The best investment I ever made wasn’t in my career – it was in my children’s future

Why the most driven, successful women are choosing to study abroad for their children — and how they’re making it happen

You have established a profession for yourself. You are fully aware of what was required of you in achieving this goal — your sleepless nights, your tough decisions, your countless efforts invested in yourself. However, today you are confronting quite a different type of decision-making task.

When ambition runs in the family

Women who are successful seem to have a special bond with education. Not the type of education where one simply receives information, but rather an education where one can be challenged, stretched, and immersed in incredibly new ideas and people. A woman’s experience with this education is what created her. And she wants to give her children the same education.

More and more of the women who have understood the truth behind education are looking beyond their countries. They are starting to send their kids to study abroad — to study at the best universities in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and many others. This is not a demonstration of status, but rather an investment in a child who deserves that level of education that helped them attain success in life.

“I didn’t send my daughter to study in the US because I wanted to impress anyone. I sent her because I knew what that kind of education had done for me — and I wanted her to have something even better.”

The pattern is clear. The mothers who are going to send their kids abroad most certainly already know what is possible when aspirations and opportunities come together from their previous experiences in the workplace. They are not guessing the outcome. They are investing in a guarantee based on their own experience.

What studying abroad actually gives a child

The advantages of international education are usually confined to reputation and certificates. A diploma from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A name that allows you to enter any room. This is very true, but it is only a small portion of the whole story.

What studying abroad really is is something more structural. It changes the very nature of how a young person interacts with challenges, unfamiliarity, and being in a place where they are not recognized as the best person in the room. It develops resilience and adaptability, which cannot be obtained through domestic education, no matter how good the latter is.

87% of global employers say international experience influences hiring for senior roles
40% higher average earnings reported for internationally educated graduates over their careers
3× more likely to reach leadership positions when combining international education with strong credentials
72% of students who study abroad report it as among the most transformative experiences of their lives

Apart from that, there is also a professional network. The connections that are made while studying at one of the top universities in the USA help build a significant professional network. Your child’s college roommate starts a company in San Francisco; a classmate from Seoul creates a fund in Singapore. The facts mentioned above are not hypothetical; they are real results of every generation of graduates from universities worldwide.

The best universities in the USA — and what makes them worth it

Many families consider the United States as the top choice for the education of their children when they think of studying abroad. There are many good reasons for it — a wide variety and depth of academic programs, great research facilities, a big alumni network, along with easier access to the most advanced industries.

Nonetheless, the best universities in the US are quite different in character, culture, and strengths. The right university for your child will obviously depend on what kind of career your child aims for rather than which university ranks better.

MIT, Cambridge, MA · Engineering & Science: The world’s premier technical university. Exceptional for science, engineering, AI, and quantitative careers.
Stanford, Palo Alto, CA · Innovation & Business: Silicon Valley’s academic home. Unrivalled for entrepreneurship, technology leadership, and cross-disciplinary thinking.
Harvard, Cambridge, MA · Broad Excellence: The world’s most recognised university. Exceptional across law, business, medicine, government, and the arts.
Columbia, New York, NY · Liberal Arts & Finance: In the heart of New York. Strong in journalism, finance, international affairs, and the creative industries.
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL · Economics & Social Sciences: Home of the Chicago School. Legendary for rigorous analytical thinking in economics, policy, and the social sciences.
Duke & Northwestern, NC / IL · Research & Medicine: Elite research institutions with outstanding medical schools, business programmes, and generous financial aid policies.

The USA has numerous renowned universities with tough curriculum and great job prospects, and in many cases provides better financial aid opportunities than world-renowned educational institutions. Thus, when a student chooses to study abroad, it’s advisable not to focus on a few pretty names of universities, but to conduct a thorough and careful search.

Beyond the USA — the global picture for ambitious families

In addition to the fact that the best colleges in the USA are always featured in these discussions, studying abroad opens up a truly global array of choices for students. For example, the UK has both Oxford and Cambridge and a range of other suitable universities whose degree durations are shorter than in other countries, enabling students to save on tuition fees significantly. Canada has a well-developed immigration policy, as well as the best colleges of the world. Germany, the Netherlands, and Singapore provide great programs, but their tuition costs are often greatly lower than those of Anglophone countries.

Once again, it is important to take into account the special features of your child’s education and personality profile, as well as the field he wants to work in and the country in which he is going to build a career.

Something to consider

The extent of financial aid available at American colleges is greater than is known by many families abroad. The financial aid policy followed by several US universities, such as MIT, Harvard and Princeton, in addition to the need-blind admission policy for all financially disadvantaged families, means that, for them, the amount they need to pay as their net cost for attendance may be lower than the tuition fees for a domestic private university. Research well about the availability of financial assistance before concluding anything about any university.

What successful women do differently when planning this decision

How successful women handle the decision of sending their kid overseas for studies has a very distinct feature. They do not see it as a social transaction, like other affluent families do. They approach it as a serious decision that necessitates the same seriousness and planning that a major financial investment entails.

1: They begin their planning at an early stage

The families that succeed best in the process of admission to top universities start preparing actively 18-24 months before the due date for applications. Requirements applications in the top universities are very high, so it takes time and effort to get ready academically, linguistically, and strategically.

2: They invest in language proficiency

ELTS and TOEFL scores are gatekeepers at virtually every English-medium institution. A strong score — not merely a passing one — opens materially better options and strengthens every application.

3: They take their research on financial aid seriously

International families are aware that the real cost of the best universities in USA is lesser than the sticker price. Doing adequate research on financial aid is not optional but rather one of the biggest accomplishments in this process.

4: They look for professional assistance

Getting through foreign admission systems, visa regulations, scholarship applications, and personal essay rules needs great expertise. The families that show the best results usually cooperate with seasoned specialists in international education who know how every targeted university puts into practice the admissions rules.

5: They engage the child as a joint investor

The effective student’s decision to go abroad probably has to do with the fact that the student understands exactly what he is being invested in and why. Those children who have their say in the choice rather than being just subject to a decision made for them usually benefit the most from the opportunity.

The decision only you can make

At no point will this statement be uncomplicated, easy, or emotionally straightforward. You will feel their absence. The price of the decision is real. The anxiety regarding the possible outcomes is real too. Each parent making that choice has experienced similar feelings.

What they say today, however, is that the decision was not only made but was one of the best in their lives. This happened not because parents are sure of the successful outcome but because they know that they helped their children to gain something that can’t be obtained in other situations: the ability to cope with the world that is completely unknown to them and find their way there without the support provided by their parents.

Statistics are indicative and drawn from publicly available surveys including QS Graduate Employability Rankings, OECD Education at a Glance, and IES Abroad research. Individual outcomes vary.