College Abroad

By VALERIE MARCHANT

Nefra Faltas, 20, a human-biology and philosophy major, could have gone to the University of Virginia as an in-state student three years ago but chose to attend the University of Toronto instead. "It was time," she decided, "to be exposed to something completely different." Rachel Polner, 21, a Denver resident, considered several institutions, including Princeton, but stopped looking at U.S. schools after the University of York in England made her an unconditional offer. She knows England well, having vacationed there during her childhood, and was pleased that she would be allowed to concentrate entirely on her chosen subject, English literature. Todd Makurath, 20, decided not to return for his sophomore year at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina because he "wanted to be in a much more stimulating academic environment." Regaled with tales about Trinity College Dublin by some Irish students working at Myrtle Beach, S.C., on summer visas, he decided that he was going to do "whatever it took to get into the college." He bettered his SAT scores, even moved to Ireland for a few months to test the waters. Now in his first year at Trinity, he is delighted to be receiving "an Ivy League education for about half the price."

Cost may be only one factor that is behind a growing move among young Americans to seek their college degrees in Canada, England and Ireland, where the education is first rate and, since English is spoken, understandable. Now, with the cost of an Ivy League education well past the $30,000-a-year mark, the sticker prices abroad are more attractive than ever. An American college student in Canada might spend, on average, U.S.$10,000 for tuition and living expenses; in England, $17,000; and in Ireland, around $14,000. In the past several years, between 20% and 60% more U.S. students have been attending undergraduate schools in Canada, England and Ireland. At the University of Toronto, for example, 152 American students began their first year this fall, 56 more than last year.

Canada, host this year to more than 3,000 American students, is the most popular destination for those seeking undergraduate degrees abroad, in no small part because it's close to home. Katy Morley, 18, chose Bishop's University in southern Quebec because she wanted to leave Vermont yet remain within a two-hour drive of her family's farm. "I loved Bishop's from the first minute," she says. She appreciates her small classes, the charming Quebec scenery and the "low-key" people, whose "whole mind set is different" from that of Americans.

Canada's 90 universities, all publicly funded, offer degree programs similar to those available at U.S. schools. The University of Toronto, for example, lists 300 separate degree programs. Many institutions also claim renowned or unusual specializations, such as polar studies at Trent; ocean science at Memorial University of Newfoundland, conflict resolution at the University of Winnipeg, and petroleum engineering at the University of Alberta.

Americans studying in Canada may find that friends back home are ignorant of all but a few Canadian schools, like McGill. Fortunately, those who count--graduate-admissions deans and corporate recruiters--know better. A Canadian university degree is welcome at such top U.S. graduate schools as Harvard, Yale, Columbia, the University of Chicago and M.I.T. Major U.S. corporations such as IBM, Ford Motor and Arthur Andersen increasingly recruit at Canadian schools. Graduates of the University of Waterloo, with its world-class math and computer-science programs, are recruited by Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Oracle. Film- production students at Concordia University in Montreal are often hired before graduation.

According to a newly published study by the Canadian Bureau for International Education, about 80% of American students at Canadian universities are pleased with their choice of school and would recommend a Canadian education to others. Peter Deitz, 20, a Hastings, N.Y., resident majoring in Canadian history at McGill, allows that he is "very grateful, very content with the choice that I made." In his first two years in Quebec, he improved his French enough to work last summer for an Internet company in Paris.

For many of the 1,400 or so American undergraduates studying in Britain (an increase of 26% in the past three years), family connections, a fondness for all things British and, most of all, the prestige associated with an Oxford, Cambridge or Edinburgh education matter more than price. Yet even though Britain's tuition fees for foreign students are substantial, they are lower than those at many private U.S. schools, and a bachelor's degree usually takes only three years.

British universities best suit those who have already decided what they want to learn, because at those schools students take courses in only one subject during their three-year bachelor program. "If you really know what path you want to take in life," observes Polner, now in her final year at York, "then it's a great way to do it." While Oxford student Graef Allen, 20, sometimes misses the art and music electives she might have taken at home, she appreciates Oxford's tutorial system and being able to "do a lot specialized stuff" in her field, biochemistry.

Ireland, of course, has its own special chemistry. Domenica Alioto, 18, chose Trinity College Dublin because "none of the American schools I applied to really excited me the way Trinity did." The excitement is apparently catching: the number of all American students in Ireland, where there are only nine universities, has doubled in the past four years--to 1,160. Some may come to walk the same streets as did Joyce, Yeats, Swift or Wilde, or take in the enchanting architecture and countryside. Ivan Filbi, director of international student affairs at Trinity College Dublin, simply credits the quality of the schooling. Americans come there, he says, because "they know they're going to get a jolly good education at a very top school." Trinity College, founded in 1592 and located on a romantic 45-acre campus in the heart of Dublin, is a top draw. So is University College Galway, a theatrical and cultural center on Ireland's west coast.

Romantic and historic though they may be, these international institutions don't coddle their students the way some American colleges do. Canadian universities come closest to the American concept of in loco parentis, offering numerous welcoming services to foreign students. Still, their staffs are less nurturing than those in the U.S. In Britain the entire college experience bears almost no resemblance to an American one. As Cecile Divino, who recently attended the London School of Economics, observes, "In England there isn't the same type of community network that American colleges have." "It's hard," says Rachel Polner, "if you do have a serious problem, because you can't just hop on a flight and be home in two hours." Trinity's Filbi warns that in Ireland, "we don't spoon-feed our students." Jessi Hathaway, 18, who left her home in Kennebunkport, Maine, to begin studies at Trinity this year, suggests other Americans plan to bring "an outgoing personality and a sense of adventure" if they plan to survive.

In today's global village, observes David Johnston, the president of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, "borders are less and less barriers and more and more invitations." Those who accept may find they learn as much from living in a new country as they do in their classes. Attending a foreign school, suggests Todd Makurath, "teaches you to think not just in terms of your city or even country but to look at the world as a whole. It's the ultimate learning experience." Nefra Faltas agrees: "My whole world," she says, "seems so much larger now!"

--With reporting by Erica Bray/New York City

With reporting by Erica Bray/New York City