In Brazil, when talking about studying abroad, many people immediately think of the United States or Canada, destinations seen as the most popular. This fame, however, does not necessarily translate into having the best education or the best prices – the loveUK, in fact, was born from this desire to present new destinations, with a focus on the United Kingdom.
Currently, there are about 432,000 international students in the Queen's land, while 970,000 have headed to Uncle Sam's home. But what did each one see as attractive to make their choices? The American Robbie Crowder studied for seven years in higher education courses before deciding to move to the United Kingdom in order to do a doctorate at Loughborough University (partner loveUK). After extensive research, he listed four reasons that contributed to his decision. Check out:
Duration of the course
In the United States, a doctorate can last from five to seven years, while in the United Kingdom the course takes between three and four years. This big difference can impact both doctoral expenses and time to re-enter the job market: earning a degree in the UK means using it one to four years earlier than in the US.
According to Robbie, British doctorates in his field of study strongly recommend that the student already has a master's degree, making him feel that his master's degree is more valuable for an application in the UK than in American institutions.
course structure
“After studying for years in the US, I was used to courses with a class schedule, telling me when and where I had to be somewhere. My master's degree in the US was structured in a way that I didn't even have to select subjects, because there was already a pre-determined schedule that the entire class followed,” says Robbie.
According to what he researched, American doctoral courses follow a similar dynamic, in contrast to the British model, where the student finds greater flexibility – on the other hand, he must have more discipline and self-motivation for those who are not used to having so much freedom. .
“The freedom to decide what kind of training to attend and what to work on on a given day can facilitate a detour. However, setting basic goals according to time and exercising self-discipline can make things easier to control”, he concludes.
costs
There is always that question: is it more expensive to study in the United States or the United Kingdom? For this question, it is worth remembering that for each country there are differences between universities, as well as funding opportunities and the cost of living in the city.
In most cases, a PhD in the US is more likely to be more expensive because of annual fees and course time. “As an international student, you will come across anywhere between US$78K to US$177K over five to seven years in an American PhD, versus US$40K to US$107K for a three to four year period in the UK,” he calculates. Robbie.
Researching and comparing courses in each country is a good way to decide where to study.
Balance between work and life
Robbie says that one of the issues that caught his attention most in his research was the difference in work-life balance. Many say that when entering a graduate course, it is possible to choose only two of three options: social life, sleep well or good grades. In the case of the American in his master's, he managed to focus on just one – the grades.
“From what I've read, a doctorate in the US would have a similar dynamic, mainly because these programs tend to include many subjects in the first two years. I knew I didn't want this kind of experience. Now that I've been in the UK for eight months, I can definitely say I've found a good balance here. I keep a regular work schedule and it seems that most of my friends do too. There will always be times when I have to stay up late or work on the weekend, but that has been, until now, very rare cases.”
In short, from research and personal experience, Robbie leans on the UK side. “I have my opinions about studying abroad, but in the end, whether it is beneficial for you is something that should be seen according to your needs and desires”, he concludes.
