I am a part of the first group of World Scholars. For anyone who is considering it, I highly recommend that you take advantage of the opportunity. I am currently in Rome now finishing up my last 3 weeks, but if anyone has questions about the program just let me know and I’ll answer it as best I can.
hi newenglandfan12. congratulations on your acceptance in the program! My daughter just applied to it. My concern is the travel during your first semester of freshman year. How many other students are travelling with you and if I may ask what do you think is the best/worst about the program?
Hi, I was invited to apply to the World Scholars program as a Political Science major, and I am really interested in the opportunity. I have many questions, but I’ll try to limit them. 
- Are you nervous about adjusting to campus-life after spending the first semester of your freshmen year abroad?
- Besides classes, what other activities (recreational or educational) did you take part in with the program?
- I know that classes are English, but is it hard to get by in Rome not speaking Italian?
- What kinds of events will World Scholars get to take part in on campus once the spring semester begins?
- Do you feel like you missed out not spending your first semester campus, or do you feel that the program’s benefits far outweighed missing the fall semester at UD?
- I didn’t apply for freshmen admission to the Honors Program, but I’m considering applying later on. However, I don’t know if students in the Honors Program can participate in World Scholars. Do you have any idea?
Thank you!
@newyorkmom1 Including myself, there were 38 freshmen. For travel, you have the 3 options: (1) Meet Amy Greenwald-Foley, the Program director, at PHL and you can fly with her and the majority of the group, (2) have your daughter fly from your local airport to PHL and meet the rest of the group, or (3) you can do what I did and have your daughter fly from your local airport to Rome and have her meet the group there. I am from the Seattle area, so it was cheaper for me to just meet up with the rest of the group in Rome. As for the best part of the program, I loved that I was able to become good friends with the 37 other World Scholars. If I were at UD I probably would have made like 3 good friends. The worst part of the program is probably the meal plan. You do not get many meals (1 meal a day for Monday through Friday) and the cafeteria is closed on Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays. Because of this, I spent quite a bit of money at the local grocery store. However, if your daughter does participate in the program, I recommend that she take advantage of the cheap flights offered by RyanAir and Vueling Airlines to travel to other cities in Europe. A lot of World Scholars visited London, Madrid, Barcelona, Munich (Oktoberfest is great!), Paris, Budapest, Istanbul, and Jerusalem. We would just plan trips and go for the weekend since there were no classes Friday-Sunday.
@confusedsenior02 I am not nervous at all for transitioning to UD’s campus. I became really close with the 37 other World Scholars, so I will at least know some people on campus. Plus, we are not rooming with each other, so I will have the opportunity to meet new people. I’ve visited the campus multiple times so I’m pretty confident that I know my way around campus.
There were many activities for us to participate in! People made the volleyball and soccer teams, there was business competitions, different clubs that you can join, theater, etc. There are tons of activities for students. And all World Scholars were required to participate in at least 4, but you could do more, educational trips that included the World Wars Through Art, where you go to an art museum with a profesor for a day and he talks to you about how they represent WWI or WWII; different neighborhood tours; cheese-making; etc.
I did not speak any Italian, but you can pick things up pretty quick. I still don’t know much Italian (like maybe 5 words) and I made it out fine.
I don’t know exactly what events, but there will be some. The program director, Amy Greenwald-Foley, is in the process of setting up different events just for World Scholars.
I feel like the benefits of the program far outweighed missing the fall semester at UD. Especially because I took a Roman art history class where I met my professor somewhere in the city once a week and we’d walk around for 2 1/2 hours while she taught. There are quite a bit of classes like this so it’s a great opportunity. Plus, the cheap airfare that talked about above allows you the opportunity to visit other European cities.
Unfortunately, Honors Students currently cannot participate. However, I have heard rumors that UD is trying to find a way for them to participate in the World Scholars Program sometime in the future.
Thank you for your insight on the program it was very helpful.
