Reflecting On My Exchange Year: Why Studying Abroad Is Worth It

By Zarina Patel, University of Toronto, Canada

I could go on FOREVER about why studying abroad is worth it. From making friends across the world to accessing learning opportunities you might not have had the chance to have otherwise. For the sake of this blog, I will break down some broad reasons as to why I believe studying abroad is simply too incredible of an opportunity to not take up. 

Disclaimer. There are sacrifices which have to be made when doing a year abroad. You will inevitably graduate a year after some of your first and second year course or housemates. You might spend a Christmas away from home. But I’m here to tell you that the pros of studying abroad massively outweigh the cons.

Life experiences / travelling:

I couldn’t write this blog without mentioning my amazing experiences travelling whilst studying abroad. This was truly a highlight – I managed to tick so many things off my life’s bucket list. Your exchange uni city becomes a base for you to catch cheap flights, trains or coaches from to explore your continent. From Toronto, we went to Niagara Falls, Vancouver, Quebec, Cancun, Chicago, Alaska and more (it feels surreal to even be able to say that)! Sometimes these trips can happen over the weekend, during your reading weeks or across your timetabled days off 😉

Employability:

We can all appreciate how competitive it is to enter the job market coming out of uni. Studying abroad boosts your overall employability directly and indirectly, by providing both personal and practical experiences. Having lived abroad is an invaluable experience as it demonstrates great adaptability, independence and initiative. In such a globalised world, it highlights your cultural competence and comfort in diverse environments. On a personal level, it also provides you with a truly unique and meaningful life perspective. Exposure to different cultures and learning opportunities allows you to gain a broader and more nuanced worldview. All of this is very attractive for employers.

Academic opportunities:

Most semester or year-long international study programmes offered by UoM allow you to take modules unrelated to your primary discipline whilst at your host university. With academic fields becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, this demonstrates great versatility to a future employer, or gives you ideas for an interesting dissertation! It is also so refreshing to study something different. Although I am a Psychology undergrad, I took 2 ‘Introduction to Political Science’ modules at UofT which I absolutely loved!

Another highlight of my time at UofT was undertaking a ‘Case Consultant Project’ with UNICEF. As part of my Organisational Behaviour module, my peers and I had the opportunity to present real-life practical recommendations to an actual UNICEF representative addressing employee productivity and the increasing role of AI in their organisation. What an experience that was!

Also, being able to completely construct your own timetable (as long as you meet UoM’s requirements which you will be informed of by your AEA) gives you so much flexibility. You can take classes which are of interest to you. It might also be that you prefer taking classes that have less emphasis on exams but more consistent coursework throughout.

Community upon your arrival back to Manchester:

I was anticipating a more lonely 4th and final year at uni when returning to Manchester thinking it would no longer be “the same”. I was right, it was not the same; but neither are you! You will find a new community amongst fellow coursemates who also did a year abroad or a placement year. You’ll have a new purpose in Manchester and appreciate the city and student way-of-life more. You might come back with a clearer idea of what you want to do after graduating. The UoM Psychology department put on a ‘returners lunch’ during my final year’s Welcome Week in September which was great! It allowed me to connect with everyone in my new cohort who did either a year abroad or placement year, so now had a similar outlook on uni life. Some of my closest course mates now are those who I met at the start of final year, who did a placement year whilst I was on my year abroad!

If you are still genuinely stuck on whether studying abroad should be your next adventure, please don’t hesitate to get in touch (zarina.patel@student.manchester.ac.uk or find me on ig!), and I’m more than happy to chat things through with you!