you).

well, i am afraid i didn't have too much of a choice. it was simply down to what would be an affordable place for me. at the time i didn't really know i was a tck, so i didn't really consider important things like international programs and such things. So i actually don't really like my school that much for it. But transferring seems incredibly difficult, so i guess i am here for about 3 more years. I guess overall i am not all that happy with my decision, but i know i will probably study abroad for at least a semester to get out. but that is the future.
By the way, I am at Sam Houston State Univ.

Quite a story there Jemila =) Thanks for sharing.

Contrary to your experience, I have parents who supported my decision to go to university in the Philippines...though I can't really tell if they were happy about my decision.

During my year 2 of IB in the French school in the Philippines, I was hesitant as to where I wanted to go. I did not apply to any American universities. I had a handful of info regarding French, German and Australian universities. I was checking out Paris IV, Paris II and Sciences Po in France, Freie Uni and Humboldt in Berlin, Germany and Australian National.

My parents wanted me to go back to Europe or join them in their posting in Japan (either go to Waseda, Sophia or the UN University...they promised me that I would go to a dorm if I did decide to pursue this). They were about to leave for my dad's foreign posting after our 2 year "home assignment" - my re-entry.

But I always felt that I needed to reconnect with my passport country, a country that I did not really "know." I had to at least stay here for a couple of years because I did not have a strong connection. I felt so out of place, especially around cousins who are of the same age as I am. They talked Filipino differently, they acted differently...and I guess I kinda wanted to belong to my family as well (even though I'm still kind of "the different" kid...hehehe). I said to myself "I'm gonna be labeled a Filipino wherever I go anyway...but I don't really KNOW the country."

I chose my University here (De La Salle University) based on what I read about their international studies program. They also have study abroad programs so the possibility to go abroad even for just a year during my undergrad studies was still there. I guess I was just covering my "behind" just in case I felt the itch to move again (which I did by the way, just came back from my one-year abroad in France).

My parents accepted the fact that I wanted to stay behind. They accepted my choice (though they said that if I were to stay here, I should also apply to the universities where they studied) and I'm glad they did cos staying in my passport country has opened my eyes to a country that I used to only hear about from my parents and from what I read in the news.

My apologies for the long post but I just wanted to share my story.

Lol I was that person that chose my university based on things that were going to make me feel ok about being in one place for 4 years. I made a list and everything.

1. Its near an international airport
2. My degree requires me to study abroad
3. It has study abroad programs in 108 countries and the uni pays for you to go abroad (sort of)
4. 80% of students study abroad so in theory they are more culturally aware
5. It has a really good international studies program
6. It is almost in the suburbs but its in Denver 15 min drive or lightrail ride to the heart of the city
7. Colorado is beautiful and I'd never been there before
8. None of my friends were going there
9. I like the freedom of American institutions of higher education

I'm sure there are more reasons but those were the ones I remember. I made a good and informed decision...although I did wonder for a while...

I'm about to make another list for grad school. We'll see if anything changes.

Happy might be overstating, satisfied is the more appropriate word for me.

Hello :)

Miki, I think I told you I didn't go to University, I did alternative tertiary studies, so I'll explain the reasons for my choices.

I am sure everybody that know me on TCK knows all the drama that I have with my father...I bring it up because it is one of the ingredients that made me make my choice of studies.

Around the age of 15 (while I lived in Italy) I dropped out of school due to depression, I was out of the school system for nearly three years. When we went back to Nigeria and I plucked up the courage to face my schooling, I studied at home and managed to pass my O levels and A levels, this was such a relief...

I knew I wasn't ready for a 5 year Uni course, so I started looking for other alternatives. I had 2 choices, Study in Italy (at that point I would have rather died than gone back :D ), my father was adamant I should study their.

The other choice was Argentina, "my country" that I felt terribly estranged. I wanted to go to the UK to study illustration, but for economical reasons it wasn't possible. Studying in Nigeria wasn't given to me as an option, South Africa a possible choice (my father stubbornly refused to even let me consider... due to the "danger").

Sorry to give such a long and complicated explanations :)

At that point in my life I wanted to be near Nigeria, my father and all that I loved. Most of my friends at that point where Lebanese, and Lebanon has very strong ties to west Africa, so i decided that I wanted to explore this possibility...so to make a long story short I moved to Lebanon where I studied for 2 years jewelry design and manufacture, but it wasn't fulfilling me, so I took up pottery under a Lebanese artist, this turned out to be more in tune with me.

I have since moved on to other media, I paint now and work in mixed media, dry point, etc.

All in all, I don't think I would change anything, I stand by my choices.

I chose University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign because that was the only school that accepted me before May 1st, the deadline for responding back to the Uni (Wisconsin-Madison sent the acceptance letter a lot later).

Why did I choose to go to the Uni in the States?
1) I wanted to go to UK but the cost was too high for my parents (they paid full tuition, no loans) both the tuition fee and standard of living
2) I didn't really want to go to Australia because it was too close to Asia in my opinion
3) I had wanted to do web design/computer science and I figured the US is pretty strong in this area

Why did I apply to UIUC?
My mom wanted me to look at the top 50 universities in the States which I honestly don't have any problem with because I have no clue what the heck I was doing anyways LOL I applied to I think about 7 schools and they were of different varieties (Ivy League, none-Ivy League) just to see where I stand. I really didn't have a dream school and there was no way I could go visit the campus when I was 8000 miles away in Asia.

Was I happy with my decision?
Most definitely. I made the greatest friends there than anywhere and I loved the campus.

I never really had much of a choice either. The thought of going to Penn State for college was pretty much drilled into my head since I was born. Both of my parents, as well as almost all of my aunts and uncles came here, and my granddad was a professor here. I asked my folks if we could visit Pitt's campus one weekend, and my dad just asked "Why would you want to do that?" Well, then.

As for whether or not I'm happy coming here, I guess it's not so bad. I didn't mind it so much for most of the time. I mean, almost all of my friends from high school came too. But now the fatigue of being in this teeny-tiny town is finally starting to set in, because MAN I cannot wait until I leave.

I didn't really have much of a choice. My parents insisted I go back to Japan for university and at the time the only choices were:

1. Sophia University

2. The International Christian University

I got accepted at both and chose #2 as they had higher standards for accepting students. Now, I'm not sure I made the right decision as I think #1 probably has a better Alumni association. ;)

I really dreaded going back. I think a cloud of depression hung over me during my years in high school as I imagined myself going back to Japan and into the life there - and the worst thing was that when I went back it was as bad as I had imagined it to be.

The only pleasant surprise was that Japanese people were much nicer people than the ones I'd known (the Japanese expats).

There's a line in Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, 'When we were Orphans' that always makes me feel emotional as it brings back memories of my own dread:

"I had hardly ever seen my friend cry. In fact, today, this is the only recollection I have of him crying. Even when a large piece of mortar fell on his leg behind the American Mission, for all his turning a ghastly white, he did not cry. But that afternoon by the canal, Akira had clearly reached his wits' end....
'When parent's find out,' he said eventually, 'they be so angry. Then they not let me stay here. Then we all go to Japan.' " ('When we were Orphans' by Kazuo Ishiguro, p.99)

Clearly, going back to Japan is 'punishment' (so horrible physical pain can't even compare to it) for Akira as it was for me. The whole chapter surrounding p.99 of this novel is about Akira's disastrous repatriation and his return to Shanghai with his friend Christopher echoing his own sentiments of not wanting to ever go back to England.