<p>where they at?</p>
<p>Depends on what you consider “best”. </p>
<p>Rhodes has about 60-70% of students study abroad at some point before they graduate. The British Studies at Oxford program is a very long-standing program held jointly with Sewanee. There is also European Studies, Maymester programs like Coral Reef Ecology in Central America, domestic study abroad like the Washington Semester at American U., and individual programs in more countries than you can shake a stick at. </p>
<p>Our students also have a decent record of earning Watson Fellowships which allow them global travel in the pursuit of some personal passion the year after graduation.</p>
<p>Goucher College has a study abroad requirement. 100% of students study abroad at regular tuition—they have to.</p>
<p>It would be unwise to judge a college’s study abroad options merely by looking at the school-sponsored programs offered. Study abroad organizations like Arcadia-CEA and Butler-IFSA offer programs all over the world, and students from other universities may apply to these programs. These days it is relatively easy to study nearly anywhere from nearly any college, so claims of “great programs” at, say, Tufts or Middlebury are usually empty boasts. </p>
<p>The percentage of students studying abroad is equally useless. Percentage of students studying abroad can be influenced by factors other than a college’s encouragement of doing so. A preponderance of engineering students, for example, usually lowers the percentage of students studying abroad. Furthermore, many schools fluff those numbers by including short term study abroad students. There is a tremendous difference between studying abroad for 2-4 weeks during the summer and spending a year abroad. The Rhodes statistic, for example, looks considerably less impressive when you realize that 68% of those students (185 of 271) studied abroad in the summer.</p>
<p>A few questions to consider:
[ul][<em>]1. Does financial aid apply to study abroad programs?
[</em>]2. Is there a maximum amount of aid available?
[<em>]3. If study abroad is cheaper than the college’s COA, does financial aid cut grant money or loans?
[</em>]4. a) Are students allowed to participate in study abroad programs sponsored by other universities or organizations?
b) How difficult is it to petition such programs?
c) Does financial aid count toward such programs?
[<em>]5. Does the college limit how long/often students may study abroad? Is the number of transferable credits limited?
[</em>]6. Are the study abroad programs immersion (students are placed directly into the host culture) or sheltered (placed with other students from the college, often with an accompanying professor)?
[<em>]7. Do study abroad courses count toward GPA or class standing?
[</em>]8. Does the college offer courses or meetings that prepare students for study abroad?
[<em>]9. What are the admission criteria for school-sponsored programs? How competitive are the programs?
[</em>]10. Are students studying in non-English-speaking countries required or encouraged to take courses in that language?
[<em>]11. In the event an in progress program is canceled or students are forced to evacuate, does the college offer tuition refunds? If so, how does it handle them?
[</em>]12. Does the school elicit and/or keep feedback from students about the programs they attended?[/ul]</p>
<p>The thing that’s nice about summer programs is that it gives an abroad opportunity to students who can’t or don’t want to do a whole semester or year abroad. The majority of our students who don’t go abroad fail to do so because they didn’t want to leave Rhodes for that period of time. They’ve made commitments like being an officer in an organization or researching with a professor or being a peer counselor in the women’s center. There are also those who don’t think about going abroad until their junior or senior year, and it’s often easier to get core curricular requirements fulfilled abroad than major requirements. The summer programs gives those students an opportunity that wouldn’t otherwise be available.</p>
<p>PS - where’d you find the 185/271 data?</p>
<p>
The Institute for International Education keeps track of study abroad statistics for the major colleges.</p>
<p>Good advice above–and focus much more on the 3 years or more you will be spending at the college itself</p>
<p>I agree that the quality of study abroad programs is sufficiently difficult to analyze that it should not be a significant factor in choosing a school and that the questions posted contain useful inquiries for students thinking about going abroad. However, Middlebury is a school that truly does have amazing language departments during the year and in the summer on campus and many of their abroad programs are run by Middlebury themselves. I wouldn’t say that their claims are “empty boasts” at all.</p>
<p>IB, </p>
<p>What a wonderful list!</p>
<p>One of the (many) determining factors in my daughter’s college selection had many of those same points. She is abroad for the entire year, now, and her wonderful scholarship went, too. Her uni has no programs during the year, but puts the kids in the program(s) best suited to their needs. Has wonderful connections/placements all over. Most FA goes w/kids, too. This semester she is DE in UK, living in a regular dorm, self-catering-- next semester in Spain, private home for the semester, then a 6 week internship, also in Europe, living w/a family. The credits were approved for transfer prior to leaving, but do not count in GPA. There is little aid for study abroad for the summer, but some scholarships can be applied for just for that. Too few students look ahead to see some of the pitfalls of SA, especially from the FA side, IMHO.</p>
<p>What program did she go through? What are the best programs to go through if your university doesn’t offer one?</p>
<p>^^^ For this semester she is DE(Direct Enrol-UK spelling) at UEA, and next semester it is API. There are many good programs. One has to search.</p>
<p>In terms of studying abroad, Dartmouth is the best place for it in the Ivy League. It has exchange programs with tops universities in many countries including LSE, Keio, Oxford, etc. It also offers study abroad programs in cool locations including Africa, the Caribbean, Cayman Islands, etc. The only catch is that these programs is expensive to attend, but that’s not a problem because financial aid is adjusted for all undergrads.</p>