My initial evaluation of study abroad opportunities suggests that some schools have in-house study abroad programs while other have study abroad farmed out to some outside organizations. Are there any schools that have particularly robust study abroad programs that might fit these criteria:
Semester or even year abroad...not just summer
Above options at at-home tuition levels
Science-based study programs for someone who might be, for example, premed.
Programs that are honors college based and not just open to entire university
Most colleges have a fair number of options. Dickinson is particularly strong. A whole year abroad may be challenging with a pre-med curriculum anyplace, though.
Lafayette has a particularly robust study abroad program with many being faculty led. They also accommodate Engineering majors, which many schools don’t do. Not sure about pre-med though
Pre-med is do-able, if you are a strong, focused and motivated student- esp if you have done (say) AP Calc BC and some of bio/chem/physics-not for an exemption, but to have a strong grounding so that you can knock out most / all of the pre-reqs in 1st and 2nd year. Then study abroad third year, and round out any stray courses senior year (some med schools like specific classes in addition to the usual suspects).
I was going to say both Dickinson and Kalamazoo – but others beat me to it! Both schools have long established relationships with programs in a number of countries, and have a very smooth process for transferring credit from overseas study.
If relevant, another question to ask is whether merit aid can be used for study abroad. At K, as well as a number of midwest schools my son looked at (Earlham, Knox, etc), merit aid can be used for study abroad at approved programs. But that is not the case at all the schools he researched.
Of course, you could study at a foreign university for your entire bachelor’s degree study. Some of them can be surprisingly inexpensive for international students by US standards.
Both “in house” and “farmed out” study abroad programs can be equally beneficial for a student depending on their at home college. My first suggestion might be to look only at those schools that teach in English (unless you are very proficient in another language) especially given that you are interested in pre-med.
As someone else mentioned here, most schools have robust study abroad programs as it is one of the top interests of applicants. One thing that I have seen and heard from many, many people is that the study abroad programs are generally easier than the regular school classes because part of studying abroad is experiencing other parts and cultures of the world and if you were bogged down in classes/studying then you would be missing out on a lot of the study abroad experience.
It looks like the University of Arizona offers a honors college-specific trip in the summer and a wide range of other options throughout the academic year. In looking quickly at their Global Initiatives website, I see that they have an upcoming session on studying abroad for pre-health majors and that they offer a large scholarship for students interested in studying in the Caribbean. https://global.arizona.edu/study-abroad
Many people have stated that most schools have robust study abroad programs. It is true this is becoming a point of honor for many schools. However, it is still difficult to study abroad in the STEM fields in most schools without impacting the ability to graduate in 4 years. Also, it was mentioned that the classes are conducted in the foreign country’s language - not always true. D just returned from a semester studying at the American College of Greece, where all classes are conducted in English and all students must pass an English proficiency test. Other programs are fully taught in the native language, and some are full immersion where students live with host families rather than in dorms.
Some schools do have study abroad programs tailored to STEM majors. Loyola Maryland has a program in Newcastle geared for science majors wanting to study abroad. They also offer an Honors-based study abroad option in Glasgow. The hard part isn’t finding a study abroad program - it’s finding one where your department will accept the overseas university credits toward your major and that won’t disrupt your sequence of classes.
Students not strong enough in a foreign language to do college study in that language in all subjects (or who are not interested in universities where a foreign language that they know well is used) can still consider English speaking universities outside the US (e.g. Canada, UK, Hong Kong, Australia, etc.).
My name’s Saab Martin and I’m from the Philippines. I’m graduating in April and I would really like to study abroad but I do not know much about it yet. Can you guys help me thanks