<p>I’m an recent alumna of the Global Citizenship (GC) Program at Lehigh. The program is recruiting new students from the incoming freshman class. Basically, the program spans four years and encourages you to explore international issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. You study, travel, and do fun activities with people across all three undergrad colleges. You meet the people in your cohort (about 20-25 students) almost as soon as you get to campus. You study abroad twice, the first time in your sophomore year over winter break (Lehigh pays for almost all of this). The next trip is to Malaysia! The benefits are enormous. I'm so glad I went through the program. The director is great, the students are wonderful, the opportunities are abundant, and you can go through the program and still have a major and minor outside of it.</p>
<p>The deadline to apply is coming up--June 1. If you send in your part of the application by the deadline, you can submit the letters of recommendation a little later.</p>
<p>I'm happy to answer any questions. Or you can email the director if you want an official response. </p>
<p>It comes out to about a class a semester. The trips are less frequent.</p>
<p>Freshman year: your normal English classes are replaced with Introduction to Global Citizenship (fall) and Global English (spring). </p>
<p>Sophomore year: you take a 1 credit pre-trip practicum (fall), then you go to Malaysia during winter break (10-12 days). </p>
<p>Junior year: you take a 2-credit practicum where you can work on a service project and/or take short trips to nearby cities (D.C., Philly, NYC).</p>
<p>Senior year: you take a year long 4 credit capstone course in which you work with a group to create a sustainable project for the Lehigh community (and beyond). </p>
<p>You have to take 3 more global citizenship related classes at some point during your 4 years and you can pick them from a wide variety of classes in or outside your major. Students are also required to study abroad in a non-English speaking country (my favorite “requirement”). There are also fun events, volunteering opportunities, visiting speakers, and a student committee associated with GC.</p>
<p>As for your trip question–there are a few overnight stays freshman and sometimes junior year, probably in NYC (to the United Nations, etc.) and D.C. The semester gets pretty busy, so they keep the trips to a minimum and try to schedule them at the most convenient times. The big trip is the Intersession Trip, which happens during winter break of sophomore year. And then there’s study abroad, which some people do during the summer for 5 or 6 weeks, some go for a semester (I did), and others for the whole year. </p>
<p>20-25 students are admitted each year. Usually about 40 or so apply.
I hope this helps! It’s a really great program! Let me know if you have any more questions.</p>