I’m a rising freshman and I’ve always dreamed of studying abroad my whole life. I basically chose UNC chapel hill because they have a great program, in-state tuition even when abroad, and even encourage everyone to do it.
I initially planned on studying abroad for my entire sophomore year. I will be minoring in Spanish and want to become fluent in the language but also learn about the culture in Spain.
However- what I didn’t know is that UNC has this strange rule where you HAVE to graduate in 4 years. To get more time, you need a great excuse (like an illness) and you lose any second majors or minors (I’d be throwing away my Spanish minor, basically the whole reason I want to go over there). I didn’t know this beforehand, nobody told me (not even at any info session or orientation) and I had to find out through a discussion with my adviser.
Both my parents and my adviser are telling me that going for an entire year will definitely set me back and I won’t be able to graduate on time with a major AND minor. They think I can only go for 1 semester but I do not believe that this is enough time for me. This would be the first time I’ve ever left the U.S. (I’ve barely even left my own state) and I will surely never get another opportunity to travel like this because my parents won’t pay for any other kind of trip (it’s the same price as normal college in this case…) I’m not sure if I’ll even be able to afford them when I’m older. So I basically am depending on this one trip to be my life and soul.
Long story short, is there such thing as a program that starts in like June and ends in December? They don’t offer it at UNC but I am seriously willing to go through another school or even transfer. They do have a “southern hemisphere year” where you go for a fall, spring, AND summer semester. I wish I could just tweak that and do summer-fall or spring-summer. Thoughts?
By the way, I did try to search it on the web but nothing really related came up…if anyone knows the name of this or a college that offers it let me me know!
Why do you “have” to graduate in 4 years? Do you mean this has something to do with financial aid?
I think you could still attend on your own dime afterward, even a little at a time, if you had to do so. It would save you money too.
If you don’t graduate in 4 years they won’t let you , unless you have a good reason
Really? That’s it? You just can no longer attend, even if you are willing to pay?
Weird!
Ummm…you do know that half of South America speaks Spanish, yes? why not do the Southern Hemisphere program in Argentina?
And/or (with your advisor) map out your credits. Choose the maximum that you can study abroad, and then do summer school to pick up the rest.
But:
is not going to help you convince anybody that you are coming at this from a mature perspective. There are lots of ways to get travel / live abroad experiences after college.
I know lots of students at Chapel Hill and have never heard this rule. It is true that many scholarships are good only for 8 semesters. I can’t imagine a school “not allowing” anyone to graduate though. While schools do want to show great 4-year graduation rates, it would not look good on their reports to show that was the end of it. Looking at UNC-CH historical data, they do have very high 4 year graduation rates, but they have an even higher 6 year graduation rate.
I can believe they discourage multiple majors and minors in order to keep their 4-year rate so high, but that just means you have to plan well starting from day 1, and ensure your credits abroad will apply to your program of study. Take summer classes, do whatever it takes. Does your intended major have any possible areas of overlap with Spanish? Maybe you have to compromise - isn’t one semester abroad better than none?
Also realize your life - and ability to travel - won’t end at graduation. Look into volunteer programs where you could spend a year abroad helping others after you graduate. Or create a good plan upon graduation to save up enough money and do the traveling you want. This is truly NOT your only opportunity to travel unless you make it so.
When you have money of your own you can travel when you want, and it will cost a LOT less than a study abroad program!
Take an 8 week summer school session in Spain, travel for a month, then enroll in the fall semester in Spain. See below for more about the CIEE Alcala de Henares, Spain programs.
My daughter did DIS (disabroad.org). She went in January to Copenhagen. Through electives in the program, she also travelled to Norway, Poland, Germany. (She did a course on Holocaust studies and another class). She travelled to Sweden and France on some weekend trips. She visited Spain and Morocco for spring break. After the program ended in May, she took two weeks and travelled to Turkey, Greece and Italy. Then she started a summer job back in the U.S.
A semester abroad will be a great experience! Once you are in a region, a student can travel inexpensively. You can visit your friends who are studying in other countries and sleep on the floor.
there are existing study abroad programs for 6 months, you just have to do some research about it.