Why should my son or daughter study abroad?
You may be asking yourself this question. After all, study abroad was never as popular a choice nor as accessible an opportunity as it is now.
Still, it's a complicated decision for students and their parents, involving a myriad of considerations including (among many others) finances, academic and career plans, and the timing of a semester abroad. Though we try to make it as affordable as we can, we understand that going on a global education program represents an enormous investment in time and effort for the family.
One of the Center for Global Education's (CGE) prime missions, of course, is to help students make the most of the opportunities afforded by study abroad. We want them to go abroad fully aware of the enormous opportunity they have, and the potential this experience has for their personal and professional growth. We work to send them abroad with all the necessary tools to reap these benefits.
Our short answer to the question above is that we believe that students need to be engaged with the world. On the one hand, the world needs their talents. On the other hand, students need to understand the world to be successful and productive. When we talk to students, we present three specific reasons why all students should think about global education:
A global education program can be the single most transformative experience of their college education. Your son or daughter will develop an ever greater sense of independence, self-reliance and a deeper understanding of themselves, their country, and the rest of the world. Their professors tell us that students who return from abroad tend to have sharpened their academic goals and have a more developed sense of their career goals. Students’ GPAs also tend to improve after a study abroad experience.
Living abroad as a student, and traveling abroad as a tourist, are two qualitatively different things. The experience of living immersed in a different culture may never come again. Students who have studied abroad, with little variation, refer to their experiences as being the best of their lives…so all students should try to seize this chance while they are able.
Nation-wide, about 1% of U.S. college students participate in study abroad programs. Having this experience on their resume will set them apart from 99% of their peers (and their competition) in the global marketplace. One of the realities of "globalization" is that employees increasingly work in cross-cultural environments where a knowledge of the rest of the world — and specifically how people of different cultures communicate — is more necessary than ever. Employers and professional and graduate schools have recognized this reality and have started emphasizing a set of skills called "global competency": the ability to operate successfully across cultures.
HWS offers study abroad programs that will enhance or complement any major or minor. For more information about specific programs, please see the CGE Programs Passport – A Guide to Study Abroad Programs.
An HWS global education program functions in many ways just like an on-campus semester: grades and credits for the courses students take will appear on their transcripts and their performance will factor into their GPA. (But while students' credits and grades work just like they do on campus, their off-campus experience will be anything but typical.)
Junior year is a popular time for many students to participate in a global education program. That being said, however, every year sophomores and seniors participate in our programs — even Seniors in their spring semester!
The costs of an HWS study abroad program are similar to what students would pay for an on-campus semester. In almost all cases, students pay standard HWS tuition. The room and board fee varies from program to program, depending on the structure of the board plan and the housing type. There is a $500 administrative fee for all global education programs and students must cover their airfare. However, students abroad generally spend less on books and are not charged the "student activities fee", which tends to offset the administrative fee.
All financial aid applies to the student's HWS global education program tuition and fees with the exception of work study (we have no offices abroad for students to work in!)
We strongly encourage all students (and parents) concerned that finances may make study abroad an out-of-reach opportunity to speak directly with the CGE. In this short space we cannot provide all the information that might be relevant to each person’s unique situation.
Start planning now! HWS global education program applications are due one year before the programs depart. If a student wants to participate in a program in the fall of their Junior year, he or she would have to apply in the fall of their Sophomore year.
Visit the Center for Global Education. We are located on the third floor of Trinity Hall. Students can visit us any weekday from 9-5, talk to someone about our global education programs, pick up information and application materials, and make an appointment to meet one-on-one with one of our staff members to discuss their options. While there, students can wander around the Global Visions Gallery — a photography and art gallery made up of student work accomplished while abroad.
Talk to their advisors about how a global education program fits into their academic and career goals.
Talk to their peers who have been abroad.
Keep their grades up. Participation in a global education program is a privilege (just look at the national statistic!) and not a right. These programs have minimum GPA requirements and are competitive; students should hit the books and start planning how they will integrate their experience into their overarching academic plans. Keep in mind that students must be in good social, as well as academic, standing.
Many global education programs have prerequisites that need to be completed before students depart for the program. Students should plan accordingly!
Consider studying a foreign language. Language proficiency is a valuable skill in the global marketplace that opens up greater academic and career opportunities. Some of our programs have language prerequisites.
Parents, as well as students, should understand the process of finding out about, applying for, and participating in a global education program. This section breaks this process down into four parts: recruitment and application, before students go, while they are away, and when they return.
