Spending The Junior Year (or Semester) Abroad

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There are two primary schools of thought with respect to the junior year abroad. Some students swear by it, noting that an international experience is a critical element of a college education; that it allows you to really master a language while steeping in the life, ideas, and politics of a culture other than that of the United States; and that it produces a measurable degree of maturity and perspective that students who don't go abroad simply don't have. The other school of thought on the year abroad is that there will be plenty of time to travel and experience life overseas, including schooling if desired, but that taking a semester or a year away from your life in college is simply not a trade-off worth making.

Obviously, deciding whether or not to spend a semester or year abroad is going to be a personal choice, driven by your own wants and needs and your own feelings about the experience you are having on your college campus. For this reason, most of this chapter will be devoted simply to mentor advice on the pros and cons that animated their decisions to go or not to go abroad during the academic year. There are, however, a few housekeeping issues to get out of the way before we do that.

Subjects For Consideration

If you are interested in going abroad, you will need to do a lot of work and advance planning to ensure that your time overseas is both successful and recognized by your home college or university. To that end, there are a few important things to consider.

Acquire Language Proficiency

First, you should be aware that most study abroad programs that award course credit for your work will require you to have taken two years of college-level instruction in the foreign language in which your curriculum will be delivered overseas - or to otherwise be able to demonstrate proficiency in that language. Thus, if a year abroad is in your college plans, you must think ahead and ensure that you attain proficiency in the language of your host country no later than the end of your sophomore year in college.

Arrange for Course Credit

You should realize that most colleges and universities have a Junior Year Abroad Committee that oversees students' applications to various overseas programs, coordinates arrangements, and makes determinations about the portability of course credit from those programs back to your original school. If you are interested in going abroad during your junior year, attend the information sessions provided by your college's JYA Committee and apprise yourself of the deadlines governing your application to foreign study programs. At most schools, interested students must actually apply to the JYA Committee for permission to go abroad, in addition to separately applying to the overseas program(s) they intend to attend. This application package will typically require the following: a generic application form and a personal statement outlining your proposed course of study, an authorization from the department head or director of undergraduate study in your major, a certification that you are carrying at least the designated minimum GPA to go overseas, proof of your proficiency in the language of your host country, and proof of acceptance into a program recognized by your college or university.

Financial Aid

If you are receiving financial aid, this money may or may not transfer to the program you are selecting for time abroad. Before you make any commitments, check in with your financial aid office or have your JYA Committee work with your financial aid office to assist you.