one more question --> english major

interesteddad
Sun, 27 Nov 2005 19:29:40 +0000

That’s not really the way study abroad works. There’s no requirement that your study abroad necessarily be a program for your major. In fact, the prevailing sentiment is that any approved study abroad program is a valuable educational experience.

There are a couple of different ways that students pick study abroad programs. One would be to pick a country/region and investigate programs in that location. A second would be to pick an area of academic interest and identify programs that do that. Then, you meet with Steve Piker (Soc./Anth. professor and head of the Study Abroad department) and/or your own advisor (usually a professor in your likely major by the time you are a sophmore) and discuss your options. My daughter has met with Piker at least three or four times.

There are two types of majors which make study abroad plans a bit more focused. First would be for students majoring in a foreign language. Those students would almost always do their study abroad in a program that gives them 100% immersion in that language. Second would be science or engineering majors. Those majors often have a ton of required courses, so it takes some planning to make sure that your study abroad program offers a few of those courses. Honors majors also have to be careful that they have enough semesters to take the required four honors preparations, including the two-semester senior thesis. However, it is possible for a study abroad program to count as an honors prep.

There is some flexibility regarding what department will give you credit for particular study abroad courses. For example, the four courses in my daughter’s planned study abroad program (it’s an unusual program with four specific courses) could count as different combinations of sociology, poli sci, econ, or bio courses. Piker will work with her to figure out how to count each one so that she doesn’t end up with too many courses in her major and/or miss a distribution requirement where she may need one. For example, technically the Bio department won’t give credit for an advanced course without having taken Bio 1. So, she will either get an exception or count an Ecology course as Sociology. Again, the prevailing approach is that the school will work with you.

Usually, by the end of the sophmore year, students are already starting to map out the courses they will be taking for their major for their remaining time at Swarthmore and discussing those plans with their academic advisors. So choosing a study abroad program fits into that overall process.

Here’s the link to the Study Abroad office, although there is additional information in some of the department websites:

http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/ofs/

Here is the index to the full list of pre-approved programs (although there are others that could be approved).

http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/ofs/programs/index.html

Here’s a list specific to English-speaking countries: