Study Abroad and Internships

Colleges and Universities A-Z Oberlin College
1

<p>So... I'm deciding between Oberlin and Smith. I visited Smith this weekend and was bombarded with information about how wonderful their study abroad program is and how many internship opportunities they have. When I visited Oberlin... none of that, haha. So I figured I would ask here (and on the Oberlin 2013 Facebook group, so don't be freaked out if this looks oddly familiar).</p>

<p>Study abroad is what is most important to me, and unfortunately I've managed to find little information on Oberlin's program that doesn't come direct from the school itself. The one student comment I've heard is that the office is "useless" and unhelpful. I was wondering to what extent this is true--how dedicated is Oberlin to helping students in pursuing study abroad, and how hyped up are they about study abroad to begin with? Also, if anyone knows whether it is easy/realistic to try and spend a year abroad instead of a semester, that would be greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>As for internships, I am interested in pursuing art history provided I attend, so I was wondering if there are any opportunities to work with the on-campus museum. I'm also interested in the creative writing program, so if anyone knows of any internships in that field, that would be great.</p>

2

<p>I’m a parent, but when I attended an information session for study abroad at Oberlin (which was jam packed with parents) I found the presenters anything but useless or unhelpful. On the contrary: they have a very active office and a significant number of students participate. And the people who run the program are friendly and helpful. They will also provide assistance with special issues, like access to music lessons abroad for double degree students. Oberlin encourages study abroad and facilitates it: Oberlin students with scholarships, including merit scholarships, may apply that funding to the Oberlin affiliated programs, which include top programs around the world. Students majoring in East Asian studies, Classics, and languages are especially encouraged to study abroad. Oberlin also has its own programs, featuring Oberlin in London. <a href=“http://www.oberlin.edu/london/[/url]”>http://www.oberlin.edu/london/&lt;/a&gt; and see also: <a href=“http://www.oberlin.edu/oeurope/[/url]”>http://www.oberlin.edu/oeurope/&lt;/a&gt;
Allen Art Museum is one the the top college museums (the Smith museum is also excellent, but in a less charming space); there’s also a Frank Lloyd Wright usonian house. <a href=“http://www.oberlin.edu/amam/flwright.html[/url]”>Allen Memorial Art Museum; Students can act as docents at both. Try finding out about intern opportunities by contacting admissions or the art museum directly.</p>

3

<p>I think the January term allows lots of opportunities to intern in the field that interests you. You have the freedom to pursue something that may help in obtaining a future job or something totally frivolous.</p>

4

<p>You can find lots of Oberlin students talking about their study abroad experiences here:
[Oberlin</a> Blogs | Study Abroad](<a href=“http://blogs.oberlin.edu/learning/study_abroad/index.shtml]Oberlin”>http://blogs.oberlin.edu/learning/study_abroad/index.shtml) . You can also ask them questions by posting in the comments space.</p>

5

<p>I don’t think study abroad is an Oberlin strength. My D doesn’t care about study abroad. If she did, she would be headed to Dickinson, which is state-of-the-art study abroad and truly a school strength. No LAC does it better than Dickinson.</p>

6

<p>I don’t think it would make sense to chose Dickinson for its study abroad programs…study abroad is study abroad…Oberlin has it and supports it. It’s a “strength” to the extent that if you want to study abroad and to have many options for doing so, you will find them available at Oberlin. It is in the same consortiums as all the top LAC’s, including ISEP and ICCS.</p>

7

<p>I’m not sure what you mean, Plainsman. Over 40% of Oberlin students spend at least one semester studying away on another campus, either in the US or abroad. They can choose from hundreds of different programs, and there is an Oberlin office that offers copious information and facilitates applications. For many Oberlin students, the chance to study away provides a useful balance to what they find on campus; it may not be important to your daughter, but it’s extremely important to many Obies. What makes one school more “state-of-the-art study abroad” than another?</p>

8

<p>(We keep cross-posting, mamenyu!)</p>

9

<p>IIRC, they have programs in London, Italy, China. Don’t know what else, you can look them up I’m sure. I don’t think your school has to sponsor a particular study abroad program, you can go on others, or arrange yourself, and can work something out. </p>

