HeliDad2015

A lot of universities seem to tout their study abroad program. It seems like they're all ranked in the top 10 of one survey or another. What are some characteristics of a good program?

Some universities encourage studying abroad and have actual facilities and professors within foreign countries, and in these cases, your classmates abroad are from your home university (e.g. Pepperdine). How important are these aspects?

Any insights on what makes a good study aborad program would be appreciated.

cupcake

In my opinion, often indicators that the program is hardly worth paying for. A vacation would be cheaper. In the situation described above, the students simply spend their time in an all-American social and cultural bubble, completely insulated from every aspect of their host country. All the while probably doing very little studying (and quite possibly an awful lot of legal but ill advised drinking) at great expense. They might as well be at home. They would get more out of it. This especially goes for language classes. Absolutely no language skills will be learnt in such an environment. Being in the country where a language is spoken is a waste of time if the students only speak to Americans and spend 100% of their time on organised tours with Americans. Send them on a 2 week back packing trip round Europe, then spend the cash saved on actually useful classes back in the US.

Actual experience of the culture of the host country. Especially accommodation in host families or with students from other countries (either host country or other foreign students in host country). If the purpose is to learn a language, living with a host family for a year is what leads to fluency.

Also, good programs will explain exactly how credits transfer from the study abroad program/how GPA will be affected. I gets lots of PMs from people telling me study abroad ruined their GPA. Very often, even when they have attended a highly regarded and long established program, no mention of GPA is made until the student returns home. Then they find credits do not transfer, or their grade is based on one given by an overseas professor and is exceptionally harsh (for example, 50% is ok and about an average grade in the UK. More than 75% is almost unheard of. If these grades are not "translated" in someway into the US system, they are clearly GPA wreckers).

HeliDad2015

Thanks for the comments cupcake!

rocket6louise

I think a good program also allows your financial aid/scholarships to apply to your overseas costs. It makes such an experience affordable for lots of people

Eternal Icicle

The advice I was given was to "look at the program, not the location." But as I'm now studying abroad, I regret that I didn't disregard the advice. I picked my program in Copenhagen based on it's popularity and positive feedback from alums at my school, plus the top-quality academic focus that it advertised, and a diverse range of tantalizing courses. Unfortunately, coming from my school, I found the academics still of low quality-- lots of busy work, like I'm back in high school, but with harsh grading. While my credits and grades transfer, many students don't, which means I'm surrounded by exceptionally unmotivated students, even if many of them come from some of the States' best colleges. My friends say, "well, nobody goes abroad for the classes!" I did, and it was a huge mistake. I now wonder what my experience would be like if I had chosen Italy (where I would've been further along in my language study), or New Zealand (where I'm fascinated by the natural landscape, and would've been at a Univ. with local students).

The redeeming factor of my program is my choice to live with a host-family. That is most-clearly the international experience I was looking for. While I realize it's not the right option for everyone, I think it's a good idea to look for study abroad programs that offer some sort of immersive housing situation. Even if you're going to school with all American students, if you're living with a local family, there's a huge opportunity for intercultural learning, challenge, and growth.

jpm50

I have a slightly different view of study abroad programs than cupcake - though I fully support cupcake's view.

I have seen several examples where students go abroad in an English-speaking program, take their courses pass/fail, study enough to "pass" their courses, but end up going through a priceless personal growth.

In these small groups of all-American "bubbles", friendships form, the students explore the country they are in, travel to numerous other countries, and mom-and-dad aren't there to pick up after them when things go wrong. Many of the schools do not wait on them at all. The students arrange all their own travel, live with the consequences of missed trains or flights, or stolen luggage, or having been taken by street vendors, forgetting to pack properly, etc. They visit many friends in multiple foreign countries. Yes, they are living the high life - making the parents feel like they're paying for a 5 month vacation.

However, when they come back, they definitely come back more focused, with a more worldly view, and they tend to buckle down far more seriously than they ever have.

The above may sound like a generalization, but it's what happens for a good percentage of students who study abroad - and it's just as rewarding as the scenario that cupcake describes. Success and lifelong memories on a study abroad program come in many flavors.

rahaha

for schools in other countries that have extremely tough grading ( i know what you mean - some schools in France think a 15/20 is what we'd call an A here, although that translates to a 75), I wonder - can't an addendum be made?

for example, when applying to grad or law school, couldn't it be possible to have your study abroad counselor write an addendum if he/she is familiar with this grading discrepancy, explaining the difference in nature of grading overseas and showing an idea of what scale X or Y grade would typically be converted into here? My counselor said that she would gladly do that if I got such grades... at least for an application to my undergrad university's law school, because she said the study abroad office had close ties with the fac, as law students also go abroad.

What do you think? It may take some effort on the student's part to arrange all that, but a harsher system overseas (if this is solidly recognized by the home institution) in that case seems like it needn't be that much of a discourager.

keepittoyourself

^ That all sounds great, but how is it different from a vacation?

