Gap/Independent Study Abroad?

Applying to College
1

<p>I am currently a second semester freshman at a California Community College. My school's (and just about every other California Public Schools') budget is circling the drain. All classes are being put on the table to be considered for cutting. I do not wish to be a part of my state's public school system any longer due to the uncertainties being able to transfer by the end of next year and then graduating from a UC 2 years later.</p>

<p>I was wondering if it would be possible to spend my sophomore year abroad at a foreign university or independent study/research program.</p>

<p>There are obvious difficulties involved, including that I would have no "home university" per se, and I would probably apply to transfer while abroad. Right now it is just an idea I am considering. Is this even possible? Sensible? Your thoughts are appreciated.</p>

2

<p>I would google “study abroad”. I have been doing tons of research for my daughter who wants to study abroad next year for fall of her junior year (she is a sophomore at a UC now). There are many great study abroad companies such as ISA, API, AIFS, CIEE, that offer programs in many countries for US students to study for a semester or for a year. Go to their websites and find out how to contact them with your questions. These companies have been great answering emails and phone call questions. I don’t see why you can’y study abroad. Many programs are held at American Universities (there is one in Paris and Rome) or at Study Centers run by the study abroad company. Check out some of the above websites and contact the ones that sound promising to you. Also while checking out the American University of Paris and the one in Rome it appears as though one can apply directly to those universities and not necessarily go through a study abroad company. But the companies do make the process easier as far as all the paper work is concerned. Keep in mind a semester abroad runs around $13,000. to $15,000. and a year would be double that.</p>

3

<p>You might check out [BridgeAbroad</a> | Study Abroad, Language Courses Abroad, Language Schools, Language Immersion](<a href=“http://www.bridgeabroad.com%5DBridgeAbroad”>http://www.bridgeabroad.com)
When I went to a study abroad fair, I was surprised at the number of reps who had gone that route instead of the one for the school they were representing.</p>

4

<p>What do you want to study?</p>

<p>If you want to learn a language and take classes in things like history, art history, current affairs of the country you’re planning to go to, I would suggest going to an international program offered by a foreign university – for example, the Universidad de Nebrija, which I think is in Madrid, offers a special program for foreign students from all over the world. You take about 20 hours of class a week (mostly Spanish language, then often there are classes in Spanish history, art history, etc. [designed to help you learn more Spanish]).</p>

<p>Important thing to note here is that there are language schools and universities all over the world that offer these types of programs to international students. I have done some stints abroad at language school that offer the same type of programs. All thumbs up – had great fun, great experience, and learned a lot (I took some standardized tests when I got back home to get credit for it).</p>

<p>Also, if you go on your own, it’s super cheap! Ok, it’s super cheap relative to the costs of going through a US university or the organizations that promote programs to us in the US. I don’t know why, but everytime I met groups of students who went to study abroad (at the same school as me), they always paid a lot more than I did – thousands more. I figured that going in groups would mean a group rate – and well, there was a group rate – but it was more per person, and not less per person. I don’t know how they work that out.</p>

<p>So try direct enrollment on your own. In fact, that’s what all the foreign students did that I met. Only US students go in groups–I never saw groups of Japanese students arriving together, or groups of Italian students arriving together or what have you.</p>

<p>To give an example of pricing (tuition), there’s a university in Salamanca, Spain that costs about $2500 for the entire year. That’s what my friends paid. Students who came in groups through their universities were paying something like $15,000 a semster (including housing, I think). But housing in a student apartment is something like $300 a month, so if you went for a four month semester, $2500 + $1200 (housing) = $3700. Better than $15,000 if you ask me.</p>

<p>For language schools check out:</p>

<p>[Language</a> School Links Homepage. Links and Contact Info for Over 1,000 In-Country Language Schools Worldwide.](<a href=“http://languageschoollinks.com/index.html]Language”>http://languageschoollinks.com/index.html)</p>

<p>I only saw a couple of universities listed on the site, but it’s filled with language schools (I went to a few of them).</p>

