As wave after wave of college decisions are rolling in for the Class of 2025, it’s becoming apparent that many students will be studying outside the United States next year.
One such student, senior Derin Kirtman, is headed to Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. Though he is now committed to Bocconi, the decision was relatively last-minute; throughout Upper School, Kirtman had intended to study in the U.S.
“For the entirety of high school, I was set on going to an American school,” Kirtman said. “I was in the mindset of ‘let me get the best extracurriculars’ and ‘let me get the best grades’ to try to get into an Ivy League or a top 20 school. I hadn’t even thought about going abroad.”
Kirtman’s limited consideration for the international school system initially stemmed from his belief that schools in the United States were the only good option. As a result, his goals throughout Upper School were solely focused on U.S. schools.
“I wanted to maximize my possibilities and potential and get into the best school I could in America,” Kirtman said. “It was like that for three and a half years.”
Kirtman stands out in that respect, as most of his classmates who will be studying abroad knew much earlier that they planned to do so. For example, senior Alissia Dupriez, who is attending the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, has been set on leaving the U.S. for years.
“I knew I wanted to go abroad since high school began,” Dupriez said.
The same goes for senior Samu Peto-Benedek, who will study at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in Ireland next year. Over his four years of WIS Upper School, nothing has dissuaded him from his freshman dream of attending TCD.
“I’ve wanted to go to Trinity since visiting in ninth grade,” Peto-Benedek said.
The motivation to leave the U.S. is also reflected by German-French senior Cécile Nelles, who will attend Canada’s McGill University in Montréal in the fall. Like many of her peers, Nelles has always intended to study abroad.
“Because of my background, it was expected that I would go to school in Germany or France,” Nelles said. “I was kind of drawn to going to school outside the U.S.”
One of the many reasons that led Nelles to apply abroad was the sense that international schools are underrated. In her eyes, education abroad holds equal merit to the U.S. education system.
“A lot of people are really caught up in the idea that the U.S. is the best education you can get, when you can get the same, if not better, abroad,” Nelles said.
This one-sided view that many students hold with respect to the international system is worsened by the pressure regarding prestige. Nelles believes there is a misconception that the only schools worth attending are the highest-ranking universities, which can cause excellent overseas schools to be overlooked.
“There is this perception in high school that you only do well if you make it to a top ten school,” Nelles said. “There are so many great schools all around the world that people don’t really even think about.”
Because of this fear that international universities might not be ‘prestigious enough,’ Kirtman similarly believes that many students are irrationally afraid to take the risk of applying abroad, possibly resulting in regrets down the line.
“You don’t want to be in that position in 10 years [when] you regret not making that jump and living in Europe like you always wanted to,” Kirtman said.
One person who boldly made the jump was Dupriez. In fact, she didn’t send in any applications to American schools due to her certainty that she wanted to leave the U.S.
“I didn’t even apply to schools in the U.S., because I already knew I wanted to go abroad,” Dupriez said.
However, deciding on a school isn’t always that simple. Kirtman believes that choosing what to prioritize in the application process is a very personal decision that involves many factors.
“You have to take in the context of who you are as a person before you make the decision,” Kirtman said.
Another of Kirtman’s priorities in the process included ensuring that his future school’s environment wasn’t too different from the WIS community.
“I wanted to experience somewhere similar to WIS, kind of a ‘work hard, play hard’ environment,” Kirtman said.
Searching for a university to both resemble and develop the WIS experience has been a goal for Nelles as well, who appreciates the diversity and friendliness of the WIS community.
“I really wanted an extension of WIS,” Nelles said. “I love the close-knit community and how everyone is so international. I wanted something that I could build onto instead of starting fresh.”
Kirtman sees this international aspect of the WIS community as a good stepping stone for life beyond Upper School and another reason to apply abroad.
“After going to WIS, the world is open to you,” Kirtman said. “You have the opportunity to go anywhere, do anything.”
The general attraction of multiculturalism and diversity is another of the biggest appeals of studying abroad for students in the Class of 2025. McGill-bound senior Lorin Saadi Yesil cites broadening her worldview as the biggest reason behind her decision to study in Canada.
“I want to experience new cultures and learn about the world, which is why I applied abroad,” Saadi Yesil said.
Dupriez feels the same way about university, seeing her studies as a way of increasing her exposure to cultures beyond the United States.
“I have lived in the U.S. my whole life and wanted to experience a new environment and culture,” Dupriez said.
In Kirtman’s case, this craving to broaden horizons also comes from his desire to seek unique and thrilling experiences.
“I’m the type of person who wants to live an adventure and say I did something for myself,” Kirtman said. “I can go to Italy and experience the European side of life, which I’ve always wanted to do.”
Though his reasons for going to Italy are mostly positive, part of Kirtman’s justification for leaving is that he feels repelled by the insular political climate in the U.S.
“American politics are so polarizing and annoying to me, and I don’t want that looming over my head,” Kirtman said. “In Europe, it’s more laid-back.”
Similarly, Nelles felt deterred from studying domestically due to her disapproval of the current U.S. political state.
“I’m not the biggest fan of the political decisions that have been made recently in the U.S.,” Nelles said.
Peto-Benedek’s decision was also influenced, in part, by U.S. politics.
“With the current political situation, I’m not eager to stay in the U.S.,” Peto-Benedek said.
Besides the common deterrent of politics, several students were dissuaded from studying in the U.S. due to more personal criticisms of American schooling. After visiting WIS alumnus Antonio Giorgianni at the University of California, Berkeley, Kirtman realized that he wasn’t the biggest fan of the popular U.S. fraternity system.
“The frat life was not for me,” Kirtman said. “It’s hard to experience the fun part of the college experience in the US without joining a frat.”
Dupriez, on the other hand, was discouraged by the daunting American application process.
“The U.S. application process is so long and tedious, only to be rejected by your top choice,” Dupriez said.
Moreover, she felt incentivized to apply abroad by the possibility of reduced school time that UBC offers students who perform well on their exams.
“In my case, if I get certain scores in my IB exams, I can skip my entire first year, allowing me to graduate earlier,” Dupriez said.
Another academic incentive to study abroad is the possibility of learning new languages more easily. While living in Italy, Kirtman plans to learn Italian on top of the three languages that he already speaks: English, Turkish and Spanish.
“I’m going to pick up Italian at Bocconi, so I’m going to have four languages under my belt,” Kirtman said. “[Studying abroad] sets you up to be a really balanced person.”
Beyond educational motivators, Kirtman was drawn to the financial benefits of living abroad.
“Cost was also part of my decision,” Kirtman said. “You get all this stuff in Europe for a fraction of the price you pay in the U.S. You get the same education, and you get to be in this international environment.”
In the end, although Kirtman is convinced that going to Italy is the right move for him, he acknowledges that there is no all-encompassing university that is a perfect fit for every student.
“It’s a complicated decision and it’s personal for everyone, so you can’t judge anyone,” Kirtman said.
Nelles also stressed the importance of setting aside judgment, explaining that it can be difficult to truly know which university is right for you without looking past others’ criticisms.
“Think about what you want for yourself, not what other people want,” Nelles said. “It’s harder than you would think to do that.”
By Tindra Jemsby
