Son has been offered admission to his first-choice college, but through their first-semester abroad program – he would have to spend the fall immersed in the language, history, and culture of France (he took French in high school but hated it). This caught us all off guard (a total surprise), so just wondering if anyone else is in this situation or has experience with their student going abroad for their first semester of college?
Why would he want to go to France for an immersion program if he hated French in HS?
@blossom, because that is the only route that the college has offered, if he wants to go there! He didn’t choose this…
He really wants to go to this school, so in trying to wrap his mind around this offer, he does admit that he might enjoy the language better through immersion than he did with the crappy teacher he had in HS.
I’m a big proponent of study abroad, but it is most beneficial when tied to a student’s course of study/academic interests. I don’t see the point of spending a semester studying a subject that is not interesting to the student, in a location that is not desired, just to gain access to the home institution later. It seems a high price to pay.
It also is stressful, because all the adjustments to a new location and new academic regime must now be done twice in the same academic year. That’s a big burden for a freshman. I wish colleges did not do this. Spring admission is more honest and less stressful than this “first semester away” stuff.
Is there a minimum GPA your son will need to have for the first semester?
To me- that’s a real risk. What if he really dislikes hearing/speaking/reading in French all day? How is going to feel in October knowing that he’s got to stick it out… as unhappy as he may be… in order to make it until January?
What other options does he have right now? Any of them exciting and affordable?
Some schools do this better than others. Typically the ones that do it better have a strong football program and upperclassmen prefer to do their study abroad during the spring semester which creates an imbalance of students for the school.
Is there an option for your student to defer admission and take a gap year?
There is a particular school that shifts lower test school acceptances into their In program overseas first semester so their test scores don’t count towards reporting.
Personally think hard and long before accepting an offer like this
My good friend’s son did that this past fall. He came back and felt out of place. It’s a good school, but he’s uncomfortable enough that he’s transferring next year. I don’t think I would recommend it.
Unless they have a large number of new students starting in spring, he might feel like a transfer student instead of a freshman where everyone has friends and he is the new kid on the block.
I think this entirely depends on the student. If he is already relatively independent, is interested in study abroad at some point anyway, and is highly resilient and good with life transitions, go for it. Otherwise, I’d pick another school, one that admits him as a fall freshman.
It isn’t optimal, but I know two people who went that route and it worked out well for both. They developed close friends while abroad, found the programs to be well-structured and when they got to campus in the spring they already had a good core of friends. And both were able to room with a friend from the abroad program in the spring semester (although not in freshman dorms if I remember right).
The success of this type of a program depends a lot on the student’s flexibility as well as the school’s ability to integrate them in the spring semester.
Some questions I would ask are:
–How are students integrated when they get to campus? Is there a spring orientation?
–What academic options are offered abroad (in one case all the first semester abroad classes were P/F). What is the living situation abroad?
–Can they room in freshman dorms? Or at least can they choose a friend from the abroad program as a roommate?
–How successful has the program been in the past (what % ultimately graduate from the school).
I would look at his other options. A lot of friendship is formed the first years. I know my kids would feel out of place to miss out on a lot of on campus events.
Just repeating the concerns about not starting out with his class, missing orientations and meeting others when they are new on campus as well. I would not want to deal with a school that forced this on a student either. Have they told you the reason or this requirement? I mean, the real reason.
@ClarinetDad16 Can you say which school you are referring to?
I know of 2 selective LACs that do the Jan admit- both ‘say’ they do it for housing reasons. But that didn’t necessarily ring true to me
I would think the statistics have to be included since the students are technically enrolled in the college as first semester freshmen through the semester abroad program. My understanding is that this is done to maximize housing by filling rooms vacated by students doing a semester abroad etc. The two people I know who did got this type of acceptance (limited sample I know) considered their school to be a reach. Since this program is not ideal, it is likely not presented to the school’s stronger applicants.
First he hates at least part of the equation.
How do you as parents feel? It is hard enough letting them go off to college for some, how do you feel about him being in another country, with all the threats going on currently? Can’t live in fear, yadda yadda yadda, I get that, but you also don’t have to send your kid across the world if you aren’t comfortable with it.
I suppose what I am asking is, will anyone in the house be happy/feel good about this?
As much as I love France, I’m not keen on this first semester abroad plan except for very unusual students who live for that sort of thing.
For our son, we really want him to settle in on campus, get acclimated, meet people, etc. I can’t imagine doing all that on top of a semester abroad. It seems like you might feel like a transfer student when you do come back to campus (?).
I guess it can work out, as mentioned above, but - for us - this option would take a great deal of thought and a huge leap of faith.
This sounds the program Cal (UC Berkely) started last year. My D actually was kinda bummed that she wasn’t chosen for it when she heard about it (she got accepted as a regular admit). If it is Cal, then the students selected for the program aren’t necessarily considered on the bubble. Cal has a Spring admit program for freshmen, but they didn’t want the kids sitting around doing nothing for a whole semester so they started this semester abroad program.
Anyway, assuming it’s Cal, then I expect there would be a good size group of kids participating and in that kind of tight close-knit environment I’m sure a lot of close friendships will be formed. They’ll all come back together to Cal in the Spring, so the friendships should carry over. I think it’s a fantastic opportunity, but only for the right type of kid.
edited to add: My D didn’t end up going to Cal; didn’t want to give the impression that she did.
Actually, plenty of schools do this. I don’t like the idea at all and would balk if either of my children were offered it. Blatant way for schools to extract tens of thousands of dollars from parents already paying top dollar. Study abroad should be for those who want it – and it shouldn’t be in their freshman year.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-08-24/colleges-ship-freshmen-to-paris-to-boost-tuition-coffers
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120095736768604873
I doubt the classes are held in French. These are usually US college programs, not enrollment at a foreign U, like some junior year abroad. The Syr program, eg, in katliamom’s link is in English (one Italian lang class.) The kid cited who was offered Greece certainly isn’t expected to understand lectures in Greek.
It can matter what size US college we’re talking about.