Would studying abroad senior year lessen chances of getting into Ivy League/MIT etc.?

Student Lounge International Students
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Warning: Long post! I wrote this late at night!
TL;DR (please read all of it if you can!): I am interested in possibly doing an exchange (in Japan, forgot to mention this) my senior year of highschool, but am also really interested in applying to Ivy Leagues, MIT, etc. and am wondering if this will damage my chances of getting in or if I will have to do more as a sophomore/junior to make up for a missed year of school and how I would manage that. My school is small and private so I am not sure how open they would be to any exceptions or taking extra courses, etc. I have a ton of time to decide about the actual exchange but I have to choose my classes for next year soon and just wanted to get this out of my system.

As a preface, I fully understand that the college you go to does not define you and there are tons of other routes to a successful education besides the Ivy League and other top 20 universities. I understand that these plans could crash and burn and I may have to take a completely different route. However, I would like to do the best I can to get into these universities and want to challenge myself. This is why most of my current concerns about studying abroad revolve around my college application and chances of getting into these universities. And as far as the long bit about APs, that is mostly because I need to decide my courses for next year pretty soon so that is a concern at the moment. This post is mostly going to be my thought process thus far with sporadic pros and cons so please bare with me.

For the past couple of weeks I have been thinking about possibly looking into studying abroad senior year. Coincidentally, this is around the time when my school is releasing course selection for sophomore year, which is making me a bit anxious as this is the first year I will be able to take APs and I know these are a substantial part of the application for prestigious universities. While my school offers a decent amount of APs, it is a relatively small private school so I have my doubts about how lenient it would be towards things like taking classes during the summer or a class that a junior or senior would usually take in order for me to take more APs. And of course, I doubt I would be able to do much for credit during a study abroad year, which is why I am especially concerned about missing a year of class opportunities.

I have 9 periods including lunch and, this year, an open period that I took. However, I do band, which I don’t want to drop as it is my main extra curricular (or at least the one that takes up the most time) and I don’t think it would be worth giving up such a big EC opportunity for another class period. Also, I am required to take 4 credits an unweighted Theology class. That leaves me with 6 class periods. The science for sophomores at my school is Chem, and I believe it is treated as a sort of prerequisite to AP Chem so my chances of being able to take it in AP as a sophomore are slim. There is no AP English offered for sophomores, but I have never heard of a sophomore taking any sort of AP English class. I could take AP World History. I would be in precalc next year which is only honors and my math teacher for Honors Algebra II advised against taking it during the summer. There is a possibility of taking AP music theory as a sophomore. My language, Latin, does not offer AP until Junior year. So for sophomore year, that leaves me only one guaranteed AP that I would be able to take, a chance at another one, and a very slim chance of being able to take any others. Of course, I haven’t actually talked to the counselor’s about exceptions for extra courses, but from what I’ve seen so far the policy for these sort of things at my school is the “take it slow, move up when your ready” learning approach (which is not inherently bad at all) but it does lessen my chances for these types of things. For example, though, during the admissions process the admissions director told me that it is usually really hard taking Algebra II as a freshman and encourage considering talking the lower course instead even if you test out of it (I am taking Honors Algebra II and had an A+ average last semester).
For Junior year, I am pretty sure I would be able to take at least 5 APs. (However, the exchange program I am looking at starts in late March, so I would have to finish those early somehow?). So that puts me at 6-8 APs. But this would be it, I’d be shaving off a whole school year of an opportunity to take other courses. Even still, I would like to be able to spread them out more evenly in my sophomore year. And there is also the caveat of graduating with enough credits; I’m not sure what I would do about that or if I would have enough. Would this be enough? I’ve seen anywhere from 5-10+ APs on applications for prestigious universities, so it obviously varies. And by all means I understand that there is much more to the application than APs, but at the moment my decision on the courses I take next year are due in a couple months so this is my biggest concern at the moment. If you have any ideas or have been in a situation where you needed to possibly take extra APs, or if they weren’t offered, what are your suggestions? I understand I can self study for AP exams but do those even count much on applications?

And of course there is the whole counterbalance about the exchange itself if I do choose to go on one. I feel like this is definitely a big thing to put on an application that would probably raise my chances of getting into said universities at least a little bit. Or is it not? Are exchange programs something universities are generally known for not caring about in applications? Please let me know if you have any info on this! If I don’t go on exchange, of course I will probably take a few more APs and build up ECs, etc. during senior year.

