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<p>You’re right, it is a difficult area. But it is not uncommon (or wasn’t) for Americans to have their GPAs destroyed by a semester or a year in Europe. Less supervision, more focus on academics, no gen eds, high-stakes final exams, 70+ being a good score… it’s a recipe for GPA trouble. The private study abroad providers massage this pretty nicely.</p>
<p>FWIW, my son’s school and I know other schools do not use the study abroad grades as part of their GPA. You must pass the classes and the real grades shows up on your transcript but you don’t have to worry that your GPA will get torpedoed by doing a study abroad.</p>
<p>Things are not that simple. Many schools don’t do that, and many (eg) law schools will calculate their own GPA, rather than relying on the school’s estimate. Study abroad can be very dangerous to the GPA.</p>
<p>Interesting that the OP brings up University of Cape Town…we know one girl who did just what was outlined – enrolled directly in UCT for the semester after clearing it with her home university. She paid just over $5k (this was 3 years ago) and did have a friend locally who was able to help her find housing. Saved a huge amount when compared to (1) what she paid for a regular semester at her home university and (2) what she would have paid through a program like CIEE. </p>
<p>My D leaves in a couple weeks for a semester at UCT but IS going through CIEE. I’m not sure if her university prohibited it but, if not, they certainly weren’t going to make it easy for her to go independently. In addition, she really needs approval for certain classes and she didn’t want to take a chance there would be a problem transferring her credits back. Finally, she was out of the country this past summer and became very ill. She was on a program and the staff took responsibility for getting her to the ER (3 times), to the doctor, etc. I was VERY happy she was on a program and, now that I’ve had this experience (well, SHE’s had this experience), I place more value on being part of a group/program with people who have some responsibility for their students’ well-being.</p>
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<p>I don’t really believe this. The university my D attended via direct enrollment is ranked around 100 in the world rankings, and she said it was far, far easier than her LAC ranked around 60 in the US. She said she really only had one class that was challenging, and the rest were cake compared to expectations at her US college.</p>
<p>Maybe we were just lucky, but my S had a very easy, direct-enrolling experience.
He studied one semester last year in Europe (granted it was in Ireland, so there was not a language issue).
He had his course selection approved in advance by the Study Abroad Office of his home university. The way it worked for him is that he paid his regular tuition back home and then they paid the Irish university. The housing in Ireland was actually cheaper than the dorm back home, which almost paid for the airfare. Net-net is was almost a wash from a $$ perspective.</p>
<p>The school in Ireland did not have traditional on-campus housing, but they had a list of apartments which have been traditionally rented to students, he reached out to the landlord, signed up for a share of a pretty ok apartment with a few roomates, no biggie.
The appartment was fine, I saw it myself when I visited.</p>
<p>He got pretty good grades over there and had no issue with it hurting his GPA, etc.</p>
<p>OP here. I’m still investigating this. I have a call in to hte study abroad office. She’s looking at another college in Port Elizabeth too. The savings by doing this independently are really massive. They’ll pay for a tour of Africa, or cover airfare for family to visit.</p>
<p>I do know that my D’s university allows this independent application - I just don’t know how much upfront work its going to take. My daughter is especially interested in doing this because after talking to lots of study abroad people, she finds that they have made lots of great lifelong friends with the other Americans who they traveled with…she’s hoping to meet and travel with other people (hence the concept of ‘study abroad’)</p>
<p>As far as GPA… I dont think it actually transfers from SA. And frankly, if you’re so jacked up about GPA to consider not studying abroad… you probably should just stay home. The best education is travel, and GPA tends to be a poor indicator of learning.</p>
<p>Following Lakewood’s comments about finaid: many colleges also charge you a place-holding fee, for the number of semesters away (after all, they aren’t getting your tuition/RB fees.) You have to clarify this with the home school. D’s LAC would have charged a small fee, I think a few thousand, A friend’s daughter, also at an LAC, was charged 16k, We would not have had fin aid continue for that program;s semester away. In our case, the projected courses fit the college’s balance of required and electives and she was (conditionally) pre-approved for credits to transfer. All much more complex than the school sponsored semester she did take.</p>
<p>My daughter studied abroad with a program outside her university. She had worked with the office of instruction and her advisor to approve her class course selection. This process actually took about a month to work through and arrive at a proper selection of courses that would transfer for credit and not cause any hang ups later on. Her university does not accept the grades from the abroad university but does use the approved courses for pass/fail credit. She was told her grades would count and be factored into her GPA for grad school. (Therefore she worked hard and came out with the same grades she would have at her home university) </p>
<p>Her LAC did not charge a fee for transferring credits or leave of absence fee. </p>
<p>She attends a private university so the fees were actually lower than her tuition at school and close to our fee that we pay after merit. The cost of getting there and such was a bit higher. We did feel the experience was worth the extra money.</p>
<p>D2 studied abroad with a university other than the one she was attending. The advantages were weekend trips, ease of registration into the foreign u’s classes, housing, and (most important) a place to stay when a snowstorm delayed her departure for several days in December. The program also provided (some) assistance when she was robbed during a weekend trip to Rome, even though she wasn’t studying in Italy. Had she needed it, their office would have been able to offer shelter, etc. (Maybe my peace-of-mind more than the kid’s…)</p>
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<p>I don’t see that as exactly direct enrollment, then… Plus, then you didn’t get the cost savings the OP is looking for (the point is to NOT pay the high costs of US college tuition, since European colleges are often very inexpensive or even have no tuition).</p>
<p>I remember an awful lot of work to get my D’s visa, prove out her bank account status so she was allowed to get the visa, arranging health insurance, etc. I think a program would have helped with more of those things (at a minimum given us a checklist and tips/suggestions for a lot of stuff we had to figure out on our how). I think we spent a LOT of hours between the housing issue and the other arrangements that we would have saved through a program. </p>
<p>Someone commented on merit aid traveling with the kid – if you do the on-the-cheap direct enrollment, you don’t really need it – the cost is so much lower than a semester at an American university. But don’t think you can do it without a lot of extra work…</p>
<p>For my D, they did not take the grades on the courses, just the credits. It actually delayed her admission into Phi Beta Kappa until the spring of senior year, though (they take two groups) because she didn’t have enough credits on campus to qualify earlier. </p>
<p>OP - stick with the University of Cape Town. It’s best academically. And, of course, Cape Town ranks among the world’s top cities to visit. Port Elizabeth - the college and the city are in a lower league.</p>
<p>Back in the 70’s, I spent my junior year abroad by enrolling directly at University College London and living in a UCL residence. It was considerably less expensive than a year at my LAC in the US (which in those days cost about $5000), and I received year’s worth of credit when I returned. Thirty years later, when I started touring colleges with my oldest child, I was amazed by the current notion that doing a study abroad program requires paying tuition to your home school in return for getting the required credit, essentially costing thousands more than enrolling directly. We were constantly being told by admissions reps that study abroad was “seamless” because you were “allowed to keep your financial aid package, too!” I completely agree with the OP that the current trend is not consumer-friendly. It must be quite profitable for the colleges and the travel abroad industry.</p>
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<p>I’d rather be operated on by a doctor who has been to medical school, than someone who has just done a lot of vacationing (sorry, “travel”).</p>
<p>Keepittoyourself, I’m a believer in the educational benefits of travel, and even I find that quote absurd. GPA should be a major concern for any serious student who has graduate school in mind. </p>
<p>See Maya Frost’s book, The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education for unique ideas for direct enrollment, saving on study abroad etc.</p>