<p>Hey
Does anyone have experience with the study abroad program? I’ve researched it and it seems very extensive but I’m wondering how easy it is to get credits when at a program and how easy it is to pick any country to go to if you don’t know the language (or if that isnt possible and you should be taking that language beforehand). Also, when do students usually go?
Thanks.</p>
<p>Barnard has a whole list of approved programs. About 30% of students do go abroad, compared with a national average that is less than 10%. Most go either fall or spring of junior year, some go for all of junior year, some go 2nd semester sophomore year and there are even a few who go 1st semester senior year, although I imagine that'd be difficult considering you have to start writing your thesis then. Dean Link, the former first-year dean who is the new study abroad dean, is wonderful; she's really helpful and sweet and understands the system quite well. There are some issues though, for instance you have to pay full Barnard tuition even if the program you're going to costs less (and many programs, particularly in non-European countries, cost far less). You can't get any credit for summer abroad programs, and you have to check to make sure both Barnard and your major department approve all the courses you're planning on taking.<br>
All this info is on the Barnard website - but you do have to take at least 2 years of the language before you go, OR one year and then an intensive course when you are in the country, UNLESS Columbia doesn't offer the language. So, say you were planning to go to Sri Lanka. Columbia (as far as I know) doesn't offer Sinhalese, the language spoken in Sri Lanka, so they wouldn't require you to have taken it. But if you were going to Spain, they would require you to have taken Spanish.
It sounds complicated but since so many Barnard students go it's obviously not a deterrent. It's not that hard to get the credits approved as long as you plan ahead.</p>