Study Abroad: Going Abroad Again!: Going Back for More

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Many of you have fallen in love with being abroad. You want to go back as soon as possible. After you graduate from college is a wonderful time to do this, if you can afford it and aren't swimming in student loans. Most college grads depart the U.S. to continue their studies, work, teach, volunteer, or just travel for fun. You may find that, for some countries, acquiring a visa to work or volunteer abroad is not as easy as getting a student visa. If you have secured employment or a volunteer position before leaving the U.S., the organization you're working with may help guide you through this process. Because going abroad the second time around is a little trickier because you're planning everything yourself, keep in touch with those you met abroad - those connections may come in handy.

Quite often, the easiest way to live in a foreign country for an extended period of time is through a student visa. From the perspective of another country's government, you can stay in the country for a specific period of time to study at one of their universities because you are a paying student (unless you luck out and receive a fellowship or grant). In most countries, education for citizens is either free or costs very little, so the university makes money by having students from other countries pay higher fees to study. By the same token, you are expected to support yourself while you're studying abroad, so you contribute money to the country's economy by paying for housing, food, travel, and so on.

So if you have the motivation and the finances to spend another year studying abroad, it is a good option. You don't necessarily have to be working towards a graduate degree either. You can spend a year at a university doing post-baccalaureate work as well. A post-bac (as they're commonly called) consists of academic study undertaken after earning a bachelor's degree. Post-bac work can be toward a degree (such as another bachelor's degree - maybe you want to take some classes to turn your college minor into a major), toward a certification in some specialty, or just extra course work that doesn't result in a certificate or a degree. Some college graduates want to improve their academic credentials before applying to graduate schools.

The one difficult thing about embarking on studying abroad after finishing your undergrad degree is that you have to plan it all on your own. You most likely won't have the aid of a study abroad office or U.S.-based program to sort out details of what to take or where to live.

In most cases, you need to apply directly to the foreign university and deal with their international student office or the department you're accepted into to make your plans. You can also use a lot of the information in this book to assist you in studying abroad for a graduate degree.