@helpingthekid73 At Oxford it would be PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics):
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It should be noted that the Williams program houses all their students together on their own campus in North Oxford about a mile from Exeter College, which is the programās āhome.ā Students do take āregularā Oxford classes and get involved in University activities, but itās different from directly enrolling in the University for junior year.
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My daughter is considering a summer study abroad. Weāre struggling to find something with a class that could count towards her degree though. We did find a Prague and Madrid option, so she has an appointment to talk about those and anything else. I donāt know if she is up for a full semester, but we do need to talk about that this weekend.
She has to schedule for spring next week, so I wish she was further ahead on the study abroad stuff.
Otherwise, she seems to be doing well. She likes her classes well enough anyway. We bought her plane tickets for Thanksgiving and winter breaks. I wish they just ended at Thanksgiving instead of going back for 2 weeks. So much easier!
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Thatās the problem our engineer student is havingāno time for abroad. Our art student on the other hand? Letās just say he is very very busy making plans (and not of the academic sort as far as I can tell!) for Paris and Milan next fall. I told him not to be crowing about that in front of his brother.
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Study abroad is one of those trade off decisions that signify another move towards full adulthood. Deciding the double major is more important than the study abroad experience. Deciding the study abroad experience will be one of primarily studyā¦or primarily abroad, lol. Accepting the trade offs of the decision.
Or, accepting the financial limitations that prevent study abroad from being an option at all.
None of our students can ādo it allā. Figuring out where time, money and energy best spent one of the important parts of becoming an adult.
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And for those worried that their childās giving up traveling if they donāt study abroad - my D has been to Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium and the Netherlands since graduating in ā23. Some on her companyās dime. The window for travel doesnāt close!
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My S22 couldnāt do a semester abroad due to his major. Honestly, he didnāt want to go away for an entire semester anyway. But the summer after sophomore year he did an AIFS internship study abroad experience in Barcelona for 8 weeks. He had a fabulous experience- with a high quality internship in his field that gave his resume a nice boost, and the opportunity to travel to different countries just about every weekend. These AIFS internship experiences were listed on his universityās website as study abroad opportunities. He received credit for the internship and 3 credits (free elective) for the internship āclassā. The class was really just his journaling of his experience and reflective essays. Granted, it was costly but thankfully we were able to cover the cost of the program.
My S24 is currently applying for service based study abroad experiences for next summer through his university. Heās applying for two different programs in South America that are short term summer.
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Yes! It has been so wonderful watching my D24 mature in this way.
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What kind of course is she seeking?
We had to look all over for my kid as her schoolās class cancelled two summers in a row, a Case Western one we signed up for cancelledā¦finally found one through U Nebraska - which would have cancelled - we got it to the minimum. Summers are hard - even if you find one - many cancel.
And yes, you need to get approvals of the syllabus and all that after you find one.
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She is mechanical engineering so something that counts. We did find diff Eq a couple places and dynamics and Thermo somewhere. Maybe an engineering econ or a literature class would work too.
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There are also instructor led trips.
As an engineering major itās hard - but it may be for more of interest or elective credit, even if it doesnāt count. Even if you find one, the undergrad school will have to approve.
We had found one for my son at Alabama but it was related to his minor (geography - it was a water thing in Italy but got Covid cancelled).
Have you looked at CIEE. You might ask Notre Dame if their program is open to non students.
UGA also has a summer program - Iām sure thereās more - you need to see if theyāre open - many schools are, some arenāt.
Nebraska has 2 week faculty led in Brazil and France next Summer, etc.
Literature may be easier than engineering I presume.
I had to dig for many, many months to find a program for my kid. If you want to go, Iām sure something is out there - but yes they are hard to find. You have to find a program, hope itās open to outsiders, be able to afford it, and hope itās not cancelled.
In that regard, you do better with finding a school to attend than a faculty led trip - those are the ones that cancelled - whereas my daughter ended up at a Taiwan university via U of Nebraskaā¦they had kids from all over the world.
Study Abroad - College of Engineering
Engineering Global Programs - College of Engineering
UNL Faculty-led Programs | Global Experiences | Global Nebraska | Nebraska
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I know two relatively recent ME grads who both did semesters abroad - one in Hong Kong, the other in Dublin. Both consider it a highlight of their college years. My D22 just did a semester abroad and is super glad to have had the experience (overall cost, minus her travel to other countries which she paid for, was as others said was a bit cheaper than a normal semester, even including her fight there and back but also excluding my visiting her. She cooked very cheaply for herself though so food costs were the real savings, though her rent was also slightly cheaper than a dorm room at her college.). Someone up thread mentioned traveling after college; while awesome obviously in my mind travel for a few weeks is not comparable to spending four months living and going to school in another country. Itās one of my regrets from my own college days - it was way less of a thing then - and my daughter is very glad to have had the experience even if there were times/things that werenāt ideal.
