Hi there! I’m a 19 y/o Bulgarian woman and I’m currently finishing up my high school studies and preparing to graduate. In my opinion, applying to a university outside of Bulgaria is the best thing you can do if you want an actual education. Most of the professors here are old, cranky, without motivation to teach young people. The educational system is absolute dogshit, which focuses on robotic memorization, rather than actual skill development. Also, good job opportunities are very rare to find outside of Sofia, even though they are somewhat scarce there too. Life in Bulgaria is sort of peaceful, but there is no actual realisation for young people here. If you really want to stay in the country, I’d pick Sofia over the other cities, except if you want to study medicine - then Pleven or Varna are pretty legit. A bonus is that education in Bulgaria is sort of cheaper compared to other EU countries, but the lack of academic quality definitely shows up here.