Studying Abroad: Planning Your Home University Courses

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This may seem backwards, but after you decide that you may want to spend time studying abroad, you need to decide how to plan your coursework at your home university before you proceed with planning to go abroad. From your home university's perspective, they don't want you going abroad if you're underprepared (for example, if going abroad will delay your intended graduation date). That means you need to draft an overall battle plan, and you need:

• Pencils and paper for notes and checklists
• The most recent copy of your transcript so you remember what courses you've taken
• A current class schedule so you can include in your plan what courses you're currently taking
• Your home university's course catalog where you can find requirements for graduation and for completing your major.
• One or two hours of free time to draft your plan

The easiest way to make your plan is to take a piece of paper, fold it in half, and list requirements on one side and on the other side, list courses you've taken (or are currently taking) to satisfy those requirements. Then see which courses you still need to take to graduate on time.

Whether you're planning to be away from your home university for a semester or an entire year, this kind of planning is vital because, to be permitted to go abroad, you probably need to be in diploma standing, which is determined by your achieving a certain grade-point average (GPA). You can expect your class dean, study abroad office, major adviser, or registrar to check whether you're of diploma standing before your plans are approved.

Fulfilling core requirements

When you arrive at college, you're bombarded with information about what you need to accomplish to graduate on time (typically in four years). When you receive this information, you may completely digest it or choose to ignore it. At any rate, when you're considering a study abroad program, you need to recall this information from your memory bank or crack open that course catalog to refresh your memory.

Core requirements, which some schools refer to as general education or distribution requirements, are the courses your college wants you to take outside of your major so that you're a well-educated and well-rounded graduate, versed in English, math, and biology. Typically, universities require you to complete all or the majority of the core requirements before going abroad.

If you've completed all your core requirements, congratulations! That's one less detail you need to worry about. If you won't finish the core requirements by the time you go abroad, you need to be prepared to present a plan to your adviser showing how you plan to complete those requirements when you return.

When you have only one or two requirements outstanding, you can resolve the situation fairly quickly. Simply go back to your course catalog; assume that you're going to fulfill the requirements at your home university; figure out which classes you want to take to fulfill the requirements; and determine whether to take them before, during, or after going abroad.