This is part 4 of a series of articles on locations in the world students often overlook in the admissions process but could lead to excellent results. IrelandIf you haven't been enamored by the Emerald Isle, you haven't been watching the right travel shows. Stone fences and sheep give way to the Cliffs of Moher on the cost. Cozy pubs and traditional music dot the landscape, while metropolitan centers play home to the world's biggest and most important companies. The contrast of modern living and quaint countryside is baffling in such a small place. The Irish have a history going back thousands of years, enriched with wonder and the storytelling made all the better by the lovely accent. It is a place many people wish to see before they die.
Ireland was rated the 10th most peaceful place in the world according to QS in 2018. It is the only English-speaking country in the EU and students looking for English-speaking programs outside of the UK often forget to look right next door. You can visit castles, cliffs, villages and cities quickly and easily and people are known to be among the nicest in Europe. Ireland is centrally located between Asia and the Americas, and only 1 hour from London, 2 to Paris, and 7 to NYC. While it is no-doubt a must-see destination, it turns out to be a pretty good place to study as well. Cost is Low Take National College of Ireland, for example. €10,000/year for tuition. So you can go for a BA (Honors) in Psych or Accounting and Finance for 3 years and pay about half as much in tuition as you would pay for 1 year (of 4-5) in the US? Come on. Anyone who thinks for more than a minute about the value of education has to consider this. Look at computers: a 4-year degree in Ireland at 10K/year? You will get your bachelors for less than the cost of one year's tuition in the States. And this is just one example. Many programs across Ireland cost around €15,000 for international students, and far cheaper for EU citizens. What's also great is North American students can use loans for study in Ireland. Work is Possible Ireland ranks 2nd in the world (behind Singapore) in Foreign Direct Investment. More than 500 companies are within a 10-minute walk of downtown Dublin campuses. There are more than 300 biophrama companies in Ireland, and 24 of the top 25 in the world call it home, including Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer. Tech companies also are in abundance. Google, Facebook, AirBnb, Microsoft, Twitter, eBay and LinkedIn all have European or world headquarters in Dublin. Internships, research, job experiences and connections are plentiful here. Students can work during their studies, and if that wasn't enough to make you study in Ireland, undergraduate students can get a one-year visa after finishing school and work 40-hours per week. In The Economist (Dec/Jan 2017 ed), James Tozer wrote, "Graduates from Irish institutions can expect greater lifetime earnings than those who graduated anywhere else in the OECD." At Trinity College Dublin, you can see the book of Kells at the old Library. Fun fact: the library is the second-most visited site in Dublin. The first? The Guinness Storehouse. However, TCD does boast the two oldest student societies in the world. Check out The University Guys Podcast on Ireland and his Webinar. Visit my page on studying in Ireland for more information.
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AuthorOlder blog posts were for the UCLA Ext course "Using the Internet for College Counseling" Archives
February 2023
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