My D (accepted for next fall) was invited to apply for this program, which is a 2-week session in Italy. The application is due in a couple of weeks, but the website is wonky. Anyone know if you have to accept your admission offer to be considered for this?
My son was invited to apply last year but opted against it because we have been to Italy and wants to do a study abroad somewhere he hasn’t been (he is planning to spend next spring in Germany). He actually now kind of regrets not going. The group that went seems to have formed into a tight group and that is something he hasn’t managed to find yet. He is finding his way and making friends but starting out with a group like that would have been nice for him. Is your daughter a Brown Scholar?
Thanks for the information @rosegeo. My D is NMF. She hasn’t even applied to TAMU honors (yet), so the invite was something of a surprise. She has also been to Italy and has similar reservations as your son, but I agree that making some friends before school starts would be great, especially since she would be coming from out of state. It seems like a pretty good value, especially if you can apply the foreign study stipend that TAMU offers NMF’s.
Congrats on the NMF, my son was one too. We are also out of state, from Arizona. Do you know if the foreign study stipend can be applied to this trip? I did t even think about that, but like I said he plans to use it next spring.
If she plans to apply for university honors, she should do it soon. By the time my son applied, they were full. I didn’t even realize that there was a time issue with it, we had visited with someone from university honors on a campus visit and he made it sound like they save room for the NMF kids but when he tried to apply 2 weeks later the application was closed. He ended up doing engineering honors instead.
Is your daughter planning to attend fish camp? I would highly recommend it. My son really enjoyed it and his camp and small discussion group did a lot of activities together last semester. He actually just got accepted to be a camp counselor next year. He will be in session g, the one right before Howdy week.
You do not have to accept your admission offer to be considered, but you do have to accept your admission before you officially pay for the trip if you are accepted for the trip. I am one of the freshmen who went last year, it was an amazing trip. I’ve made friends with everyone on who went and I am rooming with some of them next year. The seminar teaches you how to get involved with research and different organizations.
I’m trying to get permission to edit the website right now so hopefully, the website won’t be wonky for too much longer.
Let me know if you have any more questions about the trip or if there’s anything else you would like to know.
The $1000 NMF foreign study stipend can’t be applied to the Italy trip. I went last summer with Ethan and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. About half of us are Brown Scholars.
I honestly don’t recommend fish camp if your child goes to Italy- the trip is a three week long orientation to everything Texas A&M. I went to both and wish I had skipped fish camp as the kids I met in my fish camp group were nothing compared to the friends I made on the trip.
@ebeaux and @mmyers, thank you both for the insight about the program!
@ebeaux , the problem we had with the website is that it won’t let my D apply using the link that was provided in the invitation. I forget the exact error message, but it was along the lines that this program is only open to TAMU students.
Also, it looks like this year the trip may only be 2 weeks, not 3. The dates on the invite were 7/14-7/28.
Hmm… that’s strange. Make sure she’s not using her UIN, but instead indicating that she does not have any credentials for the study abroad site. If she is already logged in the portal with her TAMU account it won’t work, so make sure you’re logged out completely.
When creating the account make sure to use your personal email and since Texas A&M is not an option under lists of institutions on the sign up (weird right?), select other and type in “Texas A&M University” in the box that shows up.
After you submit the form, you should receive an email with 2 different links. Select the link for the non-Texas A&M University login and this time you select the portion that says you received credentials through the email. Use the information you received in the email to get into the application when logging in for the first time.
It takes a little bit of time for the page to load, but it should lead you straight to the application after that point.
Also, the dates will be July 14th (with the students meeting in Houston) - July 31st (with the students departing Venice)
Hope this helped and good luck with the application!
@ebeaux, thanks for all the detail, we’ll try again tonight.
I also got the invite and plan on applying, @ebeaux and @mmyers , could you speak about some of the activities you did on the trip? Like what exactly do you learn?
Sure @Evon1254
We did plenty of personal development activities and Italian immersion activities. The first few days were spent doing ice-breakers and group activities so you really began to get close with the people that you were with.
After that, the trip got a little bit more focused on the learning aspect as we would get tours of multiple Italian cities and museums. We had several art classes and Italian lessons so we could better immerse ourselves in the surrounding community. We had the opportunity to order cappuccinos in the surrounding community for breakfast using the skills we learned.
There were also several lessons about Texas A&M and how to start off your college career. There was so much stuff we learned and did that it’s difficult to remember everything, but there were definitely lessons on how to adapt to life on campus, getting involved in organizations and research, being healthy in college, and a multitude of other lessons taught in presentations by student leaders.
An important part of the trip is also life-mapping. You set a few goals for yourself for college, whether it be organizations you would like to get involved in, how you want to pursue your future, and the person you would like to be. You are asked what you view success as and you discuss 1-on-1 with a staff member what you can do to more easily reach your goals. It’s a lot of help and the staff members can even introduce you to people who will make your college career a lot more enriching.
Everything about the trip is all-around fun and it definitely creates a lot of opportunities when you get back to Texas A&M.
Thanks @ebeaux, both for the application logon advice and the details you provided about the experience. My D is working on her application now. Or watching Netflix.
I finished my application today. Maybe your daughter and I will see each other this summer @kcheves . I wonder how many people they invite to apply vs the 30 that get accepted. Thinking Emoji
My D also applied and is NMF and Brown Scholar. WE are hoping she gets in. Not sure how it works or how they are chosen. Have heard it is an awesome trip and well worth it. I appreciate learning Fish Camp is not a must if you do this.
Does anyone have an idea how many kids are invited to apply for the Italy trip?
Has anyone heard anything, does anyone know timing or how many are selected from how many applicant?
@verrsoltes - Around 30 freshmen are selected, and those selected will receive an email on April 4th.
Did anyone receive the acceptance email?
@chercheur Not yet. Maybe they are waiting until the end of the day to update everyone.
Thank you, @Evon1254. Please post if you receive something!