Q3: Why did you choose the University that you went to?
This could be due to various factors such as language, friends, specific educational subject interest, views on places, general interest in the culture, personal value and views on specific educational institutions, or the recognition of the institutions.
For me, I knew that I wasn’t able to go to a University in Japan (my native country) because I knew my Japanese was not up to University standard. I can speak Japanese informally with my family at home but I haven’t learnt to read and write since primary school. Also, my brother was studying in Sydney so my parents felt that it was safe and closer for me to go to Australia rather than going to the US or the UK.
What factors affected your choice of tertiary education?
Then the next question is: (Q4) ARE YOU OVERALL HAPPY WITH YOUR DECISION? WHY/WHY NOT?
November 15th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
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
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November 15th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
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!
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November 16th, 2008 at 8:46 am
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.
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December 20th, 2008 at 6:31 am
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.
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