I want to study abroad, any tips to get started?

Question

i know its a little early, but i want to study in either spain or the united kingdom for my senior year of high school. i'm currently a freshman. Does anyone have any tips on how to get started and ideas that will help me? i rally want this so thanks!

Answer 1

Wow .. some REALLY bad advice up here!

OK .. let's start with being in a Catholic school. That's no problem at all ... in fact, it might help you do better in your exchange school because private school curriculum tends to be harder than public school curriculum.

Now, on to the year you want to go. I would consider your junior year. Mostly because it's easier to schedule your American classes around it. If you find when you get back there is a class you don't have credit for, you have a year to take it. Also, you can have the fun of your senior year and graduate with your class.

Let's address the country. While I have nothing against the UK, one of the primary advantages of an exchange is language immersion (and cockney doesn't count! LOL). Therefore, you should consider Spain. However, most programs will ask for a top three list. Most organizations do NOT require foreign language experience (however it does help). One exception to that is if you plan to go to France, French speaking Belgium or French speaking Switzerland. Those will require two years of high school French.

Now as to the program. This is the most important! First, check with your counselor at school. Some private schools DO have exchange students and he or she might have some recommendations. If not, ask the counselor to contact a local public school counselor for a recommendation. An organization is only as good as its local representative!

If you can't get a recommendation, you will have to go it on your own. First thing to do is check the CSIET list (www.csiet.org). That is a group that performs oversight for programs certified to operate in the U.S. While it doesn't guarantee a great experience, it certainly helps eliminate the really bad programs (for example, INTRAX is NOT on the list). Generally you will find that AFS, Aspect, Rotary and YFU are reliable most everywhere.

Talk your parents into it! It's a great experience and will help you really broaden your horizons. Also, colleges and universities often give preferred admissions and/or scholarships to former exchange students.

For lots of general information, check out this online community: http://www.exchangestudentworld.com/

Answer 2

Start asking your parents now- so that they are used to the idea and it doesn't seem like a huge surprize when senior year comes. Then start saving money and looking at different programs- the CCI school in Italy is pretty cool- but there are so many options. Once you have decided onthe perfect program, get references so you can show your parents that it has a good reputation.

Answer 3

i would deffinitly check out asf.org...right now I am looking into going to Germany when I am a senior. They have tons of scholarships and many places were you can go.. you can also look intraxstudyabroad.com..i would more reccomend asf.org because it doesn't require so many years of a language to go to a certain country!

Answer 4

actually it's really good that you're getting started this early so you can save money and talk it over with the 'rents and stuff. This is a good, legit organization:

http://www.intraxstudyabroad.com/

Answer 5

One of the cool website on study abroad programs that I was came across, hopefully may help you :

http://summer-study-abroad-program.blogs...