How valuable can a semester abroad be in college for you CV?
Next semester I’ll be studying in Switzerland as an international student. The school I chose is a small private institution, not really prestigious or globally recognized. It’s more of an expensive private “boarding school” type environment than a top academic powerhouse.
When I was choosing where to go, I talked to several professors and mentors I genuinely respect in finance/business. Most of them told me not to obsess too much over prestige for a semester abroad. Their point was that an exchange is temporary, you don’t actually graduate from that institution, and the return on investment of paying massively more just for four months at a top school usually isn’t that high(prices above 15-20k semester tuition not including housing/food expenses)
They told me I should see it more as an international experience: meeting people, building a network, growing personally, improving culturally/socially, and getting a broader perspective rather than trying to maximize prestige for such a short period of time.
So I followed that advice.
For context, I’m currently in my seventh semester and one semester away from graduating. I study finance/business, I’ve been preparing for the CFA, I’ve done some smaller certifications and courses like CFI and Harvard Business School Online, and I’ve tried to build technical skills outside of class too.
But now I keep overthinking the whole thing.
Part of me feels like I wasted money choosing a smaller unknown school instead of trying harder to go somewhere “elite” like London Business School, Bocconi, LSE, etc.
I keep wondering if those names would’ve actually made a significant difference on my CV for recruiting, or if a four-month exchange at a prestigious institution doesn’t really carry that much weight compared to internships, technical skills, networking, certifications, interview performance, and all the other things that matter in finance.
The only real upside I can currently see is that the environment seems very international and wealthy, so maybe the networking aspect could still become valuable long term.
I guess I’m trying to figure out whether I’m catastrophizing this decision or if exchange prestige genuinely matters a lot in finance recruiting.
It could have made a great difference being just 4-6 months on a top school for my CV/recruitment process in a job? Or it’s not that significant/important :c