<p>I have the opportunity to study for a semester (Late August to February) in either Paraguay or Hungary this coming fall. It is my senior year, so I would be applying to colleges and having my interview in Hungary or Paraguay. I plan to apply early to Harvard.
Has anyone else who’s applied to Harvard or any other competitive four-year college spent spent time abroad in their senior year? If so, did it help or hurt your application?</p>
<p>If you’re going to do this, line up your teachers’ letters of recommendation before school ends this spring.</p>
<p>IMO, the best time to talk to teachers about LORs is after the seniors graduate, but before school gets out. Before graduation, the teachers (and guidance counselors) will be preoccupied with the seniors APs, then finals, then final grades and then graduation. After graduation, they’ll have a lot less on their plates, and they’ll be happy to talk to juniors about college recommendations.</p>
<p>I would anticipate that a semester abroad in senior fall would make applying to Harvard–indeed, applying to all American colleges and universities–more complicated. The logistics are easier when you’re in the same building as your teachers and your guidance counselors five days a week, and more difficult when you’re not. You’d be dealing with them mostly by email. And if you went to Hungary, you’d have the added complication of a 6-hour (or more, depending on where you live) time difference: when your teachers are arriving for work, it’ll be the middle of the afternoon, or later, in Budapest; when they’re done with the school day, it’ll be 9:00 p.m. or later there. So you should expect there could be a lag of a day or even two in any communications with them.</p>
<p>None of this is meant to say you shouldn’t take a semester abroad. I’m sure it’s a fabulously broadening experience, and it’s the sort of thing you can do only when you’re young and unencumbered by spouse/children/career. But if you do it, you should do it with your eyes open, and you should plan ahead for some of the logistical problems you’ll encounter.</p>
<p>As to the question of applying specifically to Harvard: spending a semester abroad is more interesting than not doing it (so in that sense it’s good), but it’s not so unusual that a semester abroad by itself would make you irresistible to the admissions committee. It might be helpful, but only if you application is up to snuff in every other way.</p>