Even if the kids are getting a lot out of it, it sounds like the parents are right to feel that way...

Esquette

S studied abroad in Copenhagen last fall. Had the time of his life, growing in ways no transcript could ever reflect. Lived in a kollegium with other Danish students, sharing a kitchen and hosting a kollegium olympics for the entire 1,000 student apartment building. Had good friend who stayed with host family and loved that experience, though it was a distance to get into the city. Rode bike everywhere, through rain, sleet, snow. Managed his own money, meals, calendar, life, with little to no input from home. Program ran like butter, according to S and what we saw.

He really loved his classes and profs -- worked harder than many of his friends and got the grades to show for it (which transferred as credits only). Esp enjoyed well-organized field trips in program areas - they really added a lot to the experience. Also his program -- Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS) gave a full week off at end of Oct-beg of Nov, which allowed extensive travel in Europe and a nice break from classes. This is something that other programs did not offer, and I'm a believer that travel with friends is an important part of the study abroad expeirence.

As study abroad alums from our college days, who lived on the Grand Canal in Venice, we were extremely satisfied with the DIS experience.

Nikara

I studied abroad at a University in London, with British students. In one of my classes, I was the only study abroad student out of 30. We were amongst the regular students for everything from housing to classes. I really loved it. I got to experience life as a regular student of a university far from home. Since I'm not particularly good at speaking foreign languages, the UK was perfect for me, and sometimes surprisingly different from home.

The most valuable things about my university's interactions with the program was that USC dealt with all of the paperwork. They carefully explained how credits would transfer, and the processes needed to ensure that you were choosing classes that would further your studies. The UK university attaches explanations of how grades differ in the UK from the US with every transcript. They gave us the paperwork needed for the program which we returned to USC, who then took care of sending everything to the UK. The University itself has a study abroad office which offered an orientation, some dinners and behind-the-scene tours, and support in case of emergencies. They were there if you needed them, but didn't control our experiences in any way. USC also had a UK advisor there to act as support in case of any major issues. He organized one or two trips during the semester, which I didn't go on.

I personally found the most value from being treated as a normal British student in the University, with help for the things specific about transferring things to the US. I actually sent an email to the UK university's study abroad advisor this year (5 years after studying there), asking about the process for sending transcripts for Grad School, which he did for free!

mom4

Middlebury College's programs require the students to be fluent in the language because students take most or all (depending on the country) of their classes in the local universities. My college student did the Middlebury program in Ferrara, Italy, and while the Italian University system is much different than in the US--a lot of memorization, little or no writing, and oral exams at the end--it was an invaluable learning experience. There was no special accommodation for grading, so the students had to take school seriously.

Little Mother

One indicator of a good study abroad program, i.e., a program from which a student will truly benefit not only academically but also culturally, etc., is the level of language proficiency required (for countries where English is not the primary language). If a high proficiency is required, odds are that the students will be in classes with local students. D spent a semester in Santiago, Chile, and lived with a host family whose English was minimal at best. She was included in family events and attended classes, taught in Spanish, at two different universities. Talk about total immersion! Getting to meet all the study abroad students involved in the program (administered by the Council on International Educational Exchange - CIEE) contributed to it as well. The program sponsored some trips including one to the top of a glacier. It was a great experience that will stay with her for the rest of her life.

NewHavenCTmom

Hello all!

I have a D15, she is a freshman in highschool and is very interested in going abroad next summer(2012).... are any of you familiar/have any advice on selecting a program for highschool students? We have looked into YFU, SYA and Oxbridge..all of which seem like they would suit her needs... however the Oxbridge program has "dorm" styly accomodations where the students live together.. so there would be no immersion so to speak..The languages that she is currently studying are... Italian(1st year), Spanish(3rd yr).. she is also studying Latin(I know that the Oxbridge/Cambridge has a Latin/Greek program)... I guess I should mention that she only wants to do this in the summer... she feels that a semester/year would be far too long...

Any advice would be much appreciated!


Thank you!

Eternal Icicle

Hi NewHavenCTmom-

AFS is a great program-- Summer Study Abroad | AFS USA Summer Exchange Programs

And if she's interested in beginning a language a little outside of what HS offers, take a look at National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y)

poorsinglemom

NewHavenCTmom - AFS is terrific. I had/have 11 AFS host siblings (in touch with most of them). My son is abroad now but he is with Rotary. They are a much larger force where I live in upstate NY. The program is also half the cost of AFS and we were able to fund-raise locally. My unofficial 3rd son just got into NSLI-Y. It is fully funded. He is going to Amman, Jordan for almost 7 weeks this summer. NSLI-Y is slightly different from AFS & Rotary. It is much more language learning focused. AFS & Rotary are more focused on the culture. My son is in Turkey and he loves it. He is the only one in a group of 40 or so students who did not get his country or language request but it turns out he is just thrilled with how everything turned out.
There is another thread on this site that mentions some other exchange programs as well.
Good luck.