Getting credit toward general education requirements is easier than getting credits in advanced courses toward a major, even in college-approved programs. Kevin LeShane, a University of Connecticut senior with a dual major in journalism and physiology/neurobiology, says that by the time he applied and was accepted into the university's Florence program in spring 2006, he had finished his general education requirements. That meant no study-abroad credits could count toward graduation. He couldn't justify going.
"I was disappointed," he says. "I definitely would have done it if I'd thought about it freshman year."
The takeaway message is to plan early, at least a year in advance and maybe more, depending on your major.
DO IT YOURSELF
How to tell a well-thought-out program from one with a well-designed Web presence but little substance? The Forum on Education Abroad is staking out some guideposts. In May, the organization articulated standards of good practice, and it is in the midst of reviewing offerings of 12 campuses and program providers, on matters from safety to help for students in transferring credits. "It's akin to an accreditation process," says Whalen. He expects results of the review to be out by spring, and that those winning forum approval will advertise that fact.
Generations of students have decided to forgo prepackaged programs altogether and have left their American institutions to enroll in foreign ones on their own. Some colleges allow a leave of absence and accept the transfer of some credits. At New York University, about 70 of the 2,000 students who go abroad on semester programs do it that way, according to Yaw Nyarko, its vice provost for globalization and multicultural affairs.
The risk of going it alone, of course, is the possibility of forfeiting financial aid and course credit. Further, you have to get your own visa, register for courses (and know which ones to take) and get foreign universities, some of them notoriously lax, to send back the transcripts. Since academic calendars don't necessarily align, you could miss the start of your next semester, too.
Carl Herrin, a study-abroad consultant and lobbyist in Maryland, says students who can do it on their own are rare. "You would pick them out in a group of their peers for their independence, self-discipline and planning," he says. "They have a real clear vision of what they want to do."
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