<p>your worried about building long-term relationships with professors? </p>
<p>thats a little wierd to worry about. i think they’ll understand. you should not base your decision off of this “professor relationship building” factor. </p>
<p>besides, my school offered study abroad programs in which faculty members traveled with you and taught some of the classes. so you could potentially become closer to your professors.</p>
<p>There are always trade-offs. Yes, you might miss out on opportunities on campus, but you might gain more valuable experiences when you are abroad. It depends on your interests. I’m not really sure what it is you think you’ll miss out on, though. By junior year I was bored and I wanted to try something new, so I did. I can’t say I missed out on anything too exciting. <em>shrug</em></p>
<p>FWIW, I am in a PhD program so maintaining relationships with professors was obviously important. I still studied abroad - I went on a research-intensive program (through SIT, which has been mentioned) that allowed me to complete an independent study project, and that was intensive study in the field I was interested in studying in grad school. I kept in contact with my professors at home and reconnected when I came back. It was worth it.</p>
<p>If I could do it all over, I would’ve gone for a year. I also would’ve went somewhere else. I didn’t want to go to western Europe - I really wanted to study in Japan, Thailand, or Brazil. But for various reasons I ended up in Amsterdam. It was great, but not my first choice. If I could do it all over, I would take Japanese for two years and go to Japan (that was my original desire, but I had some bad advising which ended up in me only taking Japanese for one semester) or I would’ve taken Spanish and studied abroad in Latin America.</p>
<p>Two other things: One, Fulbrights are very competitive and you actually might not get to study abroad in graduate school. If you do domestic research, it’s hard to justify. Trust me, it is a lot harder to study abroad after college than it is to do while you’re there, so if you want to, best to do it now. Two, I think not wanting to leave a long-term partner is a bad reason to not study abroad. I had a long-term boyfriend who I left behind when I studied abroad. I came back and he managed to not spontaneously combust in the 4 months I was gone, and we’re engaged now. If it’s meant to be he’ll/she’ll still be ther when you get back.</p>
<p>My POV as an old boomerette who attended college way back when: I was a first-generation college kid on scholarship. I did a semester in Italy with a group led by a History and an Art History prof. It changed my life. My scholarship paid for most of it. I never, ever could have gone abroad under other circumstances.</p>
<p>Italy is the most magical place on earth, and, to this day, I still retain vivid memories of my experiences there.</p>
<p>For me, study abroad was an absolutely incredible experience. And it really fired me up for renewed interest in my classes and my major when I returned to the States.</p>
<p>I think it is worth it to study abroad. College is not just be academics and social activities on campus. It is about getting exposure to new people, new cultures, and ways of life. These days, students would probably benefit from global exposure because they will have to be global to be successful these days.</p>
<p>Chances are you won’t really miss anything on campus. If you plan everything properly, you can actually study abroad and still finish on time. </p>
<p>When I was in college, I studied abroad and I learned about a lot about myself, learned a new language, and made some really good connections. Overall, it was a positive experience and I would do not regret it at all.</p>
<p>People must remember that college is a time for exploration. This is the time you can use to travel because if you wait until later, you will have a lot of obligations that will hinder you from doing so. </p>
<p>If you are able to do so, I recommend that you take the chance to study abroad.</p>
<p>As a professor, let me say this: I can and do build long term relationships with students even if they are absent for three months out of a four year period. Or work in the summer. Or have a tough semester and can’t be my RA that term. Or whatever. Indeed, it must be a pretty darn fragile connection if it can’t sustain a study abroad period. Not to mention, I tend to work with students that are go getters- they do stuff like this (be it study abroad, cool internships, start and run initiatives on campus).</p>
<p>I had some friends who were from other countries and just came to my school because of the few short courses that they could take. They left too after the semester, but the great side though is the lasting impression and the lessons they have learned. I know they will take it with them even after years of going back home. Most of the time, it is the experience and the relationship they have built that matters, not the countless hours of spending time in a book that matters.</p>
<p>I hate to say it, but it seems like a simple way of boosting your chances for acceptance is merely studying abroad BEFORE you apply. Seems like top schools notice: [College</a> Admissions Secrets: Will a Summer Trip Abroad Get You into Harvard? - The Daily Beast](<a href=“http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-06-03/college-admissions-secrets-will-a-summer-trip-abroad-get-you-into-harvard/]College”>The Daily Beast: The Latest in Politics, Media & Entertainment News)</p>
<p>I liked the post above. I feel that study abroad is cool - but if everyone does it for the sake of an experience studying abroad, then there is no meaning to that.</p>
<p>I say this because my local colleges offer student exchange programs to almost all the schools I have thought of doing study abroad - except Princeton and the Iranian schools.</p>
<p>“I had a long term boyfriend who I didn’t want to leave behind.”</p>
<p>This is the most pathetic reason for not studying abroad that I’ve ever heard in my entire life.</p>
<p>I skipped study abroad, but I had friends who loved it. My reason for staying: I was obsessed with my on-campus extra-curricular activities. In all honesty, this was right for me at the time; I learned a lot. It might not be right for you. I’d simply ask yourself what you want to learn the most, and where you think you’ll best learn it.</p>
