<p>S is trying to make a final decision from some great choices. He is interested in a semester in another country. Every school likes to crow about their programs. I have no idea how to evaluate these offerings. I have heard too many stories of semesters aboard merely being an extended vacation for the student. I expect any overseas program to involve real learning and work, not just be an "experience".</p>
<p>For those of you in the know, what type of questions should we be asking?</p>
<p>I think that study abroad programs everywhere are an extended vacation for the students but the point of being abroad is not to sit in a classroom and study out of a book. There is a lot of learning that happens outside of the classroom intellectually but also a lot of personal development happens when a child is abroad. If your child is going abroad, save gen eds to take and let them explore where ever they are.</p>
<p>I would first see if there is something directly through his home college where you don’t pay additional tuition and room and board. All three of my kids had very different study abroad options, but all had that deal so the expenses were only entertainment and travel.</p>
Not necessarily true. My DD2 is in Japan for a semester and she is studying 5 hours/day outside of her classes, primarily because it is mostly a language immersion program. She is taking advantage of cultural immersion activities and trips on weekends. </p>
<p>I do agree that you need to see if any scholarships will travel. DD1 wanted to do a semester in Ireland but her full tuition scholarship would not apply and I really didn’t want to pay $3K more per month for school on top of the travel costs.</p>
<p>SteveMA and Erin’s Dad are getting to the question. Studying a foreign language and culture makes sense for overseas study. Being taught in english, in a class with other American students, in a subject that really could be taught anywhere seems less valuable.</p>
<p>I would hope an experience done under the auspices of a college would be more valuable than just taking a vacation.</p>
<p>My son did an intensive language program in Jordan last summer. He thought the other students weren’t serious enough and the classes did not move as fast as the ones at Tufts. They advertised homestays as being an integral part of the program, some students got good families, but he got two duds, neither of whom were at all interested in interacting with him and the first family actually had an English speaking Dad and had the TV set to an English speaking station! It turned out that while the school year program is okay, the summer program has a different and not nearly as competent director. On the plus side, there were pretty good field trips to see all the antiquities.</p>
<p>So ask lots and lots of questions, try to talk to students who’ve been there before. Personally, I think programs that are only with other Americans are doomed to failure, you have a somewhat better chance if you are with people from other (preferably non English speaking) countries. Best of all is to be good enough at the language that you can actually attend university in that country.</p>
<p>D did a study abroad through Butler U (she was not a Butler student). She studied at University of Edinburgh, taking a full load of classes and being graded just like everyone else. She had a wonderful time … she certainly had to study, but she had time to travel and have a ton of fun with the other students. All her credits applied at her home school, and she was able to get several approved toward her major. It was the best thing she ever did … she loved it, and it was wonderful for her self esteem.</p>
<p>D2 did a study abroad at UCL through the Arcadia University program and found it to be a good experience. Half her classes were “regular” UCL ones and the other half designed for study abroad students - both had positive features, and she felt that her academic experience was not “an extended vacation.” I will admit that much of her learning did seem to involve navigation of transportation systems, and that she managed to pack in visits to Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Belgium and Italy during her three month stay.</p>
<p>The downside was that her housing was with other American students. She made some good friendships, but in retrospect she would have liked to have broadened her circle of friends. (She did choose to join one of the campus orchestras, so made some UK friends in that group.)</p>
<p>There were two points when we really appreciated the safety net that Arcadia provided: (1) when she was robbed in her hotel in Italy, we contacted the main office and the local Italian representative offered support to her (which she ended up not taking), and (2) when her flight home was delayed due to the massive London blizzard (3 inches!), they provided free housing until she was able to reschedule a flight several days later.</p>
<p>This sweeping generalization will be news to my D who is currently prepping for a study abroad. In addition to pre-trip discussion classes and a ton of reading, there’s a big assignment due before they leave, several while they’re abroad, and a final paper after they return.</p>
<p>LasMa-do you deny the reason for her going on a study abroad is see that part of the world, to live there, experience that part of the country? I never said students didn’t have classes and work to do while there but I hardly think that most kids take a study abroad strictly for academics.</p>
<p>LasMa–the OP used the term “extended vacation” I just expanded on what I thought that meant…</p>
<p>I still think it is more of a vacation for most kids then as academically stressful as their “regular” classes. That doesn’t make it a bad thing, just different.</p>
<p>I’m all for study abroads. I think every college student should do at least one.</p>
<p>DD did a semester in New Zealand.I would look for a program that has a direct relTionsip with his current school and look for a program where there is a coordinator from the host University available on campus at all times as a host University employee throughout the time.</p>
<p>this likely depends on the program that is chosen. You can study abroad where you take one class in the morning for an hour or two and then have 10am to ?? to explore the city, changing cities every few days until you explore all of Europe. Or you can study abroad at Oxford. Very different situations.</p>
<p>I did a semester abroad in Costa Rica. I didn’t take traditional classes in a classroom but I still had readings and papers that I had to turn in to my professors every few weeks when they came through. I lived in an indigenous community and helped with capacity building for a rural ecotourism project that they were trying to get off the ground. I worked harder there than I ever have here in the states. </p>
<p>Showering out of a bucket, living in a wood hut, and being attacked by biting ants is not my idea of an “extended vacation”. With that said, I still have many of the bilingual correspondences that I had with various organizations down there as well as a bilingual website I created. The best question to ask is “is there going to be anything that I can tangibly show for my student’s experience?” That bilingual website and those correspondences that I saved have been a huge boost when I go interview for jobs and internships. </p>
<p>I am a strong advocate for homestays and project trips (field work, etc) rather than brick and mortar classroom trips. Another good question is how many students are going. It seems that smaller groups tend to have more authentic (?) experiences than those who travel with large American groups.</p>
<p>In addition to last summer abroad, my son will be spending next year abroad. His program expects him to achieve fluency in a foreign language so that is goal number one, in addition he’s very interested in what’s going on politically in the Middle East.</p>
<p>My d’s college (Smith) has a VERY rigorous program. ALL instruction is in the local language (in her case, it was Italian). All lectures are in Italian, by Italian professors, including required courses at the local university. All papers are written in the local language, all exams are taken in the local language. Placements are made with local families, preferably those where no English is spoken. Students sign a pledge not to use English in their day-to-day lives. My d. also played in a local orchestra. </p>
<p>In contrast, my nephew went to a program in the same city (Duke/NYU), and in the same year. NO Italian was spoken; no language courses were required. No prior language experience was required. Students lived in a villa with other English-speaking students, which wasn’t even in town. Lectures were all in English, mostly by American faculty. There were no homestays. No original research. Many flew other places for extended weekends. There was a ton of drinking. </p>
<p>I guess it had its value. It could have been done for $20k less, with a better educational outcome.</p>
<p>Agree with mini’s post–there is a variety of rigor in study abroad programs just as there are a variety in rigor in US university life. I wouldn’t say all study abroad experiences are just an extended vacation just as I wouldn’t say all college UG is just an extended 4-year party. True for some, but not for all.</p>
<p>My S had a really amazing experience last year. Had a wonderful home stay in Florence (no English speakers but fabulous Italian cooks!) He became fluent in Italian there, as much to do with the Italian friends he made as the classwork in Italian. He also took studio art classes (not his major, but one of his HS specialties) and art History. I’d say the student looking for a richer cultural experience (not just hanging with other American kids speaking English) gets much more out of the semester abroad.</p>
<p>It’s an opportunity for a great educational experience but many aspects of the education, no doubt, are sometimes pleasant–involving learning to live on one’s own on another continent.</p>