<p>Also, check out: </p>

<p>[Study</a> Abroad, Volunteer, Intern, Teach - GoAbroad.com](<a href=“http://www.goabroad.com%5DStudy”>http://www.goabroad.com)</p>

<p>Remember, if you are enrolled in a university and you decide to study abroad independently, you can usually arrange something like a “leave of absence” for academic purposes. And if you leave one university and you study abroad before entering another, just make sure to get a transcript/certificate with number of hours attended etc. from the school you go to. One more link about credit, might help you:</p>

<p>[Getting</a> Academic Credit for Study Abroad at a Language School](<a href=“http://languageschoollinks.com/navpages/academic_credit.html]Getting”>http://languageschoollinks.com/navpages/academic_credit.html)</p>

<p>Do you know where you want to go? What places are of interest? I did the independent study abroad thing a couple of times and if you study languages, especially Spanish, Italian, French, there are some easy ways of getting credit that are accepted by all universities.</p>

5

<p>I don’t know if this is still timely but there are many many programs offered at the california community colleges – i’ve been researching it for a project… look at this site [California</a> Colleges for International Education](<a href=“http://www.ccieworld.org/saprograms.php]California”>http://www.ccieworld.org/saprograms.php) and the Accent website [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.accentintl.com/programs/index.html]ACCENT[/url”&gt;http://www.accentintl.com/programs/index.html]ACCENT[/url</a>] </p>

<p>There are 112 CC in CA – the nature of the community college programs is very decentralized. The study programs are not comprehensively described on a single website. Applications are made to individual programs as well to matriculating students of the community colleges. There are three groups of consortiums – which a number of schools belong to which offer a large number of courses – the Northern California Study Abroad Consortium, the Southern California Study Abroad Consortium, and the Central Coast Study Abroad Consortium.</p>

6

<p>Just a warning, direct enrollment can be VERY complicated and frustrating. My D is direct enrolled this semester at a foreign university. Her college did not have a program in the country she wanted to study in, but they agreed to accept the credits. The university allowed her to direct enroll as what they called a “visiting student”. Not the same as a degree student, or someone in a study abroad program.</p>

<p>Tuition is free in the country she is studying in (yay!), but the cost of living is fairly high. The biggest hassle BY FAR was housing. The university is overcrowded and offered her no help with housing at all. There is theoretically an external organization that is supposed to help students with this, but (1) the housing is unfurnished, which is a problem when coming from abroad, and (2) they never found her a place. We had heard that they were not too useful, so we spent MANY hours watching an online website for apartments to rent. The first several we identified did not work out; the renters just did not want to deal with a foreign student, the hassles of getting deposits and leases signed, etc. She was hoping to have roommates, but we couldn’t find anyone. We did find her a studio apartment, but it is not on campus and no other students live in her building. It is quite expensive (about 4 times the cost of what students pay who live on campus – those degree students and study abroad students, most of whom DO get some kind of housing through the university). This housing situation has made it much harder for her to make friends, too (and she is a super social, friendly person normally).</p>

<p>Class registration was also very complicated. She cobbled together a schedule that she is pretty interested in and that will transfer to her college, but it was a big headache.</p>

<p>And all this in a country where something like 90% of the residents speak English, although not as a first language. It would be even harder in a country where that is not the case, unless you were fluent in the language there.</p>

<p>I’m just saying that while direct enrollment saves you money, there are definite difficulties and pitfalls. And the credits may not transfer back to an American university.</p>

7

<p>But intparent, isn’t that exactly what one is supposed to get out of study abroad? Facing the challenges of negotiating a foreign bureaucracy, and finding a place to stay, taking foreign classes? One of the reasons I’m so down on the usual study abroad programmes is that they insulate the American students from all of this.</p>

<p>After all, most of the foreign students at your american college are probably directly enrolled and did all the things your daughter did.</p>

8

<p>Agreed^^^</p>

<p>I bet your D took away far more (skills, knowledge, etc.) from dealing with all of the hassles than had it been hassle-less.</p>