<p>Is anyone familiar with CIEE, AIFS, AIE etc? These are independently run programs, and I am unsure of the legitimacy of the academics. The offerings all sound wonderful. </p>
<p>Also, any recommendations on college programs (that accept applicants from other colleges)?</p>
<p>My kids school has a wonderful study abroad website- It lists all the programs that they give "initial" approval to (kid has to get specific approval from Dept. head) but it will give a general idea of what is available and reputable. I know I have seen CIEE listed and probably the other programs too.
I think most schools will allow you to do a study abroad through another university or one of these programs like CIEE- but check with the study abroad program at your kids school -<br>
My kid is now doing a study abroad semester through another college which is not her "home" school
The website from my d's school is cuabroad.cornell.edu
click on the map of the country you're interested in- and lots of legit programs will appear-
Have fun. We're going to visit d in Italy in a few weeks. I'm real excited!!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Also, any recommendations on college programs (that accept applicants from other colleges)?
[/quote]
Arcadia: <a href="http://www.arcadia.edu/cea/%5B/url%5D">http://www.arcadia.edu/cea/</a></p>
<p>Butler: <a href="http://www.ifsa-butler.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.ifsa-butler.org/</a></p>
<p>I applied to various programs through both, and it's been a fairly stress-free process.</p>
<p>I think most programs accept applicants from other colleges. This is the Swarthmore website on studying abroad. It is very informative and discusses different kinds of programs and what characteristics make a program good or bad. It also links to recommended programs in many countries. I am sure other colleges have similar websites, so you might want to search for them to get an idea of which programs are often highly recommended in the country where you hope to study.</p>
<p>I haven't come across AIFS in a while. One of my two studied abroad trips was run by that group!</p>
<p>My daughter is a jr at Connecticut College and is currently studying abroad in Kenya. She went through the School for Field Studies (Fieldstudies.org) and her credits are through Boston University. This was just one of many programs she could have applied to thru her school, and it matched her desire for travel with biological studies. We checked them out thru school and the organization itself. She also had classmates who had studied abroad in one of their programs. I spoke with the study-abroad office at her school to weed out any problems that might come up with transferring these credits. I was assured there would be none. I was a little shocked tho that we still had to pay her full semester comprehensive fee (22k) even though she would be living in rural Kenya w/very limited electricity, no hot water, sleeping in a hut...you get the picture. I thought since their food couldn't cost much more than a few dollars a day (lots of rice and lentils, pbj's) that we would at least get a little break on the room and board part of the fee. But, no. I was satisfied w/all the answers I got from her school, as well as SFS. I also read on Conn's website that if you are on financial aid that it also covers studying abroad. </p>
<p>She is having the experience of a lifetime, she's still n awe after 5 weeks! SFS has done a wonderful job of keeping the parents in the loop with emails since there are no phones where my D is. They called us to tell us that she had arrived safely. </p>
<p>She is with 34 other students from all over the US, and her letters say this is sooooo cool, meeting all these kids from all over. She's glad she did it this way as opposed to a school group study abroad with students only from her school. The program made all the travel arrangements thru a reputable travel agency in NYC, and her trip was uneventful. I thought the flights were covered, however, they were not! Also, the immunizations and malaria, etc. prescriptons were also quite expensive. Also something to keep in mind if your student is going somewhere other than Europe. We have just gotten a letter from her that said that one of the kids now has Malaria. They are 4 hours on a dirt road in a truck to the nearest hospital n Nairobi! Hoping Malaria is not serious enough for that. This has been hard on us, but with every letter her excitement and growth just bowls us over, making it all so worthwhile!</p>
<p>"I think most programs accept applicants from other colleges."</p>
<p>This is true in theory. In practice, priority is often given to students from their own school, and I know that the programs at my d's school are way oversubscribed, despite requiring more than two full years of language, and fluency, even to apply. </p>
<p>But it really depends on the kind of program being sought.</p>
<p>Are you looking at programs for a college student or for a high school student?</p>
<p>mini - I have very limited experience with this but my daughter just applied (almost at the last minute) and was accepted to a very highly regarded program through another college for next fall (requiring two years of foreign language study and an interview over the phone in the language). She originally intended to study abroad next spring but found out there is a new required (highly recommended in her case, since it is a new requirement) course in her major next spring, so decided to apply for fall study abroad much later than she would have done otherwise. When I looked on the Swarthmore website, Swarthmore itself has a few programs in other countries and recommends many other programs sponsored by other colleges.</p>
