When is the best age to study abroad?
When it comes to studying abroad, there is no one answer that fits everyone. However, there are a few things that can help make the process easier for you. To start with, it is best to know when you are ready. If you are eager to learn new languages and cultures but are unsure if you are ready, study abroad during your junior year of high school.
What is the youngest age to study abroad?
Many people have different opinions on the youngest age to study abroad. While some people feel you should be able to study abroad when you are eighteen, others feel it is not bad to study abroad at a younger age of fourteen as long as you don’t travel too far from home.
Some set of people also feel you should at least be in your early twenties before leaving your country to study abroad.
Someone mentioned that a 14-year-old should not be sent abroad to school. They further mentioned that if a child that young is sent abroad to school, they should be sent to a private all-girls or all-boys boarding school in a country such as Switzerland where they can be well monitored and protected.
The age at which a student leaves home is important to how well they cope and turn out when they return to their home country. However, some can comport themselves and behave more maturely than their age. A 16-year-old girl may behave more maturely than an 18-year-old girl depending on their upbringing or nature.
Others travel abroad in their sophomore year and they return more confident and happier than they were before they left. A girl who left to travel abroad at the age of 16 returned nearly fluent in a foreign language.
Traveling abroad to live and study means that you will face a different culture, situation, and people so you should have the capacity to handle everything without much aid or support. Even if you have a guardian, you are still the one who needs to work hard and smart to attain success in your studies.
Another person said they traveled abroad in their early twenties when they already know how to live on their own, take care of the bills, cook for themselves, and have no attachments back home such as a spouse or children. They recommend this age as the best age to travel abroad to study as it worked out for them.
As mentioned earlier there’s no perfect age to study abroad. Even when you don’t feel ready but have the desire to learn and the courage to try. You may not even feel ready.
However, the younger you are, the easier you’ll be able to adapt to the changes in another country unlike when you are already well advanced in age. You will have already soaked in your own culture that a new one will come as a shock to you.
If you already had your first degree in your home country, you will need to do a lot of adjustments in another country if you decide to further your studies abroad.
On the other hand, you won’t have to make so many adjustments if you are starting your first degree in another country since you don’t have any prior college experience elsewhere.
How old do you have to be to study abroad in the USA?
To study abroad in the USA, you should have finished high school and have a high school or secondary school diploma. This is usually the requirement to start college abroad depending on how fast your education is.
A 17-year-old girl from Dadar who was an Olympiad winner once got admission to the MIT, Cambridge in the United States of America after multiple rejections elsewhere. She was home-tutored by her father till grade 12.
This shows that whether you finished high school at age 17 or 18 will be able to study abroad at that age as long as you have your high school diploma. Most US applicants are usually 17 years old at the time they apply to college.
However, any college applicant who is applying to study in the USA will need a parent or guardian to sign a form or be declared an emancipated minor if he or she is still a minor but would like to take up responsibilities for their schooling.
However, a minor needs to be at least 16 years old to be able to petition a court for emancipation. As an international student, you need to show proof of funds or ability to pay your tuition even if you are above 18. This will have to be carried out by a parent or guardian if you are still a minor.
A student mentioned that they skipped two grades and entered college at age 16 but they had completed their high school diploma at the time. They had no issues getting into college even at such an age.
Another thing to note is that if you are applying for financial aid, you may need a guardian or parents to help you fill out the profile forms if you are still a minor.
Many students have applied to study in US colleges between the ages of 16 and 18 without issues. This shows that you can study abroad in the USA at any age so far you have completed high school and have a parent or guardian to go through the process with you.
If you are looking to study for a master’s in the USA, there is no age restriction so far you have completed a first or bachelor’s degree. Someone who has passed through three or four years of undergraduate degree should have passed the stage of a minor. He or she should old enough to leave his or her country to study abroad.
Should I send my daughter to study abroad?
Just like you, many parents ask the same question about sending their daughter abroad to school. They are unsure about the things their daughters may face in another country or if they’d be able to cope or survive those things. Parents have numerous reasons for being skeptical about sending their daughters to study abroad.
You should know that countless families have sent their daughters abroad to school and most of them have come back more fulfilled and confident.
Sending your daughter to study abroad depends on many questions and factors which you should answer and sort out first.
You should know if truly your daughter wants to be sent abroad to study. Their willingness to study abroad can help in making it the best experience for them. If they are not willing to study abroad as you wish for them to, they may not put the effort into their studies or not be motivated in their studies.
Asking them and finding out their take on it can be a good step to take in deciding to send them abroad or not.
You should also consider the country you want them to study in. Is the country safe enough for them? Will they be able to adapt well to the culture and way of life of the country? Finding answers to this will help you find the ultimate answer to sending your daughter abroad to school.
It is also important to find out if your daughter meets the age requirement or educational qualifications to study in that country. If your daughter is too young, some countries may not be open to receiving such a young age at the school for stated reasons or reasons best known to them.
You can also consider the global opportunities that your daughter stands to gain if they school abroad. Sending your daughter abroad to study will put them up for both personal and professional achievements which can propel her to greatness in life.
So many parents who have sent their daughters abroad always talk about the confidence and joy that exudes from them when they return home. This may be the opportunity for your daughter to find and be the best version of herself.
It will help her become a critical thinker and problem solver when faced with difficult situations in life. She may have been so used to you taking care of her that she needs to live life on her own so she can be able to handle life issues as an adult.
Overall, sending your daughter abroad to study is not as hard or bad as it seems. You can always reach out to them via several instant messaging apps to keep up so you don’t feel too far away from them. You can also pay them periodic visits but not too constantly so they don’t begin to get used to that all over again.
Sending your daughter abroad to study is indeed a worthy investment that you should not miss out on. Even your daughters may end up being grateful to you for giving them such opportunities to reach their dreams.