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When I was in college, the only study abroad option was to do the entire academic year overseas. I looked into it, but living in another country for a year didnāt sound great to me at the time. Iām glad I opted not to do it because it would not have been the right choice for me. I do not regret that decision. My sister did her junior year abroad in college and there were definitely many times where it was toughā¦her apartment got broken into and some of her stuff stolen, all of the classes were in the countryās language (nothing in english) so for several weeks she only understood about half of what the professors were saying in class. She got through it though and enjoyed the experience.
In terms of overall maturity level, I do not think that D24 is ready for a study abroad experience right now. She has some growing up to do first. And although sheās expressed interest in it, itās been sort of a mild interest like āOh yeah, that sounds cool, Iāll maybe look into it later.ā So we are not pushing it, especially since weāre not going to pay for it. She needs to get a part time job first.
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Thank you for saying this because that was my memory as well! Full year study abroad was the only kind I remember being offered, and I was happily surprised by how many different options are now available for students.
Semester long, January/Maymester, Summer, academic year, 3-6 week professor led treksā¦the options are almost overwhelming. There are even study abroad internships offered!
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Mine had planned on doing study abroad before getting into her theme house, and now really doesnāt want to give up time with that crew, so is considering a summer option. She did casually drop that she might go to Ireland for spring break, because one of the housemates will be on study abroad in Germany, and so a crew is looking into going over. āBut why Ireland and not Germany?ā āwe want to go to ireland, and he can meet us there.ā Okay! She is pretty frugal and saves her summer job money for stuff like this (and Boston-Ireland can be extremely reasonable).
She is about to declare a major, and has already declared a minor. There was a deadline to declare German minors before they phased it into a Global Studies minor, so she went ahead and did that, and plans on majoring in Design, which seems like such a good fit for her. (If Iād have picked, it would have been design, but she started with education as her initial interest thinking she wanted to be an art teacher - she could always do an MAT/ MEd if she ever wanted to do that later, but at this stage of her life, a straight design program is definitely a better fit!)
And yes, @NiceUnparticularMan , the story is already house lore, they have hung a photo of her xray on the wall, and every provider she had to tell it to was like ābalancing on a tireā¦ okā¦ā
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oof, tough update from D24 today. She had her second round of exams this week in the unholy trifecta (Orgo, Physics, Calc 3). Calc was yesterday and she thought she did pretty well. Grades posted today and she did not, in fact, do well. At all. Long text screed about how terrible the instructor is, no real instruction or explanation given just homework assignments that get graded by never have correct answers provided afterwards, blah blah blah. I asked her if she though she was going to pass the class and she said she doesnāt know. She has one more exam and the final to pull it together, plus she can choose to retake one exam the last week of classes. I strongly encouraged her to go to office hours, to speak to the TA, to go to the math tutoring centerā¦I donāt know what else to tell her.
Physics and Chem grades havenāt posted yet. Weāll see what happens there.
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There is even a semester at sea option now for the truly adventurous who want to explore multiple countries while taking classes from professors in residence on a cruise ship!
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For the challenge-seeking student who has already conquered all of the campus variants of norovirusā¦.
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I agree that the wide variety of study abroad experiences is refreshing and impressive. When I was in college in the 90ās we had options for one semester or one year. I did a semester in London, which was a good experience for me. However, the support abroad was severely lacking, and I didnāt realize how many supplies Iād have to buy for myself. I knew ahead of time that I had to bring all my own bedding. But I found out once I got there that I had to provide my own dishes, silverware and cooking utensils. I lived in a flat style dorm. 12 people to a floor, single rooms for everyone, shared kitchen and bathrooms. The 12 of us did end up sharing pots and pans etc, but I got there having no idea where to even get that stuff so I could have my own forks, cups, etc. There was no nearby cafeteria to my dorm, so my daily options were to cook my own food or find fast food or a restaurant.
I was so relived to find that AIFS was incredibly organized and supportive when my son went to Barcelona in summer 2024. He didnāt have to bring bedding, and was provided a fully stocked kitchen. When he arrived he spent the first night at a hotel with other AIFS students, and they did a whole program on acclimating to life in a foreign country. There was a local rep in Barcelona that he could contact if he needed help. Thankfully he didnāt have any issues, but our experiences were night and day in comparison. Study abroad options have come a long way.
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Yep. She is meeting with someone from the study abroad office. Iām sure they will help her to find what she wants. Iāll help but if she wants to do this, she will need to put the effort in to make it happen.
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