<p>I think the way to go about this is to look at schools that you are already interested in, and then just search “study abroad” or navigate to the school’s study abroad program page. As was already mentioned, most schools offer great study abroad options (even if relatively few students take advantage of them for whatever reasons), and I certainly do not think students who choose to study abroad for a semester or year are “missing out” on any opportunities on their home campus.</p>
<p>Many (most?) schools don’t offer many of their own sponsored programs, but will accept credit from some other universities’ big programs. Some of the biggest ones are Butler-IFSA, IES, CIEE, Arcadia University, and SIT’s programs.</p>
<p>I can only speak personally for SIT because that’s the program I went through, but this was no glorified expanded spring break trip or something like that. It was definitely a serious academic program. I took rigorous daily classes on theory in my concentration area (sexuality and gender studies), took classes in the foreign language of the area and I had to complete an independent research project while I was there. It was a great experience - fun, of course, and enlightening, but also rigorous. Without the theory courses I would’ve been floundering in grad school, and the research skills were quite useful when I did my own senior thesis at home. I’ve talked to other SIT alumnae and they had similar experiences wrt rigor. I’ve also heard good things about Butler-IFSA programs and IES programs, although they were more like typical college programs without the research component. CIEE students had a different story. And my school did not accept credits from the Semester at Sea program because it was regarded like an extended spring break cruise.</p>