Best Colleges For Study Abroad?

[nursekay]

<p>On our tours of LAC it became a running joke to see what percentage of students studied abroad. They all bragged and they all said 60%! The one exception to that is Goucher that requires all students to study abroad.</p>

[M_s_Mom]

<p>katliamom, things are changing, even at Harvard. According to this article in the Crimson, “students who choose to study abroad for a full semester has increased 70 percent in the last eight years.” At other selective schools like Brown, studying abroad is a much stronger tradition and not, as one poster implied, a reflection of a mediocre education.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/5/6/abroad-students-semester-harvard/[/url]”>http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/5/6/abroad-students-semester-harvard/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[cellardweller]

<p>M’s mom, even a 70% percent increase from near zero is a very low number. The article clearly says the numbers pale in comparison to other schools. </p>

<p>As katliamom indicated at elite universities such as HYP or MIT, the number of students on study abroad programs during the academic year is exceedingly small. the Yale registrar stated that less than 10% of Yale students have gone on study abroad programs during the fall/spring semesters. The numbers are even lower at Harvard. Princeton claims14% including non-credit programs. I recall my daughter interviewing for admission to Princeton and asking the representative about their study abroad programs. She was told flat out that students at Princeton simply don’t want to leave. </p>

<p>Some schools make it exceedingly difficult to get credit for study abroad. It used to be nearly impossible to study abroad during the spring semester at Harvard as you had to fly back to take your fall exams in January. I believe Harvard has only ONE full year exchange program with Sciences Po in Paris, for a maximum of two students per year. Full semester programs for credit are also limited. At MIT, they have only two, one with Cambridge University and another with Ecole Polytechnique in France, also available to a limited number of students in specific departments. In many STEM fields, with the number of prerequisite courses and structured curricula, it becomes very difficult to work out a study abroad program and still graduate on time. </p>

<p>A major issue is the reluctance by some universities to grant any credit for classes at other institutions. The reality of study abroad is that they are seldom serious academic programs with few exceptions such as foreign language immersion programs. Combining absence of credits with the reluctance to give up the opportunities they already have on campus, results in very few student leaving. </p>

<p>At some other schools such as Brown, anything goes, in part because of the open curriculum. If you want to study underwater basket weaving in Poitiers for a year, no problem! No wonder 40% or more go on study abroad programs. </p>

<p>At LACs, it is entirely different issue. it seems that by Junior year, students can’t wait to leave the confines of their campus for a semester or year abroad.</p>

[dadwithmodem]

<p>FWIW:
If someone pulled out a gun and said, “Name the top five colleges in the nation for study abroad,” we would probably list: Colby, Connecticut College, Dickinson, Kalamazoo, Lewis and Clark College, Middlebury, Occidental, and St. Olaf. (That’s eight, but who’s counting?)</p>

<p>Fiske, Edward; Hammond, Bruce (2010-08-01). Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right College (Kindle Locations 2047-2049). Sourcebooks, Inc… Kindle Edition.</p>

[juillet]

<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>

[warblersrule]

<p>

@katliamom

BTW, a few years ago, DH was a finalist for a higher-level administrative position in a study abroad office at one of the Ivies. The previous director told him “don’t expect crowds. This school makes it clear to its students that no other university in the world is up to its own exalted standards.” This is a real quote from a real Ivy administrator. And it was made only partly in jest.

There is that argument to be made, yes, but I fear it misses the forest for the trees. Done properly, study abroad enriches and broadens a student in a way that even the most talented professor in the best classroom cannot hope to match. </p>

<p>Sitting in a classroom at Yale listening to a lecture on Egyptian archaeology is one thing; taking the same class in Cairo and visiting the relevant monuments is something different altogether. Sitting in an ecology class at Princeton is different from doing fieldwork in Kenya; Princeton recognizes this and has field schools in places like Panama and Bermuda. Medieval studies in the UK, marine biology in Australia, geology in Iceland, international relations in Geneva, art history in Italy, economics in Tokyo…there are many places that provide wonderful experiences for students. </p>

<p>Summer programs are good, yes, but they are often short and provide only a whirlwind glimpse of things.</p>

[wbwa]

<p>cellardweller - your comments about study abroad need a little updating.</p>

<p>To follow up on one of your examples: Like most “elite” universities and contrary to your argument, Yale is aggressively pushing study abroad. From their website:
“In recognition of the value of international study, Yale College encourages students to spend a term or an academic year studying in an approved program abroad.”
They had listed among a series of priorities for the 2009-2012 school years expanding and encouraging opportunities in international study.
From their own “Factsheet” - “915 students (regular and summer term) studied abroad in 2010-11.” Not exactly an insignificant number, especially taking into account the fact that 10% of undergrads there are not US citizens but internationals and - here I do agree - the difficulties often associated with some STEM fields/scheduling issues (certainly engineering, chemistry less so, bio/physics/geo/CS even less so, math generally not an issue).</p>

<p>Remember too that many students on campus do not qualify for study abroad. A minimum GPA is usually required knocking many out of contention. Quality internationally certainly varies, but directly sponsored programs (including those at HYP), often run by in-house faculty, are quite strong. Few would argue with the rigors of competitive programs at places like Oxford, Cambridge and LSE which can command GPAs at your home institution as high as 3.7 to qualify. </p>

<p>All US schools have woken up to the value of study abroad. Opportunities are generally plentiful and, for this reason, this won’t generally factor in to a decision about where one attends.</p>

[cellardweller]

<p>

From their own “Factsheet” - “915 students (regular and summer term) studied abroad in 2010-11.”

</p>

<p>More than 85% of these are summer students. The number of Yale students studying abroad during the academic year has actually declined in recent years from a high of around 180 in 2006-2007 to less than 120 last year. The two biggest programs, Yale in London program typically attracts less than 10 students/year and the Yale in China around 20/year. It is true that Yale has been promoting the study abroad programs more in recent years but students are not lining up for them (except for summer programs).</p>

<p>

The number of Yalies abroad last year (2010-2011) was approximately the same at Harvard and Princeton, according to assistant director of study abroad at the Center for International Experience Susan Evans. Yet this group represents less than 3 percent of the undergraduate population at Yale.

</p>

<p>

Natalee Pei ’13, who will leave for China next semester under the joint study abroad program between Yale and Peking University in Beijing, said she thinks most Yale students do not study abroad during the academic school year simply because it is not the norm.</p>

<p>“People who do study abroad feel a little bit left out and it perpetuates this attitude that you’re going to miss out if most people aren’t doing it,” she said, adding that this atmosphere creates a self-enforcing cycle where students do not think to study abroad.

</p>

<p>

Others attributed Yale’s small study abroad population to broader institutional issues. Eric Jones ’12, who spent his sophomore spring semester in Morocco, noted that academic departments at Yale do not include study abroad as part of their curricula. As a result, he said that for most Yalies going abroad during the academic year is not part of the “quintessential Yale experience.”</p>

<p>Jones, an economics major, added that students majoring in certain departments may have difficulty going abroad because of Yale’s strict policies regarding credit transfers.

</p>