The World is At Your Fingertips

One of my dreams in life, as I’m sure it is for many others, is to travel the world. I’ve had this dream for as long as I can remember. My memory isn’t that great so like, the 5^th grade, but still, a pretty long time. Since the 5^th grade I’ve thought a lot about where I wanted to go and how I could get there. So for me, one of the most exciting things about going to college was the opportunity to study abroad.

Personally, I want to go abroad for a whole semester. There is a lot of planning that goes into it though, and last week I started figuring out the logistics. It seems so simple, yet it’s so complicated at the same time. I don’t know if it’s exactly the same for everyone and every major, but here’s what I did to start my study abroad process.

1.  Email advisor.

I had no idea where to start and the whole process seemed intimidating, so I started simple and e-mailed my advisor asking if he could point me in the right direction. He and told me that I could go online to find a program, or talk to someone in the engineering advising office in Hammond. I decided to do both.

2. Global PSU

This is the website for Penn State study abroad programs. Basically, when I met to meet with someone in person, he just showed me how to navigate and understand the website (which helped a lot, actually.)

§  Under the Going Abroad drop down menu at the top, select Program Search. It will take you to another page, where you can enter things that you want from your study abroad, such as country, major, language of instruction, etc.

§  This will give you, depending on how many criteria you entered, either an extensive or pretty short list of programs to choose from.

§  From there, click on the link and it’ll take you to an info page for the program that’ll tell you the approximate cost, a little bit about the University, prerequisites, and all of the necessary information you need to apply.

§  Note: One of the prerequisites is “class standing.” This is based on number of credits. Check the table below to find out yours.

3. Decide on a Program

For me, this was the hardest part (so far). I had to decide between London, Australia, and New Zealand, all English speaking, all great in their own way. I checked to make sure the universities I was considering offered the equivalent of the course I need to take next spring, and ultimately settled on Monash University in beautiful Melbourne, Australia.

4. Apply!

Before you can select courses, you have to be accepted into the program. To fill out the application, follow the steps provided on Global PSU. Keep in mind the application deadlines! They are usually about 6 months before the start of the semester you wish to go abroad for.

5. Select Your Courses

This part is tricky and I haven’t gotten to it yet, but from what I’ve been told study abroad students get second choice of courses. This means that it’s best to select more courses than you think you need, just in case some are full when the time comes, so you can maintain full-time enrollment (you are also allowed to take one online course offered by Penn State).

But how do you select courses? Great question. First, check the list of historical courses (ones that Penn State students have taken there before and are already approved). If the class you want is on that list, then you’re good. If not, you have to search for classes through the abroad university’s website, then go through a whole process of figuring out course equivalency and getting them approved. To do this, it’s probably helpful to meet with your advisor and the program coordinator (listed on the program’s info page).

6.  Get excited.

I can’t wait to get to this part!!! Hopefully there’s a blog written somewhere on how to pack when you’re going halfway around the world for 5 months…

Source