Any parents of CIEE study abroad students?

[Amesie]

<p>D (a current college sophmore) is looking at a summer study abroad program through CIEE, in South Korea.</p>

<p>Her college’s study abroad office gave her the information about this program, but so far as she knows, no one has actually participated in this program. I would love to hear from other parents about their kids’ experiences with CIEE (or if anyone can point me in the direction of some resource that evaluates study abroad prgrams, I would appreciate that, too).</p>

[interesteddad]

<p>I’m not familiar with the Korea program, but the CIEE program at Yonseii University is on Swarthmore’s approved program list, which I have found to be limited to programs that range from good to excellent. As a starting point, I would judge the presence of the program on this list as a good sign.</p>

<p>Their essay on program selection is very good background reading. This list of programs is a pretty comprehensive guide to the top programs in each country (or program that go to multiple countries):</p>

<p>[Swarthmore</a> College Off-Campus Study Office](<a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/ofs/planning/selectingaprogram.html]Swarthmore”>http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/ofs/planning/selectingaprogram.html)</p>

<p>

A bit of background information: There are more than three thousand foreign study programs and/or other study abroad opportunities out there. The vast majority of them range in quality from so-so to unspeakably awful, and I suspect that a few of them may be criminal. A lot of effort – on the part of this office, Swarthmore faculty colleagues, and colleagues at other institutions both domestic and abroad – has gone into identifying programs which are good for Swarthmore. Our recommended list comprises the distillation of this effort.

</p>

[Fred_s_Mom]

<p>My daughter studied a summer in Tokyo through CIEE a few years ago (Sophia University). I appreciated the supervision they offered, although I realized I paid a premium for that service. When the internet provided by the hotel housing secured by CIEE was insufficient (it was needed for school work, not just convenience), I was able to contact CIEE in the U.S. and negotiate a change in hotels (for all the kids). They had a few tours and programs augmenting the study portion, which my daughter enjoyed. All in all, it was an easy, reasonably safe, albeit costly, way to engage in study abroad.</p>

[hoosiermom]

<p>D is currently abroad in a CIEE program in West Africa. Thus far she has had an amazing experience. We did not really compare programs as her school here had 100+ programs that were approved and the one she selected from those options met her criteria. If you have specific questions feel free to PM me.</p>