Could I study at another University for 1 semester as a "visitor"

Graduate School
1

Hi;

I’m graduate students master degree student. Just for sake of experience, I would like to try different universities. Is there a way for example to study one semester at another university as still those courses will be counted at my current university?

Thanks!

2

You need to ask your university.

3

This is a lot more common for undergrad programs.

4

It’s not uncommon for graduate programs - particularly doctoral programs - but there’s usually a good reason. PhD students don’t just go to another school because they want to experience it; maybe that other university has archives with holdings they need for a project, or a famous professor who studies what they want to study, or some equipment they need to complete part of an experiment. There are also dissertation year fellowships for PhDs to spend the year at another institution to teach, network, and write in a different environment.

As a master’s student - you’d have to check your handbook, but I’d be very surprised if your university allowed you to study as a visiting student elsewhere. First of all, MA programs are only 4 semesters long, and if you have to take certain coursework that may not be possible to do elsewhere. Secondly, you don’t really have a compelling reason - you just want to try stuff out. Unfortunately that phase of life is over (unless you have money to take random classes as a non-degree student at places).

5

Thank you Juillet!

6

Sometimes there are exchange students from abroad. I know someone who’s visiting another school doing his PhD because his advisor moved to that school.

7

That’s not really “visiting” in the traditional sense, though, and often advisors are the ones who arrange that kind of thing. Sometimes the advisors make it a condition of their employment at the new school, especially if they are superstars (aka: new university tries to recruit some hot tenured professor; HTP says “I’ll come work for you, sure, but I need to bring my current doctoral students along so they can finish.”)

Exchange students from abroad are quite common: when I was doing my PhD I had several such students in both of my departments. Again, though, they were usually there because they were doing research and we had an expert in some research area of theirs that they wanted to consult with. They weren’t there just for the heck of it.