<p>D certainly took an internship abroad while she was at oberlin. But the school didn’t have anything to do with it, she just applied, was accepted, and arranged it all herself. Maybe not a good example, she didn’t try to get any credit for it or anything, she just did it. (Have AP credits, will travel…) A mom on the Barnard board told of her D who studied in UK, also not through her school, just arranged it all herself and got it approved. And she presumably did get credit. That’s why, from where I sit, it doesn’t really seem like a big deal to arrange at all, or a big feature that the school has to provide for you before you can do it. But I could be wrong…</p>

<p>D did other internships during summers while attending Oberlin, including a (nominally) paid one arranged through a program at the college. So I am witnessing, they exist. Whether more or less than elsewhere, I don’t know.</p>

<p>Of course getting an internship not related to your college is far more common, everyplace, the positions are posted, both through college career centers and elsewhere, and you just apply. Again, based on my kids’ experience I don’t see this process as being a big deal.</p>

<p>Its entirely possible someplace else has better opportunities locked in, or more paid opportunities. Don’t know. But whether the opportunities they happen to have are the ones that you really want may be another question.</p>

<p>By all means ask them specifically about opportunities in areas of interest. It’s a legitimate point to consider, if there are differences that are actually material.</p>

10

<p>Hey, I’m an Oberlin supporter. My D picked it over Dickinson. But let’s not assume the schools/cities/states/countries we favor are better at everything than anyplace else. </p>

<p>All I said was the one thing that Dickinson does way better than Oberllin is study abroad. In fact, it’s a selling point for them like the 4-1-4 or the musical culture are selling points for Oberlin. Most schools tap into study abroad programs run by others or send a kid on their way to find their own. Dickinson is fanatical about study abroad, to the extent that they actually run 13 different programs, and run them like a Swiss watch, throwing gobs of money into it. An analogy might be trying to get an internship on Wall Street if you’re a Wharton student vs. being an Oberlin student. One school has the passkey and the relationships and the skids greased, and we know which one that is, while the other sends kids out to find those kinds of internships on their own. No college is perfect or great at everything.</p>

<p>My D doesn’t care about study abroad. If she did, she would’ve picked a different college. It doesn’t diminish Oberlin to concede the college is not a national leader in something like study abroad or getting internships on Wall Street. All but the poorest colleges talk about study abroad opportunities. You almost have to mention it in today’s world if you want to attract top students. But saying you’ve got it and being fanatical about it are two different things.</p>

11

<p>I guess what I’m saying is maybe if you’re interested in study abroad there’s no need to pick a different college. Because as far as I can tell it seems to be pretty easy to arrange study abroad, from any college.(Of course this would need to be verified). Not to mention the programs the college does, in fact, sponsor itself.</p>

<p>If 40% of the students there actually do study abroad, evidently it can’t be any great insurmountable obstacle to arrange it from there.</p>

<p>If it’s correct that you can do this in any event, regardless of which college, one might be better served basing matriculation decision more on things that actually you can’t do from both. Or other differences.</p>

<p>For example, in the instant case, one difference my D noticed was that Smith has no boys. The combined M:F ratio of Amherst, Smith & Mt. Holyoke together is 1 : 6.7 . No wonder the Smith kids are all wanting to study abroad !</p>

<p>Edit: I note now that he did not say 40% study abroad, rather 40% study elsewhere. I would agree situation/ difficulty bears looking into, to be verified.</p>

12

<p>“…while the other sends kids out to find those kinds of internships on their own.”</p>

<p>My impression is that the majority of kids from virtually all colleges do find internships essentially on their own, with some aid from their career centers.</p>

<p>However, the implication that Oberlin does not have programs that help their students in this regard, beyond maintaining a career center website, is not correct. I am personally familiar with two programs that do substantially more for students than “send kids out on their own”. Both the Coles Scholars program and the Business Scholars program are excellent, a great deal of effort is put forth on behalf of the kids. And that’s just two of the programs there that I happen to know about.</p>

<p>In the latter, they are intensively prepped, meet with alumni in the financial industry, and are actually taken to Wall Street firms.Where interviews do happen. It’s not the same situation as Wharton, but the effort expended by the college and alumni is far beyond “sending kids out on their own”. </p>

