Good Reasons to Study Electrical Engineering Abroad

Can you Imagine a life without electricity? You can’t even begin imagining it, right? And I mean that literally: you can’t start imagining, because you can’t read this article, because you don’t have a computer or a smartphone.

The world needs Electrical Engineering, there’s no discussion there, so the real problem is where should you go study it?

Well, if you stop to consider these 10 reasons, you will see that the answer is quite obvious, and it’s “at a university abroad”.

1. It's easy to get your first job

Electrical Engineering students find their first job fairly easily because most employers search for fresh minds with good training. They are glad to get young people they can mould to their own specific needs and turn them into experts. This is also the reason why Electrical Engineers are the most valued on the job market.

2. You can work in another country

Working as electrical engineer opens you lots of opportunities in other countries. Laws of math, electricity and physics are universal and your gained knowledge doesn't limit you to only the country you studied in. 

There are a lot of international companies that need electrical engineers, also most of them are willing to employ people from other countries, and most of them operate on an international level that offers you additional options for travelling while working. Besides, you are usually getting paid well for it!

Here are top countries offering Masters in Electrical Engineering:

• The United States;
• The United Kingdom;
• Germany;
• France;
• Australia;
• Spain.

3. Electricity won’t be your only focus

Although it is in the title, being an electrical engineer doesn’t mean you will work your whole life plugging and unplugging electronics. Electrical Engineering has the immense advantage of covering tens of specialisations, making the field very flexible and offering you a great chance of simply throwing a dart at a list and trying on areas like a nervous person before a date: many, in a short period of time.A sample of specialisations you could find interesting is:

• Radio-Frequency Engineering
• Signal Processing
• Microelectronics
• Control Systems
• Power Engineering
• Telecommunications

4. Top ranked Engineering schools

The best schools in the world provide top-quality electrical engineering programmes. You'll learn the secrets of the trade from the best international professors, in classes equipped with top notch technology. Check out just a few programmes provided by universities ranked in top 100 Times Higher Education Rankings:

• University of Oxford, UK
• Columbia University, USA
• Johns Hopkins University, USA
• Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), USA
• University of Queensland, Australia
• RWTH Aachen University, Germany

5. The adrenaline rush

Maybe adrenaline isn't the first thing that pops into your mind when you think about electrical engineering, but trust me, there will be a lot of adrenaline rush moments if you get in electrical engineering. Occasional jolts of electrical charge that hits you when you aren't paying attention and touch the leads of charged capacitor or when you connect 2 wires that you shouldn't or an electrical component more or less explodes in front of your eyes because you connected it to the testing board in the wrong way... Those events make you jump out of your chair and definitely raise your adrenaline level. On the other hand, you won't most likely do the same mistake again

6. Plenty of affordable study options

Electrical Engineering Master's degrees are some of the most popular in the world after MBAs, and many can have steep tuition fees. However, not all Electrical Engineering Masters are expensive! You just have to know where to look and find the perfect location in terms of price and quality. More affordable doesn't mean you'll get an inferior learning experience. You can find low-tuition Engineering Master's degrees in countries like Finland, Austria, Denmark, Belgium or Sweden, among many others.

7. DIY

DIY or "Do It Yourself" is one of the more exciting reasons to get into Electrical Engineering. When you know how stuff works, what usually malfunctions and what are the basic rules of Electrical Engineering, you can make your own stuff, instead of searching for it and buying it.

And it’s not just everyday fixes, like changing a burned out light bulb or faulty fuse: you will also be able to cope with more complex problems within your household and those of your friends and family. And that doesn't only save you money, but also works great as a pick-up line...

8. You will join an awesome elite

Maybe you heard of some random folks named Alexander Graham Bell, Michael Faraday, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, Nikola Tesla, Alessandro Volta, and Robert Watson-Watt. All of them majored in Electrical Engineering and all of them left a huge legacy behind, in their field.

There are also famous people who changed careers mid-life, but the influence of Electrical Engineering remained and kept them at a steady, upward climb. Personalities like Steve Wozniak, long-time business partner of a fellow named Steve Jobs, Mike Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York City, and, last, but not least, Rowan Atkinson, aka the amazing Mr. Bean; all of them were helped by the intuition they developed as electrical engineers and managed to occupy a high position in the field they transitioned into.

9. New gadgets gets out all the time - it's never boring

Electrical and electronic components are modified, invented and reinvented every day, so you will never be bored because of using the same process or component for the last 10 years. New and exciting stuff is available all the time and you will have lots of fun testing and assembling it.

10. Only a few simple rules to follow

• Things work better when plugged in.
• If smoke comes out you did something wrong.
• If things don't work, read the manual.