<p>My daughter has been accepted to Notre Dame, and is now beginning to compare it to her other accepted schools (primarily Wake Forest and Pepperdine).</p>
<p>While she has found a lot of information on the different schools' cultures and academics, she has found very little information about the specifics of the various international study programs offered to incoming freshman.</p>
<p>Does anyone here have direct knowledge (or experience) with Notre Dame's opportunities to study abroad for a semester? Her questions primarily deal with the when and where of this topic, but I would also like to know the costs beyond tuition/room and board that this program requires.</p>
<p>She has particular interest in studying in Latin America (she will be minoring in Spanish).</p>
<p>a quick search of ND's website would have turned up this website for you. Rather than my summarize all the details that can be found within, I'll just post the link below for you to peruse at your own leisure:</p>
<p>Basically though to be brief...Study abroad is primarily contained within Sophomore and Junior year. I know of no Seniors who studied abroad. Some programs don't allow you to do it without a lot of real careful advising and structuring from the beginning - like Biochem. Then there's architecture which mandates you spend Junior year in Italy, but their Bachelor's program is 5 years in length. Your average student with a typical major can study in a host of programs. Most popular are London, Ireland, Australia. It is even possible to do a program external of ND to study abroad. You would need to be proactive because one must apply to the Undergraduate office of your specific college (A&L, Science...etc...) and request a leave of absence, and there aren't many slots each year for these. </p>
<p>Relax, she should enjoy freshman year, then worry about this down the line...</p>
<p>Actually, the timing of my request is quite appropriate. We need to decide between ND and four other universities (two of which I mentioned in my original post), so time really is of the essense here with only 4 weeks remaining to make that decision.</p>
<p>We are performing research covering many specific areas at the moment, and most information is available from this and other discussion forums. But since information on ND's IS programs appears to be lacking on this forum, and since it is of particular interest to daughter, I would be doing her an injustice if I didn't ask these kinds of questions now.</p>
<p>But back to the topic at hand - I really do appreciate you summarizing the info from ND's site, and well as providing some personal knowledge about it. I just took a quick look at the site, and it seems chock full of information - I will be reading up on it in more detail soon.</p>
<p>I have to say that I am surprised that it is not offered to freshman - I would think that would be an ideal time (for mature, qualified students) to start their college experience (but only for a few weeks, certainly note for an entire semester). Many schools offer this opportunity out of the gate.</p>
<p>And besides what is listed on the site, do you have any knowledge/experience of the costs of it? Is it basically just marginally above the typical tuition/room and board paid?</p>
<p>I also have a daughter considering ND (and Wake), and is interested in int'l study as well. I'll share what we found out.</p>
<p>When we toured campus with a student ambassador, we were told there was no additional cost for a term abroad. In trying to verify this, I found that was the case. . . sometimes. Depends on where you go.</p>
<p>Drilling down further into nemo's link I found the following:</p>
<p>I'm not sure if you're asking a question about not being sure with the costs, or if you're posting what you found on the Int Studies web page for others to read. So I'll try to explain it a little bit. I apologize if you are already aware of some of these facts.</p>
<ul>
<li>The category 1 programs on that link are programs where as I understand it you will stay pay a "normal" semester's tuition to the University. I know that in the case of the London program it is literally, ND IN LONDON. The university owns the buildings where students stay and the classroom building. The professors who teach over there are ND professors who have rotated over to teach in England for a period of several years....I'm pretty sure the UCD (university college Dublin) experience is somewhat similiar in that the University owns where the ND students stay....</li>
</ul>
<p>Honestly though, if you are looking to get accurate info, DO NOT rely on this board. Take the time to email or call the dept and see if you can get some more definitive information or questions answered by them. My answers are honest as far as I know, but I DID NOT study abroad. I was a BIOCHEM major until the start of Junior year and it is very difficult for us to do so...my knowledge is from a lot of friends who studied abroad and all the articles explaining the procedures in the newspapers and from prof. Doesn't mean it is always up to date though.</p>
<p>Honestly ND doesn't do study abroad Frosh-O year because students need to acclimate to the dorm lifestyle, and make friends and get established with classes....</p>