Making It Official: Enrolling in Your Study Abroad University

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The list of things to do and people to contact to ensure a smooth study abroad experience is long. Of paramount importance is enrolling at your new university and letting your home university know your study abroad intentions. Another detail to consider is the courses you'll take while abroad and what you're going to take the semester you return to the U.S.. Paying attention to these details will make arriving abroad and returning home as easy as possible.

Notifying schools

Before making a final decision about where you're going to spend your time abroad, make sure that you've considered all your options, weighed the pros and cons of each program, and figured out a way to fund your adventure.  Don't forget you can use your study abroad director as a sounding board while making your decision. He or she can provide useful hints on how each program will affect transfer credits and financial aid. Once you've made your decision, notify all the schools to which you applied, regardless of which one you've chosen.

While feeling excited about your upcoming trip and studies abroad is natural, if you feel indifferent toward it, that's probably a good indication that you prefer one of the other programs to which you were accepted or that maybe you'd simply rather stay at your home university.

Notifying your home university

Your registrar's office, bursar's office, dean's office, and major department and adviser need to know about where you've decided to study, so you need to tell them. And you need to fill out all the necessary paperwork. Your home university requires you to fill out papers detailing your plans for studying abroad, provide an address where you can be reached while abroad (your program can provide you with this information, or you can use your U.S. home address until you know where you'll be living), commit to the specific number of semesters you'll be away, and provide information about when you expect to return. Your home university also may technically need to place you on a leave of absence while you study abroad with an institution other than your own.

Notifying your abroad university

You also must accept one study abroad offer (or possibly two if you plan to visit two different places for a semester each) and decline the rest. Accepting and declining offers to study abroad is fairly easy and quick when done via e-mail; however, as a courtesy, I also suggest that you send a letter via mail to formally decline offers from particular programs or schools.

In addition to notification, the school or program that you've chosen more than likely will want you to fill out a few forms (one of which is an official acceptance of the offer) and send a deposit to guarantee your place in the program. You may even be asked to send a deposit in the currency of your destination country. When you need to exchange U.S. currency for that of the country where you'll be staying, a bank with an international branch should be able to help you sort out this dilemma quickly. Don't forget to find out what your deposit pays for and whether it will eventually be returned to you or applied toward your program costs. Likewise, make sure you get a written acknowledgement of your deposit. You wouldn't do it any differently if you were dealing with a program in the U.S., would you?