1. There are very few seminaries in the US. The few that there are for a certain type/types, and for many girls, there is nothing in the US that is their type. I know girls whose parents didn’t let them go to US for sem, so they had to go in the States, but there was nothing at all matim for them.
2. Person1 – Israeli girls are not considered to be “going to seminary” the way that American girls do. In the Israeli BY system, seminary is a continuation of high school. You learn in the same school, and it is called ?-?, since it is just the fifth and sixth years of high school. The basic difference is that you have a “maslul” (major) but that makes it college, not seminary.
3. A big part of the seminary year is to be in a dorm – to grow in independence, to learn from other girls, etc. Also, if you are talking about a girl who is really trying to change, it is usually easier to do so away from her home and old environment.
4. Most importantly, as Shopping said: “Israel is where we all belong…(see post above)”
The question isn’t “why are you going to seminary in EY?” but why are you in the US in the first place??!! We are all supposed to be in EY all the time, presumably anyone who lives in chu”l, it is only because there are reasons why they feel they have no choice, but we have a chiyuv to live in EY as much as we can, so at least for the first year of adulthood, one should start off in EY, even if they can’t stay longer.
I would also guess that there are many people who ended up living here post-marriage becase of their year in EY. It is very hard to move to EY post-marriage, and it can be very hard for the girls whose chasans are learning, and they don’t know anyone and don’t have any kind of social setting,etc. I would imagine that it is much easier for those girls who already spent a year here, so they know people here and they know their way around, etc. It is very different to move to a place that you have never been to before and to move somewhere where you already spent a year and are very familiar with.