<p>Just returned from visiting our S1 who is a Junior at Vandy...he is spending the Spring Semester in Rome at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies (ICCS). Its a program administered by Duke and accepts 30-35 students from the consortium of colleges who belong. I couldn't find any real info on this in CC so am starting this new thread.
The program is intense...they have to study hard but travel throughout Rome and other parts of Italy to see what they are learning about....</p>
<p>It was a wonderful group of students from all over the US (Brown, Columbia, Wabash, Wash U..to name a few) who are serious about their studies and are embracing life in Rome and spending time with Italians..not with more US students.</p>
<p>If your S or D is a classics major then this is the program to attend! The main course all take is Ancient Cities...and they have lectures at the location they are studying. They just spent a week in Sicily traveling around the island with lectures at a new site every day. The rules for the 'Centro' (the place they live in Rome) is strict. No alcohol, except for dinner. No overnight guests in their rooms (you can get sent home and fined for this) and they talk to them about alcohol consumption and learning how to not binge. If they travel on the weekends they have to let the director know so someone knows where they are in case a problem arises. Each student must also take Latin or Greek (or both) and can take Art History (studying what they see)...</p>
<p>Happy to answer any parent's questions if I can....</p>
<p>Sounds like a fantastic opportunity–BUT what about financial aid–I assume that the aid from Vandy would not cover this? Also, how far in advance did your son plan to attend–did he apply a year in advance? Thanks for bringing this to our attention!</p>
<p>Your financial aid works just as if you were at Vandy as it is an approved study abroad option and recommended by the Classics dept for majors. We pay Vandy and they pay ICCS/Duke. He applied in the Fall for the Spring Semester. Applications are competitive and decided by the ICCS. He found out around the beginning of Nov for January 20 start. He looked into the program during his freshman year when he was applying for the Vandy Maymester in Greece. Application required 1 or 2 recommendations from professors. Here is a link to Vandy’s info on the program.
<a href=“https://webapp.mis.vanderbilt.edu/studioabroad/index.cfm?FuseAction=programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=1681[/url]”>https://webapp.mis.vanderbilt.edu/studioabroad/index.cfm?FuseAction=programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=1681</a> </p>
<p>My son is a Vandy blogger…here are 2 of his posts related to ICCS.
[Snowballs</a> in the Amphitheater! | Inside 'Dores | Vanderbilt University](<a href=“http://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/insidedores/2013/02/snowballs-in-the-amphitheater/]Snowballs”>Snowballs in the Amphitheater! | Inside 'Dores | Vanderbilt University)</p>
<p>If your S/D goes we found a great place to stay…Monteverde Guesthouse. It was 4 bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, ,…we took 2 of the bedrooms (our S2 was on Spring Break from Yale and joined us) and no one else was there so we had the large apartment to ourselves with a full kitchen, living room and large private garden with ping pong table and couch & chairs & brick BBQ…lovely!
[Roma</a> Aeterna | Inside 'Dores | Vanderbilt University](<a href=“http://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/insidedores/2013/02/roma-aeterna/]Roma”>Roma Aeterna | Inside 'Dores | Vanderbilt University)</p>
<p>There is also a small scholarship that is given by the parents of a Vandy classics grad who thought their son got so much from the program that they give $2,000 for spending $ to Vandy students who go…very nice of them! Enables our S to not worry about enjoying all that Rome/Italy has to offer…</p>
<p>Further on the costs…it includes housing onsite at the Centro and 3 meals a day 5 days a week and all travel/entrance fees for anywhere visited for classes. So the week in Sicily was fully covered!</p>
<p>Wow–thank you for the information and links to further info. This was not on my radar but my D is probably familiar with it since she is a classics major; definitely something we should look into for her.</p>
<p>LHSCary, we found that expenses out of pocket for Duke in Berlin and for Denmark (DIS) via Vanderbilt cost us a tad less than a regular semester…it all shakes out, so definitely investigate. Berlin is a cheap place to find good food, Denmark is notably expensive, these sorts of factors are the variances for out of pocket cash. There is an International Studies office on campus and plenty of students to chat up who have done these programs.</p>
<p>Added cost…family member visiting a student abroad or extensive side trips.</p>
<p>I think our S1 is living on all the wonderful varieties of pizza and finding that food is not expensive on the weekends as he and his friends eat in the non tourist areas and when traveling have found very inexpensive flights on Easy Jet for Spring Break to Amsterdam (less than the train). That said…we treated 20 students to dinner at our Guesthouse - just picked up pizza and they loved the ‘free’ food. Reward: we got to know his new friends. Most parents don’t visit but it was a great excuse for us! And I got to see the new Pope on Palm Sunday at Mass in St Peter’s Square.</p>