In the first week of each semester, the Center for Global Education begins to publicize its programs to students. Again, the process is a year long—in Fall 2007 we’ll be recruiting for Fall 2008 programs. We send letters to all Freshmen and Sophomores inviting them to the General Information Session (see below). We put up posters around campus, post an announcement on the HWS Daily Update web page, and send out emails to students who have previously expressed interest in a global education program. We also set up tables in the student center so students can pick up program information and ask any questions they may have “face to face.”
The General Information Session is usually held in the third or fourth week of each semester. At this meeting, students learn about the application process and the programs we are recruiting for. After this portion of the meeting, faculty directors and other program representatives meet with small groups interested in particular programs. Students receive a copy of the CGE Programs Passport, application forms and informational brochures about each of the available programs.
Students must apply for their programs before the application deadline, which falls in October for the Fall and March for the Spring. More information about the application process can be found in the CGE Programs Passport. Applications received after the published deadline will only be considered on a space-available basis.
Decisions are announced as soon as possible after the application deadline on a program-by-program basis, usually within 4 weeks of the application deadline. The office tries to have as many decisions done in time for registration for the following semester as is possible. Please see the CGE Programs Passport for more details outlining the criteria on which admission decisions are based. Students will either be accepted, waitlisted or denied for a program.
Students who are accepted to a program must submit a non-refundable deposit to the Business Office to secure their place in the program. (If students do not confirm their participation by the date specified in their acceptance letter and there is a wait list, the student will forfeit his or her place.) Students who have been accepted must contact the Registrar's office for information on how to complete the registration process for their global education program. If a student is waitlisted, there is a reasonable possibility that s/he will receive an offer in time to participate in a particular program, but, of course, this cannot be guaranteed.
Your son or daughter has been accepted into an HWS study abroad program. The time between acceptance into a program and actually boarding the plane is filled with physical, intellectual, emotional and financial preparation. The semester following admittance to a program is often used to take any necessary course prerequisites. The Center for Global Education will also conduct a mandatory General Cultural Orientation that will help prepare students for studying and living abroad. The orientation will go over issues such as academics, travel, health and safety and adjusting to a new culture.
Before their departure, students will also receive a handbook covering these topics in more detail. The handbooks are program specific and provide detailed information for the country they are visiting such as finances, flights, housing arrangements, courses, packing, etc. Copies of the most recent handbook are available for download on our Web site.
We encourage all parents to read the handbook, as it explains many aspects of the experience your student will have abroad. If your child has provided us with your email address, we will email you a copy of this handbook once it’s available. For some affiliated programs (i.e. exchanges and those run by our partners abroad in China, India, Japan and Russia) we don’t prepare our own handbooks but refer students directly to the detailed guide provided by the partner institution.
The Faculty Director of the program (for faculty-led programs) or staff from the Center for Global Education (for non faculty-led programs) will meet with students during the semester before they depart. These meetings will be used to make the necessary travel arrangements and health and safety preparations, as well as to explain the application process for entry visas needed for certain programs. Students will also learn about some of the challenges they will face that are particular to the culture of the country they are visiting. It is very important that students attend all of these mandatory meetings.
Each student will receive a checklist from the CGE that will outline what they need to do to prepare for their program. Though the particulars vary from program to program, in general each student will need to do the following things:
The time leading up to a program is an exciting time for students. They will attend our general cultural orientation meeting to help them prepare for their semester abroad as well as be able to participate in workshops to sharpen their skills in preparation for their global education program including travel photography and travel journaling.
Safety is an issue at the forefront of many parents' minds when they think of their student studying abroad. The Center for Global Education has developed a comprehensive safety and emergency response plan and monitors State Department safety bulletins daily. In addition, all HWS programs have local staff, or our own Faculty Directors, on site with the students.
In a true emergency, the CGE and HWS reserve the right to cancel or bring back a program in progress. In the unlikely event this should happen, HWS will make all reasonable accommodations to ensure that students will receive academic credit.
For the first time, you may feel like your son or daughter is a little further away than a phone call, email or instant message can reach. Although many students have email access, it is usually much more limited than they are used to on campus. They may not be able to instant message at all. And their use of the phone may also be limited by host families to pre-arranged calls or phone cards that they purchase and use at local payphones.
You should expect to be able to reach your son or daughter, but you should also expect that this will not be as easy as it is now. While some students abroad are either issued or may choose to purchase cell phones, this is by no means the rule.