<p>Again - depends on the program.</p>
<p>This is for my daughter who is currently a second-year student.</p>
<p>What does she want to study, and, does it matter? (and what is her GPA? - that matters for some programs.)</p>
<p>CIEE, SIT, and IHP are independent programs that show up on the approved lists from many top colleges. Depending on the country and the program, I wouldn't have any hesitation about looking into these programs. My daughter did an IHP program last fall and found it to be very rewarding.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, these independent programs tend to be good options in some of the more off-the-beaten track locales and tend to be quite different than programs that pick up 25 kids from a single college and plop them down in another country. The traditional emphasis on study abroad has been so focused on Europe that there are plenty of college run programs in Western Europe. Not so many in other parts of the world. That's where the independent programs really shine.</p>
<p>I was going to start another thread, but I'll try asking my question here. My daughter is 17, will graduate from high school this spring and has decided she <em>has</em> to go to this program this summer that she found on the internet:</p>
<p>She wants to go to Argentina, take classes, and hopes to get credit at whatever college she ends up attending for 2nd semester of Spanish. </p>
<p>Some of my reservations are:</p>
<p>She wants to go by herself.</p>
<p>She does not speak the language (she is currently taking 1st semester Spanish at a local CC).</p>
<p>She has never traveled abroad by herself. She has flown to a summer camp alone, and once to a relative, that's the extent of it.</p>
<p>She is very naive. Though she does not think so.</p>
<p>The program does not supervise outings, as far as I can tell. So she would be very independent.</p>
<p>She is drop dead gorgeous. IMO :)</p>
<p>I want her to look at some other options, but she is very stubborn . . . Anyway, how does one determine the safety of a program?</p>
<p>Interesteddad - I agree with you whole heartedly about studying abroad with kids from all over. I think the programs are much more valuable to the students that way. I am also in favor of the programs where the students live as a group - especially in very academic programs.<br>
On the subject of safety abroad...This was a huge concern for us when our daughter was planning her semester in Kenya. Kenya borders Somalia and a week after she left some of the ousted Islamic militants were caught escaping into Kenya. How many were not caught? :o! Her program, SFS, had given every parent a SIXTY FIVE page field journal that discussed everything in great detail, including under what circumstances students would be evacuated. Most S-A programs allow a 2-week travel break in the middle of the semester. Hers did not due to the danger of travel for Americans in East Africa. Instead they are going camping in Tsavo National Park - after, of course they finish the day long camping safety seminar which according to my D included how not to get eaten by a lion. Yay -good info. But IMHO, the safety factor for many locations has to be the most tirelessly examined. The program should have set policies in place and in writing AND be willing to share them with you.</p>
<p>The SIT program in south India is excellent (I know the director), as is the more high-powered University of Wisconsin program. Both of them have students living with families, with the UWisconsin program stressing independent projects.</p>
<p>Her GPA makes the cut, (esp. since it is a UChicago gpa ;) ) and she is mostly interested in Econ/Poly.Sc./Civilization related programs.</p>
<p>And obviously, we need things with later deadlines than March 15 at this point. I'm pretty sure SIT deadlines are May 1. Will take a look again. She wants to go in Fall 2007, and I know it's late, but a Spring program does not mesh well with the deadly quarter system. She does not want to miss 2 Q.</p>
<p>Holy cow, nikrud, having to worry about getting eaten by lions! Okay, now there is something I haven't had to worry about yet . . .</p>
<p>^^What does the UofC S-A office tell her? Or is it totally up to the student to do the initial research? With such varied interests she has so many options. They may come up in interesting places she hadn't considered - good luck to her!</p>
<p>mstee -LOL - I hadn't thought about it either. Their first camping trip an elephant stampeded thru their campsite and they had to chase it away with a truck! Ya gotta love a kid who loves that kind of stuff. Not sure where she gets it tho - She is living literally out in the middle of nowhere next to a tribe that are guides. When I read that the school's property was surrounded by a very tall barbed wire fence I freaked - thinking it was to keep dangerous PEOPLE out - but, no, I was informed it kept out stampeding herds of Zebras and Elephants. Since she's studying Wildlife Management, I hope they manage that wildlife!</p>