<p>Even at the majority of the so-called “target schools” for IB, only a minority of kids are actually landing those most coveted IB positions. The rest have to do something else as well.</p>

13

<p>here’s a student perspective:
[Oberlin</a> Blogs | Blog Entry: “Study away: My advice”](<a href=“http://blogs.oberlin.edu/learning/study_abroad/study_away_my_a.shtml]Oberlin”>http://blogs.oberlin.edu/learning/study_abroad/study_away_my_a.shtml)</p>

<p>Bottom line here: there may be reasons why the OP would prefer Smith to Oberlin or Oberlin to Smith, but study abroad opportunities should not be a decisive issue; there are ample opportunities for study abroad in Oberlin-affiliated programs or in any other quality program you might find, and for which you will receive course credit. For language students, it is undoubtedly a valuable part of an undergraduate education to immerse themselves in the language; for Classics students, it is certainly an enhancement to one’s study of the ancient world to spend time in Sicily or Rome or Athens in one of the outstanding programs Oberlin students regularly attend; for English majors, a semester in London is a great way to explore the streets that Dickens and Milton frequented and to study theater. For others, it can be enough to spend a winter term or summer somewhere new. At Oberlin, though, some students may decide that they don’t want to be away for a semester or a year because they don’t want to miss what is happening there.</p>

14

<p>In my opinion (as an Oberlin student abroad), if you want to study abroad, you can make it happen. Oberlin itself doesn’t have a lot of programs - the London one is of note, as well as some others; however, it is affiliated with lots of different interesting programs.
You can look at them here: [Office</a> of Study Away](<a href=“http://www.oberlin.edu/studyaway/choosing.html]Office”>http://www.oberlin.edu/studyaway/choosing.html).
Yes, the application is a little frustrating, but I found that if I needed help, the office was helpful.</p>

15

<p>Oh, and for the art museum, every winter term there is a program through the art museum where students learn to become volunteer docents, and then afterwards they’re supposed to help volunteer. I think that the winter term might be the only way to go about helping out with the art museum, but I could be wrong.</p>

16

<p>I think the most important thing a school can do for study abroad is:

  1. Make it easy.
  2. Give options.</p>

<p>Which Oberlin does. There are a lot of different options for study abroad, some which Oberlin runs, some of which other schools do and we piggy-back off of them. A lot of my friends haven’t done school-run trips, they’ve gone to a local university and taken classes there. We’ve got a lot of connections in Asia through Shansi, which sponsors trips to India, China, Japan or Indonesia, during which students do an independent project. Like, say, a documentary on used bookstores in Japan.</p>

<p>In slightly-related news, 8 Obies this year won Fulbrights, teaching/learning abroad after they’ve graduated.</p>

17

<p>kokokola, my S (Obie, Class of '10) is currently studying in Valparaiso, Chile, through an Oberlin-approved and recommended program. He will get full credit although he is required to take the classes pass-fail. (He is double majoring in Latin American Studies and History, so both the location and the classes he is able to take are perfect for him.) He worked closely with the office assisting students with such programs (I was impressed at the amount of time they spent with him) and also was counseled by his advisor who suggested several programs in Latin American from which he could choose.</p>

<p>He had initially planned on also studying in Europe for the Fall 2009 semester, again with an Oberlin-approved program. While he changed course on that, he did have the approval of the school and was given lots of counseling as to how he could make the year work.</p>

<p>(My D is Class of '13–also with a strong Art History interest!)</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

18

<p>grades for study away are not included in Oberlin GPA. From the Oberlin site:</p>

<p>Transfer of Credit</p>

<p>How to Transfer Credit from your Academic Leave</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Order an official transcript from your study away provider and ask that it be sent directly to the Registrar’s Office at Oberlin. The mailing address is 52 W. Lorain Street, Carnegie 124, Oberlin, OH 44074.</p></li>
<li><p>If you take CR/NE or Pass/Fail courses, have proof the grade is equal to at least C- level work. Grades earned while on academic leave of absence do not appear on your Oberlin transcript nor are they used in the calculation of your GPA. What does appear in the grade column is an “X,” simply indicating that you did passing work. You should obtain additional transcripts for your own use for jobs or graduate school so that you can demonstrate the caliber of your work away.</p></li>
</ol>