<p>Hey, this is neat: For the second year Smith has topped the list among baccalaureate institutions nationwide for sending the most students abroad for a full year. </p>
<p>And read some of the quotes from real Smith study abroad students here: Smith</a> College: News</p>
<p>Oh junior year abroad, good, good memories. </p>
<p>More fun facts: Smith's JYA program was started by President Neilson waaay back in the 20s, he himself was Scottish and wanted Smith students to get a chance to see the world. He always told the students "Don't confuse civilization with plumbing."</p>
<p>So I saw this on the Smith website as well because I’ve been semi-stalking it as I wait for my ED Decision… anyway. This really impresses me because I’d very much like to go abroad for a semester if accepted. I’ve never been out of the US
Also, thank you for all your useful info on the forum</p>
<p>SmithieandProud, this is great news! Our daughter, a first year, is considering an English major and as such, could be interested in the year-long Oxford program, if she’s eligible. Time will tell.</p>
<p>Well, if she doesn’t end up at Oxford there are a lot of great study abroad programs in Britain. My friends really loved their time at University of East Anglia and at St. Andrews in Scotland. I was miserable the whole time I was in London for my semester abroad, but that didn’t have much to do with the program itself, just the social aspect was really tough. I know other people have studied in London and had a great time.</p>
<p>SmithieandProud, I’m sorry to hear the social experience didn’t work for you in London. They missed out on knowing a wonderful, caring and articulate young woman! Their loss!</p>
<p>Aw thanks, Carolyn. The program itself was actually good, but because I was in the Semester in Washington program I could only go Spring semester. And by that time, most of the British students had established their groups (and the ones that foreign students usually live with are first-years anyway, already a big obstacle when you’re nearly 21 with three years of college experience) and the Americans I was with were just… not really my type of kids, we never clicked. Plus, whoa, I was way underprepared for culture shock. I mean, I figured, it’s London, they speak English, America springs from Britain, how different could it be, right? </p>
<p>Thank God for my Smith friends who were also in Britain at the time, if it wasn’t for visiting them, I never would have gotten through it. </p>
<p>Still, for all you aspiring JYA’ers it was a really good experience for me, even if it wasn’t pleasant. I learned a lot about myself and I think I grew a lot as a person, and I did get to do a lot of travel on the continent, so that was great. Can’t emphasize enough how important I think a study abroad experience is to rounding out a great liberal arts education.</p>
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