European Schools vs. American schools

[stephalvarez2591]

Hi,

I am currently attending Syracuse University, majoring in Interntional relations and will be graduating spring 2013. I want to do my masters in International affairs and looking forward to apply to European graduate schools and American as well. These are my main concerns in applying for these schools:

Financial Aid

School Reputation

Alumni Networking

and most importantly: how competitive they are.

I have a 3.2 gpa on a 4.0 scale and I have done an internship in Spain at an NGO and studied abroad for a semester there as well. I am fluent in english and spanish and will be taking french next year. I wanted to know what advice you can give me? What schools do you recommend in Europe that have good financial aid for international students. I am leaning more towards Europe and especially towards Grad institute in Geneva since I want to practice and become fluent in French. I don´t know if french universities require you to be fluent in french by the time you apply. I would really appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

[Backbencher123]

Hi,

I wouldn't say that the european system is fundamentally better than the US system, in fact i would venture to say that the American secondary system is probably better than that which operates in the Uk at present.

Every western country has is share of top class universities which are almost inseparable in terms of quality.

What worries me in the Uk is that secondary level is all about targets and exam grades, people are taught a syllabus, not a subject, and thus when starting university are severly handicapped when starting out.