My son just received a mailing inviting him to apply for this program and I truly wondered whether the primary goal was to reduce the number of freshman needing housing first semester by sending some of them to Europe. But given the small numbers we are talking about and your description of the program it does indeed sound like an experience that has a lot of upside.
Does anyone know how many are invited to apply relative to how many they actually select?
I heard from my program director that a few hundred (like maybe 300) applied last year and 50 got accepted to the program. However, 12 decided not to go through with the program. This year, they are adding Madrid, as another city to study in, as well as Rome again. This year, they have had about a thousand applicants due to the success of the program. It sounds like they are going to accept about 100, with 50 in Madrid and 50 in Rome. The students will get to choose which location they wish to study in, however it is first come, first served and all science majors in the program will be required to study in Madrid. To see how current World Scholars spent their Fall semester you can search #UDWorldScholar or #UDWorldScholars on Twitter.
I was accepted into the Honors Program and was still invited to apply for the program. Do you think they already found a solution to that problem?
They may have. I would contact someone from the Institute for Global Studies about that, though, just to make sure.
After I got accepted to the World Scholars program and the honors program I emailed the World Scholars to find out if I could do both. At first the response I got said this: “Yes, you can do both. We will work certainly try to get you into the Honors Building that second semester. We will have World Scholars present during our Decision Days (Feb 20, April 12 & April 19) where you can connect with them.” Then about a week later the same person emailed me back saying: “I wanted to follow-up on your previous inquiry about the World Scholars program. After speaking with my colleagues, the Honors component will be more challenging than I previously thought.
You can take Honors courses in the spring, but we cannot guarantee space in Honors housing. I am going to look into this in more detail as I know you will want to know more as you consider your options.” I think it’s still unclear how involved in both you can be. I"m going to the decision day at the end of February and I’ll try to find out more.
That sounds great.
University of Delaware’s World Scholars Program Fall 2015 Rome - Inaugural WS Class- was a wonderful experience for our offspring. The students in general adjusted easily to Rome. The housing was beautiful- apartments with full kitchens, large bedrooms and no more than 3 students sharing each bathroom. English is spoken a great deal in the Trastevere area of Rome, so speaking Italian is not essential. Some students felt there were not enough meals provided at John Cabot University, but others took the opportunity to do some cooking together or ate out.
Students seemed to bond quickly in Italy. Most students, except a few, traveled together on the same flights to and from Rome via Philadelphia along with program coordinator, who stayed for a few weeks. Each student had to make their own flight reservations. Getting all the Italian Visa papers in order in advance was a bit of challenge-more for some than others- depending on which Italian Consulate Office was involved and the proper office is determined by where a student resides. John Cabot University was very helpful with furnishing required documents in advance, once they were requested. (Call for a visa appointment as soon as possible within the given time frame and be sure student has everything requested by the particular office being used.) International Health Coverage was furnished by UD.
There were different schools of thought regarding travel for the students during the semester they were studying abroad and this is a point for consideration and discussion beforehand . There are no classes on Friday, but there are still assignments. Some students traveled to other places within Italy by train and bus and some decided to travel to other countries as often as possible. Course load, means of travel, finances for travel and safety are worth discussing before students depart. It was suggested that parents visit near Thanksgiving, but many students had end of term assignments and since they returned to the US shortly after that, visiting at other times might be a better choice.
Students seem to have adjusted well during their 1st semester on UD campus-Spring 2016,. They are housed in different buildings, depending on availability of rooms and their requests. Some have been housed in triples, but that is not unusual for freshman. In addition to anyone else they may have already known on campus, they began campus life with 37 other WS friends. Many are branching out into other involvements as an activities fair was held during the first few days of the spring semester. World Scholars are enrolled in a variety of majors which helped them to meet other students on campus. They also continued to be connected as they participate in various World Scholars activities and a required WS class. Next year they are supposed to all live in International House. Overall feedback has been very good thus far and this program is well worth considering. The 2015-2016 class were allowed to apply for Honors Program and World Scholars Program-if invited, but had to choose one of these programs and could not do both programs.