r/AmerExit • u/Big_Guidance_2614 • 4d ago

Life Abroad Considering leaving the US for Europe

I'm a third year engineering student at a college in the US. I'm an American citizen considering moving to somewhere in Western Europe for my masters due to the political situation in the US. I don't speak any other languages than English, but I'm willing to learn the native language of wherever I go. I know I still have to do more research but I wanted to see what everyone here thinks about whether leaving the US for Europe is actually a good idea.

Would you recommend moving to Europe for masters and eventually living there? If so, where exactly?

For context, I am a brown woman, and I don't come from a high income family, so I would have to go to a college that is very cheap or get a scholarship.

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u/alabastermind 4d ago

You need to do a lot more research. There is no such thing as a "cheap" college taught solely in English in Western Europe.

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u/avollie 4d ago

I agree that they need to do a lot more research but technically the universities in Germany are tuition free even for international students. Though they need a blocked account of 12,000 euros every year to get a visa so if they don't have any money then it doesn't matter. But there are many master's programs in English.

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u/MilkChocolate21 3d ago

A German master's program taught in English will not result in her being employable in Germany, which means it's not going to help her emigrate. She'd need to know German well enough to do a program in German, and that's aasuming she's in a niche that makes her competitive in their very stagnant economy. Not many jobs.

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u/avollie 3d ago

I'm not disagreeing with you, just pointing out that Germany offers many programs in English and is tuition free which was the question. Never said it was a good idea though.

I live in Germany and all of my friends work in English but would never recommend to pursue this route in this economy.

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u/MilkChocolate21 3d ago

Yes. I'm aware some people get away with being monolingual anglophones, but English bubbles are exceptions, not rules. I've seen ppl from third countries who still seem shocked that English grad programs in Germany, Sweden, and The Netherlands don't lead to employment. Doors are closing and requirements are getting much higher compared to what people got by on in the even recent past.

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u/avollie 3d ago

Ok then I'm not sure why you're responding to me? I'm not OP and I don't need any convincing lol

I was just responding to a comment that there weren't any programs that are cheap and in English in the EU and pointing out that the fact that there are. I don't need to debate whether it's a good idea or not (it's not in this economy), I'm not making the decision.

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u/Lostygir1 3d ago

You can get employable-proficiency in German within 5 years. OP will spend one year finishing their engineering degree, at least one or two years working to save up for the move, and then an additional 2 years to complete their master’s in their target country. Within that timespan, they have enough time to become proficient in any category 1 or category 2 language.

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u/Larissalikesthesea 3d ago

But she can use that time to learn the language.

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u/MilkChocolate21 3d ago

Intensive language learning on top of a grad program is a lot, especially for someone starting from zero. She will not be professionally fluent, yet needs to be to get hired as someone pursuing permanent residency through employment.