I do have some concerns about the year I would go on the exchange itself if I did chose to do so. In my mind doing it senior year would make sense because then I wouldn’t be behind and would have a full three years to build up ECs and other material for application, both outside and in school. But it does bring up a few caveats. As previously mentioned I would probably go on an exchange that starts in late March (would be of Junior year) so somehow I would have to finish my classes early. Also, I would have to take the SAT only once in the Spring and not have an opportunity to retake it. Aside from that, I would have to write my applications during the exchange, so I am not really sure how I would manage that. If I actually do go on an exchange there are tons of other things to think about but these are just some things that come to mind of the top of my head.

I know this is extremely early to be thinking about this but I just want to get this out of the way so I can choose my courses knowing that I will have the option to study abroad if I do get the opportunity. All of this is very preliminary and I am not even half sure if I will be able to study abroad but I think it would have a lot of benefits and is definitely something I would really like to experience. I just want to make sure I have the option and wouldn’t need to make any drastic changes. IIf you did read this far, I do really appreciate it and would be very grateful for any advice/ideas you have to offer. Thanks a bunch in advance.

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Sorry, tl;dr. But from the title/intro - as long as your course rigor and academic profile are unchanged, I don’t think it should make a difference. In terms of personal background/experience/“ECs”, I would think it is a strong positive.

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No worries. Basically I am just worried about shaving off a whole year that I could be taking classes. I will probably only be able to take 6-8 APs over the course of Sophomore to Junior year and most of them would be during Junior year.

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I would be less concerned about rigor and more concerned with you being oversees while taking AP exams, completing the common apps , and doing all the necessary standardized testing.

AP exams are given in May. You cannot take them early. That would mean taking the classes but no AP scores. You need more than just the SAT for the most selective colleges. When will you take SAT II subject tests? What happens if you need to retake for a more competitive score? How are you going to coordinate college visits, feedback and assistance with the common app, teacher LoRs? While it’s certainly possible for all of that to happen from abroad, the March timing of this exchange seems very problematic to me.

What do you hope to get out of this exchange year? Why can’t you do a summer program abroad? Wait to do study abroad in college?

IMO if you think this will give you a leg up for applications, it wouldn’t be worth the hassle.

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I agree, these are definitely all things I worry about. There may be a way to start the exchange in Fall of senior year or do just a semester from fall to January. Would this make any difference? I’m guessing doing it as a junior would be a bad idea. However I have heard lots of instances where people went on exchange as a senior. You mentioned there are ways to do these things abroad, would it even be worth it and viable? Too risky?

Looking into a summer program would definitely be a good idea if going during the school year really is a bad idea. Of course I would prefer to go longer, but this is definitely something to keep in mind. There are tons of reasons I would like to travel to Japan. But as for the exchange itself, I think it would be a really interesting way to take in new perspectives before transitioning into college. I would also be improving Japanese language skills. Overall, there are a lot of other reasons but I would not at all be doing this as something to put on my application, this is something that I am genuinely interested in and something I would like to do for myself. If it helps on the apps along the way, then all the better. But if it is going to make things significantly difficult and lower my chances of getting into a university I want to, than I won’t do it. As you said, there are tons of opportunities to do it in college. But back to doing it in highschool, while there is more freedom in college for these kinds of things, I don’t think there would be as many academic obligations and would put less stress on the foreign school and more focus on experiencing the country and culture.

Like I said I have no idea if I will actually go through with this, but I want to make sure that because this is the year the courses I take really start to matter, I want to plan ahead so that if in another year or so I am still adamant about going on exchange, I will have the option.

Thanks for he help and thanks for your reply.

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Maybe I missed something by not reading the whole thing. Are you not “taking classes” when “studying abroad”?

If studying abroad in Japan means something like researching the history of Sumo instead of going to high school, then yes, that will impact college acceptance…

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Sorry if that was confusing! I would definitely be attending a high school and taking classes. Its just that I won’t be able to take any more APs, and I doubt any of the credits from other classes would transfer over. I’m not sure if anything I took there I would actually be able to put on application (or would there be?).

About the last part, just want to make sure that would be impacting it negatively haha

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I think that it is hard to say for sure because so few students have done this. However, my guess is that this will not hurt you. The top schools in the US are looking for students who are academically excellent, have excelled at whatever they have tried to do, and will contribute to an interesting diverse student body. I do not see why a year abroad would take anything away from this.

One obvious question is whether you will be able to complete the appropriate academic content if you study abroad. Will your for example take sufficient science classes, language classes, and if you are interested in anything STEM be solid in math at least through precalculus and trigonometry? Also, is your Japanese strong enough that it would not weaken your ability to study other subjects when the language of instruction is in Japanese, or are you considering a high school that teaches in English?

