You can develop real competitive advantages over students who never venture abroad to study, including:

• Improved foreign language skills.
• A more cosmopolitan, international perspective.
• Greater tolerance for other opinions.
• Ability to think more originally and to see more than one perspective on an issue.
• Greater self-reliance and self-confidence.
• More comfort with complex situations, the ability to better cope with ambiguous information, and greater flexibility.

Career benefits

International experience benefits those seeking careers in almost any field. In fact, employers recognize skills that are acquired overseas. Study abroad identifies you as informed, confident, self-sufficient, and able to learn quickly and adapt to changing conditions.

Cite your studies abroad on your résumé. In job interviews, you can discuss how your overseas experience made you more independent, responsible, organized, and innovative.

Other benefits

• Friendships and contacts you develop overseas allow you to understand views other than your own. These friendships, both with locals and students from other programs, can serve as future networking opportunities.
• You can make a difference in everyday lives. Some study abroad programs offer social and community outreach programs. For example, you might have the opportunity to teach refugees or the underprivileged to read and write.