2008 Woodie Awards
Questions surround competitiveness of term abroad programs
Andrea Leifer
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: News
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According to the Open Doors Report produced by the Institute for International Education in November 2003, only 1 percent of United States undergraduate students participated in a study abroad program during their academic career.
This statistic seems incomprehensible, given the multitude and variety of terms abroad offered at Union College.
In profiling the class of 2007 at Union, it was found that 61 percent of students studied abroad at least once. This opportunity to experience foreign culture and education makes Union College an attractive force amongst liberal arts institutions.
Union offers terms abroad to countries in western and central Europe, South and Central America, and Asia. Students can also choose between trimester and semester programs, or mini-terms, which last about three weeks and occur over winter and summer academic breaks.
In total, 703 students applied for consideration for a term abroad program in the 2006-2007 academic year. Of these, 346 students were accepted to the 29 terms and mini-terms abroad offered. The most popular countries to which students applied were Australia, England, Greece, Ireland, and the Jamaica Mini-Term.
Students should not, however, be misled by these numbers regarding term abroad applicants.
According to Bill Thomas, Director of International Programs, the students that do apply are not always "qualified candidates." In applying for more than one program abroad, students may give one country preference over another, and thus commit more to one application than to another.
Other students simply choose to apply to terms abroad when they have not met the GPA requirements that programs stipulate, and often these students do not show any knowledge of the programs when writing essays for their applications.
All terms abroad require an application and an essay, and some even offer interviews. Study abroad programs which request interviews do so in order to better educate students about the program. The term abroad in Barbados requires such an informational interview to all candidates. The programs in Spain and Mexico offer interviews to better assess students' Spanish language proficiency if the professors reading applications have not yet encountered the candidate in a classroom setting.
This statistic seems incomprehensible, given the multitude and variety of terms abroad offered at Union College.
In profiling the class of 2007 at Union, it was found that 61 percent of students studied abroad at least once. This opportunity to experience foreign culture and education makes Union College an attractive force amongst liberal arts institutions.
Union offers terms abroad to countries in western and central Europe, South and Central America, and Asia. Students can also choose between trimester and semester programs, or mini-terms, which last about three weeks and occur over winter and summer academic breaks.
In total, 703 students applied for consideration for a term abroad program in the 2006-2007 academic year. Of these, 346 students were accepted to the 29 terms and mini-terms abroad offered. The most popular countries to which students applied were Australia, England, Greece, Ireland, and the Jamaica Mini-Term.
Students should not, however, be misled by these numbers regarding term abroad applicants.
According to Bill Thomas, Director of International Programs, the students that do apply are not always "qualified candidates." In applying for more than one program abroad, students may give one country preference over another, and thus commit more to one application than to another.
Other students simply choose to apply to terms abroad when they have not met the GPA requirements that programs stipulate, and often these students do not show any knowledge of the programs when writing essays for their applications.
All terms abroad require an application and an essay, and some even offer interviews. Study abroad programs which request interviews do so in order to better educate students about the program. The term abroad in Barbados requires such an informational interview to all candidates. The programs in Spain and Mexico offer interviews to better assess students' Spanish language proficiency if the professors reading applications have not yet encountered the candidate in a classroom setting.
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