<p>I'm looking into studying abroad my senior year of HS. I have a few questions:</p>
<p>1) I'm a math/science person but I would LOVE to study abroad and experience a new culture and language. Will studying abroad have a negative effect on my college apps to places like Carnegie Mellon or MIT comp sci?</p>
<p>2) If the credits don't transfer to my home school and I have to take a gap year and then repeat senior year at my home school, will this negatively impact my college apps?</p>
<p>(My main concern is that studying abroad will cause me to have a lower chance of getting accepted into college. I would really love to go to Stanford, MIT, CMU... those types of schools)</p>
<p>3) China vs. Japan. Please help me by giving pros, cons, and whatnot. If I went to China I would want to go to Beijing. For Japan, I'd want to go to Tokyo.</p>
<p>4) Through Rotary, do you get to choose what city you want to go to or only what country? If you don't get to choose city, then what happens if they put you somewhere you don't like or somewhere in the middle of nowhere?</p>
<p>5) Since I won't be here for senior year, I won't be able to take some AP classes. Will colleges be understanding about this or will they look at this as some kid who would rather have fun than study?</p>
<p>Rotary is a bargain and offers a good experience in many countries, however you can NOT choose your country and you have no control over the part of a country in which you will be placed. Typically you are given the opportunity to rank many countries but you could go to any of them. It is meant to be a cultural exchange, not an educational exchange so there is no guarantee that you will be able to take high school courses that will continue your study of math or science (or anything else). Colleges won’t care how many years you spend in high school. My daughter took a “gap year” between 10th and 11th grade. It doesn’t make any difference but she was a little worried about her English reading and writing for a while after she returned and she really didn’t make any progress in math as I hoped she might. I think colleges generally like adventurous kids who study abroad in high school but whether that is better than AP courses would depend on your prospective major and the particular school. There are some schools, such as Beloit, that specifically offer scholarships to students who have studied abroad. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I am a proponent of studying abroad in general (D1 spent 2 summers abroad in high school, and a semester in college). That said, you can miss some essential subject matter by taking a year abroad in high school. D’s roommate freshman year of college ended up flunking out, and D thinks it was partly because she missed her junior year of high school while abroad (yes, she took classes, but of necessity they were fairly simple subjects because she was not fluent in the language of the country she was in). I also saw something recently (maybe here on CC?) about a study saying there has been a very large drop in the number of high school students studying abroad. I suspect that missing an academic step has become a bigger deal these days in college admissions, and maybe that is part of that trend.</p>
<p>Also, do you really want to miss your senior year of high school? Could be that you do, of course. Not everyone is super attached to their high school.</p>
<p>Note that you can definitely end up in the middle of nowhere. D1 ended up on a farm in Finland for one of her summers She weeded oats, picked strawberries, and rode on the back of her host sister’s moped to get places. Not that there were many places to go… She had a good enough experience that she went back to Finland for a semester of college. But for sure, you can end up in the middle of no where or with a family with only little tiny kids or… lots of situations that you might not find ideal.</p>
<p>Other options for you might be: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Finish your senior year of high school, get your college acceptances, then take a gap year with Rotary (I think you can do that, you should check). Then you get the acceptances AND a year abroad with no worry about them or whether the credits will transfer back to your high school. </p></li>
<li><p>Take just a summer abroad instead of a full year now, and plan on a semester abroad during college. If I were you I would look carefully at the study abroad options at colleges you apply to. It is much easier to go through one of their programs or what some colleges call a “partner” program. But you want something that at least somewhat advances your field of study, too. It is a pain to organize your own study abroad (I know cuz we just did it for D), so it is worth considering in your college selection process.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Good luck… you definitely should do something abroad if you are interested!</p>
<p>The only problem with choosing a gap year after high school graduation with Rotary is that some countries do not accept high school graduates or students over the age of 17. Be sure you have all the information before you make your choices. I know that Japan prefers 16 and 17 year olds, for example. An older students’ country choices are much more limited than a younger students’.</p>
<p>My parents are really particular on where I go because they want me to be safe and all, and I know Rotary is safe but they still want to limit the country choices I have, so if I were placed somewhere my parents don’t want me to go would I be able to drop out of the study abroad program and not go?
