help needed from American guys in Bahrain

So you are a local Bahraini who wants to relocate to the US to finish your college degree?    Will you be bringing your family?

There are so many factors in what you are asking.  What to study, what cost, grants or scholarships, where you want to live in terms of traveling home or bringing family, how long you want to be there, what program extras you are looking for and the list goes on and on.

We can start a bit easier:

What do you want to study?

Where do you want to study?

How much is your tuition limit?

Have you applied for any grants or scholarships etc?

Have you looked into foreign study regulations and know what you have to do to be able to apply?

Wish I could point my finger and say "go there" but this will ultimately come down to a dozen or so choices and you will have to pick the best one for you and honestly whether or not you can handle the financial strain of studying with a wife and child to care for. 

It will be a lot of work!

thank  you for your contribution, I have already finished my BS study and I got business administration degree but I want to do it all over again with engineering major, and in terms on financial support I am in good situation, my only struggles is how to choose the best fitting state and university for my family and me,

http://typesofengineeringdegrees.org/

There are over 40 engineering degrees listed here along with attached appropriate places of study including full time and online study.  This will help you narrow your search.

thanx a lot, do you know anything about  University of Colorado Denver?

https://colleges.niche.com/university-o … do-denver/

This site gives a grading system on about 20 different criteria and also allows student and parent reviews of facilities and staff, costs, and just about everything else you would need to narrow your search to a few schools. 

I don't know much about the school other than anecdotal bits and pieces, but I know it has a fairly solid reputation and Colorado is a really fantastic place to live.

thank you for the help and for the links I really appreciate you efforts here, and i will be honored to invite you and your family  to my house to have a delicious Bahraini lunch  with us  if feel comfortable with it of course

I very much appreciate the offer!  All I ask is you keep us posted on your experience, so it can help the next person who has a similar question!

Best of luck!

Oh I am new in this website, how can I keep it posted?

Ooh ok I got what you meant, you want me to post updates about what is going to happen on this

Yes - sorry, I tend to stay away from forums and the like on the weekends.  Helps maintain some sanity.

If you would like to make a topic and write your experiences down once you have completed the process it could prove beneficial to someone down the line who searches for it.

sure I will do that once I am done,

having lived in many countries, I'd like to offer a few suggestions to help you with the experience of living abroad for the first time, particularly if you have a family going with you

- when you know where you are going, find a local news website and spend a little time each week seeing what is going on. This will tune you in to places, issues and events that local people will be familiar with and will help you to feel more at home when you arrive.

- read about culture shock. Learn how to recognise it and how to cope with it. Make sure your family know about this too and remember that each member of your family will experience it in different ways. You will experience it. We all do, even if we're very experienced living outside our passport culture.

- start driving in Bahrain as someone in the US would drive. Use your lights and mirrors more. Use your turn signal to tell people you are changing lanes. Only overtake on the left. Don't jump lines to push in up ahead. Keep your distance from the car in front. Driving in Denver the way people drive in Bahrain will get you in trouble!

- talk openly with your wife about what she wants out of this experience. Try not to see it as solely for the purpose of getting your BS, but also for some joint aims as a couple. If she doesn't speak English well, encourage her to start learning as soon as possible.

- I don't know how old your children are but if they are, say 4 or 5 or more, tell them as soon as possible that this is going to happen and involve them in the preparations as much as possible. I was 5 when I first went to live overseas and I loved it. Children often adapt way faster than adults, but don't assume that all will adapt the same way or at the same speed.

- when you arrive in the US, beware of spending too much time keeping in touch with friends and family back in Bahrain. Of course, keep in touch, but try to make friends in your local community as quickly as possible. It will be hard, but if you don't do it soon, it may become impossible for various reasons.

- although I've generally found people from the 14 US states I've visited hospitable, they are so in their own way and it may not be as you expect. You may find the US people less welcoming and friendly than Bahraini culture and this might make friendships difficult for you. For example, after only a few posts on a public forum, you invited a complete stranger and his family to your home for a meal with your family. This is extremely unlikely to happen in the US where there would be more suspicion until you have established some physical social relationship to enable friendship to start. Please don't misunderstand me as saying the US is unfriendly, but, in general terms, Bahrain and Arab culture is generally more hospitable and generous than we are in the west and so you should expect it to take more time and that this is normal and not that you are not welcome.

- always keep in mind that returning to Bahrain, if it happens, might be harder than leaving Bahrain. In other words, spend at least as much effort on preparing to return as you do on preparing to go.

I'm sure others can offer more advice.

this is really more than enough guide to keep in my phone notes so I can read again and again, I am a traveler or lets say I love to travel but I never been to US yet, I drives in Europe so I know it is completely different than Bahrain or Gulf in general.

I did not choose US because of the power of the university or lack of majors in Bahrain but studying abroad may refine people and i would love to live in such a big country with different culture and climate, this will be a lesson for life not only for career.

I got my parent's support and my wife agree with my idea and she wants to do this as much as I do, l and my son is only 16 months old so apparently I cant do that kind of conversations with him (lol)

I know that the culture in US may differ for state to state and even there are some states could be rude with foreigner and specially with Arabs so that is why I choose Denver to relocate in, lets say I am pretty open on American cultures and behaviors.

BTW you are welcome as well for a meal in my house