Also, would you be getting references from your teachers here in the US before you leave for Japan? Will you have completed the SAT (including subject tests) before leaving for Japan? When would you fill out university applications?

By the way, one daughter did take a semester abroad in high school, and we hosted two exchange students whose “semester abroad” was here in the US. It was a great experience for all of us. This might bias my response, and I understand that not every study abroad experience goes quite this well.

I do agree with another comment that you could instead consider taking a course abroad during the summer. This does at least seem safer and less disruptive of the “apply to universities” process.

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Unfortunately with what’s offered I don’t think my current school would let me take more than 1-2 APs during sophomore year.
The course selection IS coming out soon, however, which is why I am tr

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(Ignore the Previous Comment]

Unfortunately with what’s offered I don’t think my current school would let me take more than 1-2 APs during sophomore year. There’s a chance that I MIGHT be able to add 1 or 2 two that list but I doubt that would happen since the school I am currently attending is a pretty small private school and I’m not sure how lenient they would be about taking too many classes that were meant for higher grades. The one thing that would REALLY be helpful for next year is to at least add a science class to AP world and music theory, which would probably be AP Bio or Chem but I’m pretty sure only Juniors and Seniors take that at my school.

As far as math, by the end of Junior year I at least would have taken Honors Algebra II and PC, and AP Calc BC. There is a small chance that I could take PC this summer but I’m not sure how good of an idea that is.

For Japanese, I will have completed 3 years of self study by the end of Junior year, hopefully with a decent amount of tutoring sessions, weather it be online or IRL, scattered around. So I don’t know that I would be fluent but I should have a really good grasp on the language by then.

The course selection IS coming out soon, however, which is why I am trying to plan ahead because I know what I take next year will affect everything else. Even though I am really far from coming to the conclusion that I do in fact want to study abroad I want to make sure I take enough advanced courses next year and the year after so that If I decide I want to do the study abroad, I will have the option and not have to worry about being behind.

This is probably all stuff I would have to do the Spring and Summer before I leave. The downside is that I would only be able to take the SAT and subject tests once. Also, I guess I would have to finish and send in applications while I was away, is that even viable? Can I do that?

That’s good to hear! May I ask what year it was? If it was senior year, how the whole college application go with it?

Thanks for your reply.

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Ask to schedule a meeting with your guidance counselor and map out your four years of courses. I’m less concerned about the AP course issue and more concerned that you will have the four years of core courses required by selective colleges. Obviously you’ll have foreign language covered, but how about 4 years of math, science, English, and history? What about your states graduation requirements? In our home state my D needed courses in US government and Econ to graduate. Both were senior year courses. There may be a way to get in your graduation requirements in three years but at what cost to your sanity and GPA?

I would also map out all the standardized testing dates.

You need more information from both your US school and the program abroad.

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Yes, these are definitely things to consider. I will look into it.

Hypothetically speaking, if I went to my local public school requirements are as follows:

English LA: 4
Math: 3
Science: 3
Social Studies: 3
Language Other than English: 2
PE: 1
Health: .5
Fine Arts: 1
Electives: 4.5

IMO this seems decently manageable for finishing by the end of Junior year, I’d just have to take an English class over the summer. Graduating with an endorsement adds +1 to Science and math and +2 to electives.

My current school is as follows:

Theology: 4
Math: “ “
Science: “ “
Social Studies: “”
Lang. Other than Eng: 3
PE: 1
Fine Arts: 1

Hmmm, I just remembered I took all Pre-AP in middle school, I wonder if any of these could count towards HS credits?

Thanks again for helping out.

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Just remember that your school’s graduation requirements don’t necessarily align with what selective colleges want to see on your application. Most colleges want 4 years of english, science, math, history, and foreign language.

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Yes, of course! Also, I am 100% open to taking summer classes. As long as I still have time to work to pay for the exchange hahaha

Foreign language probably won’t matter as much depending on what I end up taking (currently taking Latin, not much offered at current school) regardless of if I keep going in Latin or switch to Japanese. With either mostly self study and some
classes or depending on if I transfer to Japanese classes in HS I will try and take however high I can of the JLPT (the language proficiency test) while I am on exchange when I do go which will hopefully compensate.

Out of the required credits that I put forth, hypothetically, would it make things significantly easier on myself if I transferred to the public school at some point? I wouldn’t have to take the Theology class, which is big since that takes up four whole credits. Also, again, this is definitely a presumption, but something tells me the private school wouldn’t be quite as flexible with all of this as a public school would be, but I could be totally wrong.

