Nobonita Chowdhury
Studying abroad has become quite popular among Bangladeshis nowadays. Thousands of Bangladeshi students travel abroad each year in pursuit of a better quality higher education. However, not many consider taking that step while still in high school, due to reasons like financial constraints, societal expectations and lack of knowledge on that matter. In the case of high school study abroad programs, UWC has claimed most of the Bangladeshi market.
But there are still plenty of other opportunities out there for interested students willing to go that extra mile. Below is a list of boarding schools around the world that offer a decent amount of financial aid/scholarships to international students.
LINCOLN ACADEMY (ME, U.S.): Situated in a small town called Newcastle in Midcoast Maine, Lincoln Academy provides reasonable financial aid to most applicants depending on their family’s financial standing. It also caters as a public school to some local students who don’t have any high schools in their area, so the institution has a less snobby prep school feel to it. Priority financial aid deadline is in February, but applicants can still apply later as the school has a rolling admissions policy.
LEYSIN AMERICAN SCHOOL (LEYSIN, VD, SWITZERLAND): This school is ranked among the top boarding schools around the world. While the price tag for attending might seem outrageous, applicants shouldn’t let that discourage them for LAS does offer a certain amount of financial aid and scholarships to international students with outstanding grades. Also, they have SKI DAYS! Prospective applicants should definitely keep this one on their list.
PREM TINSULANONDA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL (CHIANG MAI, THAILAND): This school should be a more popular destination in comparison to the other ones, for it is closer to home so Bangladeshi students have the option of travelling back and forth more often. The school offers a number of scholarships as well as need based bursaries to international students. More information on this can be found on the school’s website: https://ptis.ac.th/scholarships
PHILLIPS EXETER ACADEMY (NH, U.S.): Ranked as one of the top boarding boarding schools in the U.S and with individuals like Mark Zuckerberg and Dan Brown included among the alumni community, getting into Exeter and doing well there could mean a one way ticket to prestigious universities around the world. The Exeter education is free for any accepted student or current student whose family income is 75,000$ or less, so prospective applicants may be able to receive a more affordable education at Exeter than in Bangladesh. Who wouldn’t want to make use of that opportunity?
This is just a very small piece of a very large pie. There are countless other boarding schools out there that have the students’ affordability in mind. If any candidate needs personalized help in finding high school study abroad programs, there is an online education counseling agency called Expanding Horizons on Facebook that also offers counseling to high school study abroad applicants at a super cheap rate (250 BDT per hour long session, 1000 BDT for help throughout the entire application process).
Best time to apply would be the Winter Break before the applicant’s secondary school leaving examination or the summer after the examination, depending on what schools they are applying to. Applicants should also be prepared to take either the TOEFL or the IELTS, as some schools require it.