Hello, so my kid plans study abroad two years from now - fall 2025. He is at Bama. His scholarship will be used to cover it. Because of this, we’re not interested in Bama’s many university-sponsored programs, which are mostly summer, and would take one of his semester’s worth of scholarship for few credits in return.
He wants a full semester - so he’s looking at affiliate programs.
But I read sparse, but troubling things about the programs - that the instruction is kind of dumbed down for American kids, that it’s not truly studying abroad but more like a really long field trip.
It seems like he would be more in tune with just registering at a foreign uni, to get the actual immersion experience he really wants (he is minoring in Spanish).
Is that a thing? Or am I overthinking this?
I am not familiar with Alabama specifically. However, there are several types of programs:
university-sponsored: you pay tuition to your own university and the grades are reflected in GPA. Your school either runs the program themselves or has an agreement with another university
External programs: you pay tuition to the external program, take a leave of absence, and might have to get specific courses approved for transfer.
The external programs can have different degrees of immersion. There are programs run by organizations where the study abroad students from the US don’t interact with local students at all. At the other end is applying directly to a foreign university and doing a semester or two there.
Check Boston University. They run a lot of study abroad programs, and I believe students from other universities can participate.
What’s your son’s major or college at UA again ? That could impact his potential choices.
It’s easier to go through programs that are already approved because universities have databases of pre-approved courses etc. It is possible to get another study abroad plan approved but it requires a lot of work on the part of the student.
There is also the issue of aid and scholarships. What can and cannot be used where is a bit complex.
@Gatormama have you discussed study abroad options with the folks at Alabama. It’s possible that you could do something affiliated with a different university…but you need to find out.
I just looked at their study abroad programs and was surprised that there are no exchange programs in Spain or South America. So for Spanish, you will have to look at affiliate programs.
The various affiliates and their programs vary a lot. You can find one where there is more immersion in local society and student body. Choose a program that spends the whole semester at a single foreign university rather than traveling a lot. The travel programs are very American student centric.
Thanks, all. His majors are philosophy and poli sci (double major) and two minors, one of which is Spanish. He’s in his first year but already at the 300 level of Spanish courses. That seems like the logical focus of a semester abroad.
@SouthYankie - “applying directly to a foreign university and doing a semester or two there.” – that’s the kind of program he wants. I’m hoping for specific info on affiliate programs that are more in-depth, more immersion, less touristy, and definitely in one place.
He has not sat down with the study abroad office yet. From what I’ve read, they’re really good on the university programs, and not much help on everything else. AND then there’s making sure the overseas course credit will transfer in. Ugh.
@thumper1 ty, I will have him check out BU.
ETA - checked out BU. Wowza. $41k for a semester … University of Madrid homestay + tuition + airfare. Seems really costly.
I know this is for a completely different university, but my college has a huge list of different external programs that they have.
https://www.gvsu.edu/studyabroad/gvsu-affiliate-external-programs-510.htm
I didn’t know if any of these external programs might be interesting to you. Most of them do involve immersing in a different culture and multiple allowing taking classes with local students, but the external programs offer a lot of support for their students.
Outside programs that are pre-approved at my D’s school are linked below. There may be others, but these are ones my D considered. Her school accepts credit from these programs for some classes but (edit) not all (for example, no lab sciences would receive credit). So your kid would need to get approval from Bama for both the program and classes of interest.
I hope this is helpful as you research options.
Hamilton’s Spain program allows students to enroll directly in the Madrid University system. A Spanish-only pledge is required. This site offers further information, including participant testimonials:
Thanks, I know about AFIS and CIEE and SAI and all the programs and he has looked at some specific semester-long offerings. I guess I’m really looking for first-person data. There are not many trustworthy reviews out there. ETA - Actually, I should really look into the Flown Abroad page on FB. I forgot about that.
Hi there - I am pretty sure the Bama study abroad office offers direct enrolment into some overseas universities, which then makes credits/grades etc easier to manage. My D knew several students who studied in England at Leeds and Leicester (pronounced Less-tah), both multi cultural, diverse cities with more than one uni. This offers the best way of being with non Americans, local students, and being taught regular classes with other students - not those designed for Americans aboard. Covid interrupted D’s time at uni, so she didn’t study abroad so no direct experience.
Gotcha.
My D knows kids who’ve participated in these programs in Spanish speaking countries, but she’s a Francophile so can’t provide first hand feedback.
Best of luck! My D will have done three abroad programs by the time she graduates (4-week Maymester, summer, full winter/spring semester). We value those experiences and are extremely grateful for the opportunities. Let us know what your son decides!
I can see Glasgow on the Alabama Study Abroad university exchange list - currently ranked 4th in the Guardian subject rankings for Politics behind Oxbridge and Kings London… and 6th for Philosophy !
For further ideas, you may want to look into which of these colleges offer semester abroad options to students from other schools:
Not sure if this will be a help, but on www.gooverseas.com there are ‘reviews’ for programs - you can search there to see if some of the programs you are looking at are listed - good luck!
My D23 is also a Philosophy major (with Sociology double major) and Spanish and Honors double minor. Her university does not have a university directed semester-long program, so she is choosing an affiliate program for the coming spring semester. She did some research about the different options and her Study Abroad office was able to give some insight based on previous students’ experiences. They also have a study abroad social media account and blogs where students highlight their program, so that gave some additional context.
She wanted an immersion program, so she is doing an intermediate Spanish track for 12 hours, which her Spanish department chair had to approve in order for the courses to count toward her minor. She is also taking a Central American Art class that the Art department had to approve in order for it to count toward her general education requirement. Then she’ll take an honors course from her home institution that counts toward her honors minor.
The lodging is home stay with local families, which I think is a good fit for an immersion objective. I was a French major and I stayed in a dorm at my French university with lots of English-speaking students and we definitely used much more English than we should have. They also have an add-on trip for their spring break that she’ll do, but otherwise, they’ll be in class in the national university.
For us, it was important for her to choose a program for which her renewable state, institutional, and honors scholarships could be applied toward the tuition. The direct enrollment programs at unaffiliated institutions did not offer that option.
What about living with a host family? That’s definitely going to be an immersive and authentic experience. I actually think it’s incredibly enriching for students to live with host families. My D sought out this type of experience and came back speaking the language far better than when she left. She also had a much better understanding of the people and culture of her study abroad country. If learning the language is the main motivation for study abroad, this is a great option.
There is a lot of variation in terms of graders vs pass/fail, etc… with study abroad programs. I am aware that some programs are not rigorous, but many are. There are good suggestions here, so keep looking.
@Lindagaf: You might be interested in the (articulate and warm) testimonial from the Bates student in the first link I posted in this topic.