What if I had to study in Israeli University?

While you are preoccupied with deciding which college you will attend, swaying between criteria like cost, the most far from your parent, extra curriculum activities and so forth, I wanted to stop a little bit and think about the student living in stressful countries exposed to stress factors like hostile countries around you.

Have you ever thought about the chance you have to live in a peaceful and prosperous country and what would be your life and future I other conditions?

I did some researches and learned that if you were in Israel for example, your next obligation after your senior year would be three years military service if you are a man and two years if you are a woman. While it can be seen as a penalty, I wonder if this could explain why Israel produces mush more High Tech companies and is rated number three after USA and China with 98 NASDAQ listed companies and has produced several Nobel contribution.

It looks like Israel Army can be a real stepping stone for the best students if you are chosen by the Elite Units. These units are as prestigious a Harvard, Stanford or MIT and open unique possibilities to the applicants.

Moreover the military service offers the possibility to create and nurture a valuable cross cultural network of expertise and knowledge useful in their future career. Several startup companies are founded from technology and knowledge discovered during their military service.

This is the case of the startup company who has revolutionized the genetic science by being the first able to map the human genome based similar date analysis used to analyze terrorist network.

Another difference between Israeli students and students from other countries is their higher level of individual initiatives and their multidisciplinary skills producing a reserve of high-skilled multidisciplinary entrepreneurs, and yet millionaire young people.

To me the main reason why Israeli students are much more mature than US students when go to the college and then when in their career is because they have grown in a country where they can loose life every minute and they have learned to make rational, quick and right decisions for their life. They have acquired incomparable and valuable skills compared to their counterparts.

However should we wish to be faced to similar situations to gain in maturity? I don’t think so. But I think we should think more outside our small box and be more open to what happen all over the world.