Lin 1 Dorothy Lin Kristen Foster CO 150.

401 22 November, 2013 Study Abroad: A Valuable Choice for a Higher Education When I was a little kid, I wondered what was it look like in the other side of the earth, were there countries really different from China? Because of this curiosity, studying abroad became a dream in my mind. With the development of globalization, the number of students who study abroad is soaring rapidly these years. A series of data shows more than 4.1 million students study abroad until 2010 with an average annual growth rate of 7.1% (OECD 1, 5). More and more students are considering studying aboard as an option for their further education. Some experts hint that it is beneficial to study overseas while other claim exists that many impediment occurs at the meantime. Because they think overseas education seems to become a kind of consumer behavior rather than simply for the purpose of studying, and also dilute students national sentiment. Furthermore, issues caused by studying abroad such as mental problems triggered by isolation generally attract public attention. Thus, some people doubt that if it is wise for students to continue their education abroad. As one of the international students, studying abroad is a valuable and professional choice which has some significant benefits for me. For example, studying overseas could improve my living skills, make me more competitive in workplace, and I could have chance to learn more advanced knowledge in plenty of academic fields, where China has no experience or not generally recognized, to better serve my motherland. Consequently, in my point of view, students who graduate from high school or have already obtained their bachelor degrees should study abroad to continue their education.

Lin 2 Let me begin with a significant advantage of overseas education. Unlike other educational experiences in ones original country, studying abroad can help students acquire new life skills and make them become more independent. The value of developing new life skills and independence is highlighted By Isabel Eva Bohrers article 10 Reasons Why You Should Study Abroad in College Benefits & Challenges. Bohrere points out learn how to communicate across cultures(5), become more independent(6) and form new and rewarding relationships(9) are three life skills acquired from overseas education,. She also encourages students studying abroad because of these advantages. Meanwhile, my own personal experiences demonstrate how acquiring new life skills can increase a students independence. When I was just in America at the first few months, I was curious about everything around me and eager to explore all of them. With the gradual deepening of the discovery, I noticed that I could not well fit to the new environment because of the totally different culture. I began to adjust myself to become more open-minded, and tried my best to overcome these difficulties. This improves my ability to adapt to a new environment quickly. Communication skill was also involved, because making an effort to form relationships with people around me does really help me a lot, by the increasing amount of friends with different races, cultural difference became a very interesting thing in my daily life. Ultimately, I enjoyed the process of finding different cultures and willing to study or absorb advantages from them. In brief, studying abroad has already helped me learning how to adapt to a new environment expeditiously, has a more tolerant attitude to accept cultural differences and better communicate across cultures, and makes a number of friends with different backgrounds worldwide. Obviously, studying overseas will make you far away from home, but exploring an unfamiliar district will ignite your living passion and also an opportunity for you to hone your skills and get some independence, values your day to-day routines.

Lin 3 The second thing that I want to highlight is that studying aboard could ameliorate students career trajectories and enhance employment opportunities. A director of diversity recruiting & advising at IES Abroad, Gretchen Cook-Anderson, provides some statistics shows nearly 90% of students studying abroad in IES program(IES Abroad is a global, not-for-profit academic consortium of more than 200 top-tier American colleges and universities that has been a leader in study abroad programs for over 60 years.(70)) find their first job for six months after graduation. By contrast, only 49% of respondents in a separate college graduates who discovered the work completed within one year of the school census. In addition, more than 65% of students abroad to study abroad in the IES survey found that within the time limit reached or exceeded their expectations of career-related positions. Students who study abroad in the IES university graduates earn an average of $7,000 more than those from the recent American college graduates starting salaries. This advantage also proved in another the survey report What Statistics Show about Study Abroad Students. According to the report, 70% of study abroad alumni claimed that because of study abroad, they could have more chance to obtain their jobs with a higher satisfaction. These data from both surveys all illustrate that students who have overseas educational background are easier to find a job with a higher salary. We could get a line that a study abroad experience would benefit the students in ways. For instance, qualities such as foreign language skills, self-motivation, maturity, confidence and open-mindedness may be assumed in such students, which will make you to be a more outstanding employee than someone who did not study abroad. This idea is also be proved on a website called Vistawide which devoted to overseas education, it elucidates that a student who has studied abroad is selfmotivated, independent, willing to embrace challenges, and able to cope with diverse problems and situations(30) and these qualities will all set you apart from the majority of other job

