I plan to study abroad. A lot of people are suggesting to do UG in India and then pursue PG abroad. Why is this so? And what would be best?

Hello Kartik Agrawal,

Studying abroad is expensive especially if you are choosing a research based subjects like biotechnology. Certain reasons as to why people prefer doing their undergraduate level education from India and then go abroad for pursuing their post-graduate level education are:

• You don't immediately get a job after you have successfully finished your undergraduate course in a research field. You need to do your masters in order to get good, well paying jobs.
• The chances of getting scholarships are higher in the post-graduate level of education.
• The funding and facilities of research are best enjoyed abroad. And this gets really relevant when you are doing the Masters.
• It is very expensive to pursue bachelors from a university abroad.

Undergraduate Course Expenses;

• America (USA) - Tution expenses vary from $10,000 to $50,000 (i.e. Rs. 7,10,300 to Rs. 35,51,500); Living Expenses vary from $8,000 to $12,000 (i.e. Rs. 5,68,240 to Rs. 8,52,360)
• United Kingdom - Tution fee ranges from £10,000 to £38,000 (i.e. Rs. 9,08,846 to Rs. 34,53,616)
  
• Australia - Tution fee ranges from 15000 AUD to 33000 AUD (i.e Rs. 7,56,825 to Rs. 16,65,015)

These are yearly fee ranges of three of the most preferred places for higher education. A course of 3-4 years will cost you around a crore (including tution and living charges only)

Post-graduate Course Expenses:

• America (USA) - Tution fee ranges between $20,000 $30,000 (i.e. Rs. 14,20,000 to Rs. 21,30,000)
• United Kingdom - Tution fee ranges between £6,000 to £10,000 (i.e. Rs. 5,44,977 to Rs. 9,08,295)
• Australia - Tution fee ranges between 14,000 AUD to 37,000 AUD (i.e. Rs. 7,06,370 to Rs. 18,66,835)

The tution fees of undergraduate and postgraduate levels are nearly the same, thus if you go for both Undergraduate and postgraduate level of education abroad you will end up spending 2-3 crores.

If you plan on going abroad for your undergraduate education, I would suggest you do it from a first-tier university so that your money gets spent worthwile. Spending your money on a lesser known university will not do your portfolio any good.

If you feel that doing an undergraduate and post-graduate course abroad will be too expensive, you can do you undergrad from any of the good universities in India, prepare well for your GRE and TOEFL and get into a good university.

I hope this helps!