Also one of the reasons I’m not too worried about missing much my senior year is because I’ll have taken many advanced classes and should still be ahead of most others in my school (in math/science at least… not so much in English/history… I’ll be one year behind in English/history). Personally, I feel like it won’t be that big of an impact, but what do you guys think?</p>
<p>@INTPARENT
Do you know that college admissions is the reason less students are studying abroad, or is that just your own reasoning?</p>
<p>You aren’t obliged to go if your parents don’t like your country assignment but you would lose your application fee - a few hundred dollars. Re. English and history, you could take summer school classes before and/or after your exchange year to catch up. You could also double up on these classes if you study abroad your junior year. I expect the decrease in U.S. students doing high school study abroad is due to the economy. With the exception of a few scholarship programs and Rotary, study abroad is pretty expensive. High school exchange may be your only real chance to become fluent in another language, though, because college study abroad does not typically give you an opportunity to live with a host family and study with native students.</p>
<p>OP, just my reasoning. I would hate to think it is because we are becoming a more insular, less interested population here in the US… so I prefer my logic But really, no basis in fact other than personal experience. When D1 brought up a rotary year in high school we nixed it for academic reasons… But as I said, we encouraged other summer/college options, and she is happy with that.</p>
<p>@APOLLO6
My school said they would accept credits from other schools if I studied abroad. Would most schools offer English and social studies? (the social studies doesn’t necessarily have to be US history… can be any type of social studies course)</p>
<p>@ everyone:
Just a question to everyone in general- (Be completely honest and upfront please. I just want to know your opinions) If it were your child, would you let them study abroad for their entire senior year? Why or why not?</p>
<p>Honestly, I’m not crazy about the idea of studying abroad your senior year. I think it would make applying to college much more difficult. Also, your parents and grandparents probably anticipate your graduation etc. I didn’t have any problem with my child adding a year to high school by doing an exchange that didn’t count. Also, I think an exchange is challenging enough without worrying about grades when you don’t even speak the language. It would be one thing if your school gave you credit without the grade (pass/fail basically) but if you have to get a grade from a foreign school, that would be difficult. It would be much better to just go to summer school or take the class online during the summer before you leave. If you really want a high school exchange but don’t want to change your graduation year, wait a little longer and do a gap year. Yes, there are fewer country options but if you are not set on a particular country and just want to experience a different culture and language, it is just as good. That way you apply to college normally and then defer while you are gone.</p>
<p>“I think it would make applying to college much more difficult.”
^^ In terms of admissions or in terms of me getting my essays and recs, etc. done?
And yes, my school gives credit based on pass/fail if I’m abroad. Hm, you have a good point about deferring or repeating senior year at my home school, but I talked to my counselor and she says she feels that it’s pointless for me to stay another year academically (I’m currently first in my class and will have exhausted the majority of the curriculum by the end of junior year). The one big thing is that while I’m currently first, if I study abroad I will lose my valedictorian status. My counselor could always explain this in her rec letter, but is that enough? Will colleges be understanding? Also, my parents said they’ll support me either way so when I graduate isn’t a problem.</p>
<p>Would this new information affect your opinion or do you still think it’s not a good decision to miss all of senior year?</p>
<p>Sorry if it sounds like I’m trying to persuade you or something. I just really want to know what I’m going into if I decide to study abroad.</p>
<p>Unless the schools you are looking at offer scholarships for valedictorians, I wouldn’t worry about that. Every high school in the country has a valedictorian. There are more valedictorians than students who study abroad in high school. You’ll stand out more by studying abroad than by being valedictorian. I just think you would have to be very organized about doing your testing and applications the summer before you leave and getting teachers to write your recommendations early. It would not be fun to have to deal with college applications from abroad. I think high school study abroad is a good option for a gifted student who has exhausted his/her high school’s curriculum prior to 12th grade. If you don’t care about prom or graduation and your parents don’t either, go for it. I’m sure they’ll be happy to attend your college graduation a few years from now.</p>
<p>Thanks, that really eases a few of my worries. I definitely agree that college apps will be a major setback, but if I go, I would probably try to do most of the apps in the summer. Of course, while I’ll have taken a lot of my school’s courses, they do offer college courses at local colleges to seniors, but I figured study abroad would give me a better life experience. You said your child did a foreign exchange. Where did he/she go? Did your child regret going on the exchange at all?</p>
<p>I was a RYE student after I finished high school (ie gap year) I went to France and had an amazing time. I became fluent in the language, didn’t have to worry about passing classes to make sure I was on track to graduate back home, and developed a passion for study abroad and travel that I still have to this day!! (6.5 years later).</p>
<p>In all honesty, if you want to study abroad your senior year, do it. If you’re worried about credits and graduation, then maybe start talking to your local Rotary club, let them know you’re interested in travel the year after you graduate (maybe even sweeten the deal for yourself by hosting one of the inbound students for a few months -show them you’re committed). Being involved in your local Rotary club can only help your chances of getting a better placement when the interviews come around. </p>
<p>On that note, I’m sure you know that you don’t get to outright pick the country you want to go to. You give them your top 3-4 choices (but remember to say that you’d be open to going anywhere! You don’t want to miss out on this opportunity!) and then based on how you and the other students in the district do in the interviews, they go down the line assigning countries. </p>
<p>When I studied abroad, I was one of the oldest students in my district in France (18, while others were 15-17), but still had a great time and made lifelong friends. </p>
<p>Missing out on your senior year may be the deal breaker for you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go after high school, and deffer your acceptance to college for a year. </p>
<p>thanks stephanie-
After talking to many people, I’m pretty sure I want to study abroad. The only thing really holding me back is my parents… They’re worried about safety. What all does Rotary do to ensure you’ll be safe and to ensure that your host family is safe? I want to go Asia, preferably China, and my parents are afraid of all the crimes in the news that they have heard about in China.
Also, my mom recently talked to a friend of hers who is Chinese and visits China every other year, and since there is a one-child policy her friend said most children are spoiled to death by their parents and grandparents. My parents are afraid I may not get along with anyone or may not like anyone… I know you went to France and not China, but what do you think about this?
Any advice/opinions? Thanks!</p>
She weeded oats, picked strawberries, and rode on the back of her host sister’s moped to get places. Not that there were many places to go… She had a good enough experience that she went back to Finland for a semester of college. But for sure, you can end up in the middle of no where or with a family with only little tiny kids or… lots of situations that you might not find ideal.</p>