Concerned about cost? Consider earning a college degree abroad

December 9, 3:32 PMCollege Admissions ExaminerLauren Starkey

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Record numbers of American students are attending foreign colleges, seeking both a different educational environment and lower tuition bills. A recent New York Times article explored the experiences of a few such students who are getting their degrees at Scottish universities. In addition to the savings, a freshman at the University of Edinburgh cites another reason to consider attending a foreign university; namely, to avoid what he calls the “hilarious American college-admissions essays on ‘If you were going to sing a song in a talent show, what would you sing and why?’”

Although I’ll state for the record that I haven’t seen the application of every undergraduate institution in the United States, I’ve seen plenty. And I’ve never come across a question even remotely as bizarre as that one. But I do know that if you apply to the Oxford engineering program, you‘ll have to talk about a light bulb, and if you apply to their English program, you‘ll have to reveal whether you‘d rather be a novel or a poem. If you apply to the Natural Sciences program at Cambridge, you‘ll be asked to discuss what you‘d do if you were a magpie. Another program wants you to explain how you’d poison someone without the police finding out.

Oxford admissions director Michael Nicholson defends his school’s questions, explaining that they’re designed to “move students out of their comfort zone.“ But according to CNN’s Atika Shubert, the reaction on English streets has a zone of its own. One passerby wondered, “it’s totally out there, really. Are they on drugs?“

Even with the sometimes bizarre removed-from-comfort questions, many American students could benefit from the experience of living and studying abroad. In this age of globalization, graduating with an expanded worldview, and possible foreign work experience, could be worth plenty in the job market--and it could be had for far less than the cost of an American degree.