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applicants(32). Therefore, it is easy to draw a conclusion that student with an overseas

educational background has stronger competitiveness in the workplace, because managers would prefer hiring staffs with specialized training and practical experiences which are not available in institutions in the homeland. In addition to the better job opportunities, thanks to the more advanced technology provided by different foreign educational system, which could broaden the horizon of students, you could use the advantageous knowledge and technologies to help developing your own countries. This conception could be proved by the example of Xiaoping Deng, the second president of the People's Republic of China. He studied abroad in France, the birthplace of communism and has many brand new ideas about how to build a democratic society, in 1920. Because of this experience, Deng was stimulated to some abstraction to practice in the process of developing China. Under the guidance of his advanced idea Reform and Opening Reform and Opening to the outside World, China is developing in a correct and clear direction. With Xiaoping Dengs example, I conducted an interview to my friend, Weiling Lan who is one of the international students in CSU, to acquire more personal opinions of making contribution to the motherland after graduation. She pointed out that studying abroad was a good chance for an individual not only to improve their social value, but also show their national responsibility. These advanced technologies might help the country making a dramatic progress. Lan strongly agreed and called on that students should go back to their own countries in the future with those knowledge learned during the overseas experience to make the countries better, and promote the development of the world eventually. So as far as I am concerned, especially in developing countries, the advanced knowledge and technology students learned from overseas education in developed countries would have significant influence benefits on building your own countries.

Lin 5 However, the most current argument against overseas education is that some people concern about studying abroad might dilute students national sentiment and shrink their sense of national identity and proud. I dont one hundred percent agree with this opinion, and I think patriotism and national proud can even be enhanced when studying abroad on the contrary. One day, I was appeal to a special music while wandering on campus, and then Indian students staged a wonderful flashing mob in a few second. This performance was highly valued and achieved a good response that many students attend the traditional dancing and show their interesting in Indian culture. Whats more, on the World Unity Fair Colorado State University holds annually, people from different parts of the world all show their high enthusiasm to this fair. They prepared programs and performances with national characteristics attentively in order to have a better publication on their own countries. In addition, there is an article about the Chinese New Year Gala held in America reported by the New York Times. It spoke highly of the value of promoting Chinese traditional New Years culture. Whats more, students think more about making contributions towards their own countries after graduation as I mentioned in the last paragraph. These examples all prove that overseas students national emotions are not shrinking because of studying abroad. Hence, people have no need to worry too much about the dilution on national emotion. Instead, studying abroad deepens their sense of national identification, and students overseas are using their own ways to promote their countries. Now, my dream of studying abroad came true. As a Chinese student studying in America, I glimpse something of how education overseas benefits students. It improves ones living skills, helps students having more job opportunities, and even contributes to your countries. In my point of view, a person studying abroad may become more globally competent through a comparison of cultural values and ways of life. Since study abroad is like trying to make dreams realized, an

Lin 6 increasing number of students are eager to overcome a number of difficulties both before and after landing in your daily life. So, pre-overseas students should well prepare for the challenge of their future studying in a totally unfamiliar country. In conclusion, studying abroad is a valuable investment, and students should go through this kind of interesting and unforgettable experience to make their own life become more colorful and meaningful, and also improve you not only life skills but also personal competitiveness.

Lin 7 Work Cited Bohrer, Isabel Eva. 10 Reasons Why You Should Study Abroad in College Benefits & Challenges. Moneycrashers. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. Chinese Demand for Overseas Education Remains Strong despite Worries about Jobs. ICEF Monitor. 26 June, 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. Choi, Serene. and Timo Nieminen. "Factors Influencing the Higher Education of International Students from Confucian East Asia." Higher Education Research & Development 32.2 (2013): 161-173. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Cook-Anderson, Gretchen. Studying Abroad in College Helps Graduates Make More Money and Land Jobs Faster. Diversity Employers (2012): 11-13. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. Hopkins, Katy. 6 Challenges for International Students in College. U.S. News & World Report. Education, 28 August, 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. How Many Students Study Abroad and Where Do They Go? OECD (2012). Education at a Glance 2012: Highlights. Smith, Steve. The Lyricism of Chinese New Year. The New York Times. Music. 25 Jan, 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. What Statistics Show about Study Abroad Students. UCmerced. Study Abroad. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. Why Study Abroad? Vistawide. World Languages and Cultures. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.