<p>Forwardthink, if your college is in NY, I can see why. NYC is a global, cosmopolitan city that is simply the world in a city!</p>
<p>But when your college is in the suburbs of a mid-sized city or a rural center, study abroad in other academic centers may make sense.</p>
<p>In 1976 I did a summer in Madrid. Right now I am in Madrid helping my son do the last minute preps for his wedding to a lovely Spanish girl. He also did SA in Madrid, 10 years ago. I met husband on my SA.</p>
<p>Daughter did three SA´s. First semester junior year in UK, direct errol, second semester in Madrid, living w/my brother-in-law. That summer, 2011, she stayed for an internship and class. All the studying all of us did abroad related to our major.</p>
<p>Daughter is using both her majors in a one-year position she took in the Sates before she comes to Spain to do a very specialized MIT to work in the EU. SA is what you make of it.</p>
<p>Neither of my children went to universities that charged them the outrageous cost of American tuition, but they looked into that before accepting where they attended.</p>
<p>One of the guests at son´s wedding will be a girl he met on his SA who currently lives in Boston.</p>
<p>SA is entirely worth it, almost regardless of what you spend the time doing. College is a time when you are young, free, and travel can be covered by financial aid. Even if you spend an entire semester pub crawling across Great Britain, you will have a blast. If you don’t travel in college, there is a good chance you may never really travel. You’ll graduate, get a job, and maybe you’ll be able to take an exotic vacation, but you will have passed up on an opportunity to travel for a semester or year.</p>
<p>I think study abroad can be great, but it’s not the only option. I choose not to study abroad because I LOVED my classmates and the school culture and actually cried when I went home on breaks. I didn’t want to miss a moment. But instead, I managed to get a Fulbright grant to study abroad the year after I graduated (when my friends would scatter around the country for jobs and grad school anyway). Consider summer internships abroad, peace corps or Fulbright and Rhode Scholar programs. Also if you think you might want a Masters or PhD consider going abroad for all or part of that. In the end, figure out what works for you, your budget, and your program of study. It’s not all or nothing.</p>
<p>Study abroad is only worth it if you stay with a host family, learn the local language to near fluency and don’t hang out with other Americans.</p>
<p>^Which, unfortunately, perhaps my friends may not be able to do. :x They got a clique.</p>
<p>Studying abroad, to the fullest extent, is really an immersion of a foreign culture for at least a semester. That’s challenging but life-changing.</p>
<p>Take a Gap year with a great program that stresses what you want to study in college.</p>
<p>Study abroad is largely what you make of it. It can be great, allowing you to expand your mind, learn about a new culture, language or just see new places. It can be terrible - maybe you are a total homebird, hate new food, or are crushed by shyness. It can be anywhere in between. Personally, I have lived overseas for the last 6 years, 2.5 in New Zealand and 4 in Japan, and I love it. I have no plans to go home any time soon.</p>
<p>As always, think carefully about what you want, do your research, and go for it!</p>
<p>Study abroad is usually a huge waste of time and money. If you are like me then after about three week foreigners and foreign places get on your nerves (except the nice resort ones.) Unfortunately most of the places that you are going smell. Not only that but the accommodations are horrid. Your typical pension or bijou apartment in Paris is not like the George V your parents stay at on vacation. It is cramped, smells, has rodent and bug problems, you share a bathroom that is often out of order, and it costs $1500+ a month.</p>
<p>Cabs suck, if you are very rich you can rent a car or pay for a private driver and car service, but it is a GIANT expense and you must learn all sorts of new crappy laws and find a place to park. Not only this but you will not know your way around, and most European cities were designed by a drunk riding backwards on a donkey… seriously.</p>
<p>You know those fun loving German and Australian guys you met backpacking: that get way drunk, play soccer, like to headbutt, and listen to techno? They will be your only friends (not locals), as most of the places you are going are very cosmopolitan and are not welcoming of transient outsiders.</p>
<p>In all I actually enjoyed studying abroad, I would not do it again however it was informative. Know what you are getting into before you go… it’s not near a glorious as you imagine.</p>
<p>Honestly looking back I would advise you to save your parents some money. Have them give you the money and go stay at the George V or The Hotel Ritz on vacation for a couple of weeks and live the foreign vacation life like normal people do and eat at the 4 stars and read the Michelin guides, the study abroad experience is really not that great considering how much you will spend.</p>
<p>Hello Everyone I am new here but have done a study abroad in Australia. </p>
<p>I think study abroad is a great experience for everyone but I think you must first assess what type of person you are before you go. </p>
<p>Honestly you need to do some soul searching and ask yourself some in depth questions as to what are your motives behind going and how far out of your comfort zone you are willing to journey. </p>
<p>If you go into studying abroad thinking that I will be like America (the wealthiest country in the world) and that is the only acceptable way you want to live then you will be doomed for failure. You also need to know that flexibility and adaptation is your best friend. </p>
<p>There are different ways to combat money problems and other aspects you may face along the way. To me the question simply came down to, is learning about something new a waste of time. Even if you don’t like it, at least you know you don’t like it and why.</p>