I’m an American who just started my first year of undergraduate studies at the National University of Singapore last month. I chose Singapore over the US because I wanted to live abroad, and Singapore checked pretty much every box for me: it’s in Asia, tropical, safe, developed, and English is the medium of instruction.

Now, even though NUS is a great university by global standards, the reaction I’ve gotten from many of my family members and friends is that choosing to study abroad as an American is inherently a downgrade, regardless of the university or country. That’s where my question comes from.

  • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    the facilities are not the same

    That has very little effect on coursework, since there’s not much lab work in undergrad, at least not enough where variability will significantly affect outcomes

    The professors are not the same

    Sure, but overall course offerings and structure are standardized and guided by ABET-accreditation, which is required for the vast majority of engineering jobs. Between that and there only being 2-3 worthwhile textbooks for most topics, there’s not that much variability.

    Graduate programs are where most engineering schools diverge, since that’s heavily based on funding, reputation, and specialization of professors.

    after completing an undergrad degree at MIT or Stanford or similar school, and being disappointed in it?

    Pretty weird assumption to make.

    No, this is based on years of experience working with other engineers that recieved education from various schools throughout Ohio. There’s no appreciable difference in quality of undergrads between Ohio State, University of Cincinnati, Wright State, University of Toledo, Ohio University, etc. despite having very different reputations and whether they’re private or public schools.

    Now if you’re done being wildly confrontational without knowing what you’re talking about, I’m going to move on with my day