Tip: Make sure you have a calendar of your student's program at hand. These are published in the handbook they are given for their program. One of the reasons there might be a lapse in normal communications is that s/he is on a scheduled field excursion or is traveling on break.
Your student will be experiencing things completely new to them and many students report back to us that their study abroad experience is the most significant and powerful of their undergraduate education. So it is natural that your student may want you to visit and vice versa. This can be a great opportunity for you to get an idea of what they are experiencing first hand —something that will help later on when your student returns from abroad.
Tip: Please do not plan to visit your son or daughter when class is in session; they will not be excused from their classes to be with you.
The best way for you to think about what your child will experience abroad is to consider the analogous situation of when they first went away to college. Many of the emotions, fears, rewards and challenges are similar. When we do the General Cultural Orientation with students, we draw this comparison.
When they came to HWS, they needed to learn how to navigate an entirely new culture. They had to learn a language (what is "Saga"?, what is a "registration pin number"?, etc), obtain new skills (how to do their laundry, how to access their meal plans) and meet new people.
Your student will have to go through all of this again abroad, but with the additional challenge of different social norms and customs (and sometimes a foreign language on top of it). The process is exciting but also challenging. It can be difficult at times. To best understand what your student will experience, you might like to read the Student's Guide to Study Abroad.
Sometime in the first couple of weeks, you may get a disturbing communication from your student. They may say that they hate it. They may complain about their host family or their living space. They may feel homesick and alienated. Again, you may have received a similar phone call early in your student's first semester at HWS. Often what is needed from you is support and reinforcement. Many students go through periods like this early on in what they later will call the best experience of their college years, if not their lives.
One of the reasons why study abroad can be so challenging is that many students, despite our best efforts to prepare them for the reality of their experience, still go abroad with too many preconceived notions or unrealistic expectations. We try to address the most significant of these at our General Cultural Orientation.
The two areas where students experience the most frustration are email access and housing. As we noted above, people in many countries do not enjoy the level of internet access that HWS students do. That's a reality that we cannot change, though we do our best to make sure that some access is available either at their local host institution or in internet cafes.
In regard to housing, it is difficult to prepare students for the significant changes they will experience in terms of living space, privacy and location. The CGE strives to provide clean and safe housing that is appropriate to the local context. In London or Rome, this means a lot less space than many students enjoy here at HWS.
In host family situations especially, students may experience a loss of privacy and creature comforts that they did not expect. They may be sharing a room with a host sister or brother, their access to the phone may be restricted, and they may be asked to take much shorter showers than they are used to. All of these differences are based on economic realities and differences in culture. In general, even in other highly-developed countries, phones, hot water and electricity are much more expensive than they are here.
Housing is also more expensive and scarcer, and many families live their entire lives in apartments. Our student housing abroad is safe, clean and comfortable, but students should not expect that it will be as spacious or as centrally-located as it is at HWS. If there is a genuine safety issue with housing, the Center for Global Education will address the issue. Short of this, however, we tell all students going abroad “Don't expect, accept.” Part of the experience of study abroad is understanding the differences in local realities.
Tip: Life goes on while your student is abroad, and they may feel an urge to "catch up" when they return, and may feel guilty that they missed important family events. Keep a record of what happens in your family during the time that your son or daughter is abroad. Though they may be gone the same amount of time that they are normally absent while at HWS, the mental/emotional distance can feel much greater, especially given the potentially fewer opportunities to communicate.
Students often return to the U.S., their home campus and their families excited to be back and bursting with stories, photos and experiences to talk about. But they may also quickly run into difficulties readjusting to their daily routines, to U.S. culture and even possibly to their families.
Though they may not be aware of it, a lot of this "reverse culture shock" has to do with the fact that, while away, they have matured and changed a great deal. Not only do students abroad develop a greater sense of self-reliance, independence and more refined educational, career or life goals, they also return with new ideas and perspectives. They may have developed new values or priorities while abroad, and are not yet sure how to integrate these new modes into their "old lives."
The "re-entry" process has its rewards; not only do students often tell us that their study abroad experience was the most profound of their lives, they also claim that these experiences have significantly changed the way they live, giving them new direction and purpose. This period of transition takes time and patience from both children and parents, and there are things you can do to help your student along the process.
The first thing you can do is learn about re-entry and reverse culture shock in greater depth by reading Back from Abroad. In general, you should encourage your son or daughter to:
We hope this has been a useful guide and has given you greater insight into the study abroad experience.
If you have any questions or would like to talk to a staff member at the Center for Global Education, please do not hesitate to contact our office at (315) 781-3307.