一名新加坡学生Royanne Ng在选择研究生院时，面临着在美国名校哥伦比亚大学和荷兰阿姆斯特丹大学之间的抉择。最终，她放弃了学费高昂、为期两年的哥伦比亚大学的影视媒体研究专业，转而选择了学费约为其五分之一、为期一年的阿姆斯特丹大学文化数据与人工智能硕士项目。Ng的决定反映了当前国际学生在选择留学目的地时，越来越注重课程的实际相关性、成本效益以及对未来职业发展的助益，而非仅仅看重学校的品牌声誉。

💰 **成本效益考量**：Royanne Ng对比了美国和欧洲研究生项目的学费，发现哥伦比亚大学两年的学费和生活费接近8万美元，而阿姆斯特丹大学一年的学费仅为约1.7万欧元。巨大的学费差异让她重新评估了“物有所值”的标准，认为高昂的学费需要有同等价值的回报，否则性价比不高。

🎯 **课程相关性与前瞻性**：Ng认为美国许多课程相对传统，而欧洲的课程设计更具新颖性和灵活性，常常融合跨学科或面向未来的主题。她选择阿姆斯特丹大学的项目，是因为其课程内容能更好地结合人工智能与政策，符合她从科技传播和人文背景转型到相关职业领域的职业规划。

📈 **职业发展与本土市场匹配度**：Ng计划毕业后回新加坡就业，因此她特别关注课程是否能在新加坡本地就业市场中脱颖而出。她意识到，即使是顶尖的美国名校，其人文社科类课程也可能不如科技和数据类课程更受新加坡企业青睐，因此选择与未来职业目标更契合的专业至关重要。

🌍 **安全与地缘政治因素**：Ng及其家人对在美国的安全性，包括枪支暴力、种族政治和地缘政治不确定性等问题表示担忧。这些因素在她权衡留学目的地时也起到了重要作用，促使她考虑生活环境的稳定性和家人的感受，最终选择了一个她认为更安全、更稳定的学习环境。

🎓 **名校光环vs实际需求**：Ng承认美国名校的品牌声誉和校友网络对职业发展有潜在帮助，但她认为这些无形优势是否能抵消高昂的成本和潜在的风险，需要根据个人的具体目标来判断。对于她而言，实际的技能提升和职业市场需求更为重要。

Royanne Ng weighed a Columbia graduate school offer with a pros-and-cons list.The Singaporean student turned it down and chose a master's in Amsterdam instead.She said she valued relevance and cost over Ivy League name recognition.

When Royanne Ng got into Columbia University last year, she should have been elated. Instead, the nearly $80,000 first-year tuition and fees — not including housing — made her stomach turn.

The Singaporean student turned the Ivy League program down and chose one across the Atlantic instead for a fraction of the cost.

At Columbia, she was offered a spot in the Film and Media Studies MA with a concentration in emergent media — a track that explores formats like virtual and augmented reality. The 28-year-old is now pursuing a one-year master's in cultural data and AI at the University of Amsterdam, a program that blends machine learning with theory and tech policy.

Ng also applied to NYU but wasn't accepted, and she ultimately dropped her application to the University of Edinburgh in the UK.

Her postgrad degree had to be "very strategic," she told Business Insider — a move to boost her job prospects and reposition her career in Singapore.

"If I'm going to spend this much of my financial savings on a degree, it has to be really, really worth it," she said.

The US once had a near-monopoly on elite higher education. But as tuition rises, safety concerns grow, and political rhetoric turns hostile toward international students, the calculation is shifting.

Here's how Ng made her choice.

Prestige vs practicality

Columbia's program offered big advantages: name recognition, accomplished alumni, and the implicit promise of career opportunities, Ng said.

The brand name, she added, carried the common assumption that it gives students "a head start when it comes to job opportunities."

But the costs were impossible to ignore. Columbia's program ran for two years and charged nearly $80,000 in tuition and fees just for its first-year students. In contrast, the University of Amsterdam's fees were about €17,000 for a one-year program.

"The difference is just so stark," she said, especially when Columbia required a hefty deposit that felt like too much commitment.

It wasn't just about money. She said many US courses were "more traditional" — rooted in legacy disciplines and slower to adapt. Europe had programs that were a lot more novel and flexible, often designed with interdisciplinary or future-facing themes, she added.

Amsterdam's curriculum hit the mark. Ng said it aligned with her goal of transitioning from tech communications and a humanities background into a career that connects AI and policy — one she hopes to pursue in Singapore.

Safety and geopolitical concerns

Ng's family was also worried about her safety if she chose to study in New York — and so was she.

For someone who had lived in Singapore her whole life — a country known for its low crime rates and political calm — she was concerned about gun violence, racial politics, and geopolitical uncertainty in the US.

Still, she said the right school depends on the student's goals after graduation. Students hoping to stay and work in the US might prioritize a school's brand, alumni network, and credentials.

But Ng plans to return to Singapore, so standing out in the local job market mattered more.

Ng is set to finish her program in August.

Here's her pros-and-cons list of US graduate schools:

Ng had created a rough version at the end of 2023 while debating whether to choose the US for graduate school.

When BI reached out to her in June, she pulled it together into a neat table:

Pros	Cons
1) Education quality Vibrant and mentally stimulating study environment, with motivated students and highly reputable professors. There's also an assumption that many top US schools have extremely good courses and teaching	1) Health and safety Worries among family members about safety of living in certain cities, with more risk due to geopolitical instability. Not sure if causing my loved ones to constantly worry would be a worthwhile trade-off for great education
2) Reputation and optics Excellent brand name, which would be helpful for future job securing and possible advancement	2) Financial costs Some schools I applied to cost about 5x more than graduate schools in Europe. Not sure if this cost difference can really be compensated by an equivalent degree of education quality. There were also a lot of miscellaneous fees involved just in applying to schools and securing spots when offered.
3) Solid alumni network Would be in connection with illustrious alumni network, which could also be helpful for career and job advancement	3) Local labour market incompatibility Given that I was looking at programmes within humanities and social sciences departments, I was also very conscious about whether certain courses would help me stand out or gain an edge in the Singapore job market. I had to consider the possibility that even excellent brand names might not be able to change the fact that many companies still look for science, tech and data roles.
	4) Course material and programmes During my research of graduate schools, I observed that many US schools offered relatively traditional programmes, based on the write-up and descriptions of Masters courses. I did tend to see more exciting and novel courses offered in the UK and Europe, marketing interdisciplinary skills combining humanities/social sciences, data science or specific sector knowledge. I felt that this interdisciplinary angle was of particular interest as someone wanting to stay relevant in the job market, so this was a major consideration in choosing my graduate programme.