Hello everyone,
I’m currently a PoliSci student in my last year at Berkeley and aspire to continue my studies at the joint Master’s/PhD program at UCLA after I complete my undergrad. I was wondering if there was any opportunities that anyone was aware of (or even if it’s just likely/realistic) in general for an American student to research/‘study’ abroad for a year or even a semester. I was thinking of doing this in Ireland (Trinity or Galway) through UCLA (if there’s some kind of program) which I know is really specific but I’ve always dreamt of studying/living in the country for a short time. If anything, just being able to spend of my time abroad in any way would be a goal (EU or otherwise).
Has anyone ever heard of/had experiences with this? I’d be really grateful for any input.
Yes, sort of…but only if it’s highly relevant to your research and career goals.
There are a variety of programs that help graduate students study abroad. The Fulbright full grant program is one of the most prominent - you write a grant to do research (and study, potentially) in another country for about a year. There are other programs that are kind of like this, but the unifying factor is that you have to have a really good justification why you need to go abroad to do research and why you need to go to the specific location you want to go to. For example, if you were doing Irish and American comparative politics research you may be able to justify studying in Dublin for a year so you can be close to sources or whatnot. Keep in mind that the European grants are the most competitive ones because they don’t require language learning and more people want to go there.
There aren’t really very many programs that are “study abroad” in the sense of undergrad, where you just go and take classes and have a good time for a semester or a year. You might be able to do an MA abroad in Ireland or somewhere else, which would be the closest analogue to that. There might be some MA programs that are dual programs with universities in Ireland, too.