If this helps, at all, by the end of freshman year I will have these credits: one Honors credit of Math, Science, Social Studies, Math, Latin, one credit of Theology, band which counts as a credit of Fine Arts and PE (May also count as an elective?). Had an A+ average last semester, A+ in all classes (94 in algebra II but it’s weighted).
If you need any info about ECs/EC plans I’d be happy to provide those.

Also, sorry if I sound like I’m nagging, but any chance those middle school Pre-APs would count for anything? I got all As in them except for a few high Bs scattered in the math ones.

Thanks again so much for the help/your time. I really do appreciate it. Even if none of this works out I am really glad I am getting some of the preliminary research out of the way so I can have a long time to decide.

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I have no idea if public school would be more or less flexible. Something else for you to research in your area :slight_smile:

I don’t believe most colleges will consider your middle school courses. Usually they just “count” towards your placement for high school.

Good luck to you as you sort this all out. Just remember you’ll get to study abroad at some point!

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Yes, thanks, I’ll definitely try to research each individual aspect some more and then come back here to post again as it’s been really helpful.

Of what I’ve set forth so far, do you have any concluding words as to where I should go from here and the overall outlook of the situation? Again really the thing I need to figure out right now is what I am going to do about courses for sophomore year so that even though I won’t decided on studying abroad right away, I will have the option.

Thanks again for all the wonderful help!

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“May I ask what year it was?”

I am pretty sure that it was first semester junior year. It was only one semester. The entire college application process started after she got back home again.

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Oh okay! Thanks.

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My daughter did a study abroad high school program in Germany, but she did it as a gap year. Her experience made both of us aware of the issues involved in doing a study abroad during high school, which she avoided by doing the program after graduating. They were as follows:

  1. the academic structure of foreign high schools may not resemble US schools, making it hard to get credit for classes. For example, in Germany they take multiple science classes each year instead of focusing on biology one year, chemistry another, etc. So they cover less material in each subject in any one year, but study it for several years. Same went for math. You would have to arrange things with your school in advance to make sure that you would receive academic credit, and possibly would have to do some self study, online classes, or summer classes.

  2. If you are immersed in a foreign language at the time you take SAT’s, you will not do as well; the foreign language will make it harder for you to perform in English (temporarily, of course).

  3. If you are away during senior year, it will be harder (though not impossible) to do your college applications. Best to have as much as possible done before you leave.

Not a college counselor, but I can’t imagine colleges expecting you to take the same number of APs in 3 years that your peers are taking in 4. You should be taking the most rigorous schedule that your school offers. Trying to do more than that could set you up for bad grades, which would tank your application to elite schools. Study abroad should look good on a college application.

Last thought: consider a gap year. My D went abroad after being accepted to college and deferring matriculation— so she was there purely for the joy of learning. It transformed her approach to college.

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  1. I’m actually trying to look into finishing all my credits at the end of junior year. This is why I mentioned possibly transferring to a public school to make courses more accessible and flexible. Or, I will figure out what credits do transfer before hand and go from there. As far as course overload, I am pretty motivated in general and would be especially if I had exchange to look forward to. But I am definitely 100% open to taking summer classes to make things more manageable.

  2. Yes! This totally makes sense! I will probably try to take the SAT the spring before I would leave and get a really good score the first time around. I’m definitely going to study for it early and am going to try to apply a 10-30 minute practice a day routine starting within the next few weeks.

  3. Yes, this is definitely a concern! I will try to start working on my essays as early as possible and complete most of the rest the summer before I leave. Of course I would want to add the info about the exchange while I am there, probably.

I hope it will look good on the application, too! Especially if I can enroll in some interesting clubs/programs while I am there. I’ve heard Japanese high schools have a really big emphasis on clubs :slight_smile:

As far as the gap year goes, it’s definately something to think about. I have a question about this, if you don’t mind: What were some of the things that were benefits school wise even though she already had things ready for college? Was it any specific classes, or just to experience high school life? It definitely sounds like it was a good experience!
The thing about the gap year, is, if I had enough credits Junior year it would be a gap year of sorts, I guess. I’m not totally putting off taking a gap year after finishing senior year and it’s definitely something I’ll look into, my current views towards that are this: I am planning on going into a STEM career and will probably enroll in a postgraduate program, so I’d have a lot of school ahead of me. I’d rather not prolong it too much, but I understand there are many benefits of a gap year. But if I finished most of my credits Junior year I would just go in place of senior year and move onto college after that, so I’d be going into college at the same time as any other normal graduate.

Thank you so much for your reply and input, I really appreciate it!