"The Experience"



Earning Credits for Your Study Abroad Experience

Author: petersons, Category: College Search

Before you head off to another country for a semester long immersion in cultural affairs, make sure you’ve got what you need — the ability to earn credits for your coursework while you’re there. With tuition costs rising every year, you want to make sure that you get a great cultural and educational experience as well as the most bang for your buck!

Get everything cleared ahead of time
Don’t assume that every program you see advertising for educational experiences abroad will enhance your academic record. They may offer a great experience, but they won’t necessarily get you any closer to graduation.

If you’ve found a program that you really want to attend, you should find out if you can earn credit and determine if your university will accept whatever credits you earn while abroad. Many schools actually require prior approval of your program before you go, and won’t accept any credits you earn if you don’t get that approval ahead of time. You may even need to get signatures of approval before you can obtain any financial aid for studying abroad, so check with your school’s study abroad office, registrar, or admission office to find out which, if any, of these procedures you need to follow.

Dot your i’s
Before your school approves anything, you may need to obtain course outlines, reading lists, information on the level of courses offered, the number of contact hours, or any other information about your study abroad program that your school requires before they will agree to grant credits for any work you complete.

How your school chooses to accept foreign credits may vary. Some courses abroad may equate with required courses for your degree, or you may be allowed to substitute them for some of your elective courses stateside. Make sure you know how they will translate your credits so you know if, and how, they can actually be applied towards your degree.

The amount of credit you can earn will depend on policies of the host institution and your school, as well as what courses you take abroad and whether or not you have to pass all of them. You may need to earn a C or better to earn any credit.

Whatever you need to do to get your school’s approval ahead of time, make the effort to do so. Depending on where you’re going, this may be easier in some cases and harder in others. However, whatever you do, once you get approval, make sure you get it in writing. The agreement you each with your school may be different than those of other study-abroad students and you don’t want to come back to find that the person who approved everything suddenly retired and is no longer around to substantiate any of your claims for credit.

Cross your t’s
Some foreign countries document things differently and won’t actually provide you with a transcript. You may have to get letters from your professors to verify that you took certain courses. If you know what to expect ahead of time, you’ll know where to go to get what you need, and can arrange to have everything sent to the right person at your home school. Consider having all paperwork sent directly to your study-abroad adviser — they’ll know where to route everything so your documentation isn’t lost and delays can be avoided.

The road less traveled
Earning credit for foreign courses isn’t the only way to earn credit towards your degree. You may be able to earn credits for experiential education, work experience, public service projects, and sometimes even for traveling abroad. You may also be able to earn credits for internships overseas and in some cases, you may be able to earn credit by exam, particularly for foreign language credits (although you may be able to do so in other subjects as well). It’s certainly worth your time to find out your school’s policy on granting credit for non-traditional forms of education.

Ultimately, you may simply want to consider the personal benefits of taking a course or participating in an activity that won’t satisfy any degree requirements but might provide you great cultural enrichment and personal satisfaction. Even if you’ve already met all your elective requirements, you might find the value of an art history course in Paris, a semester of cooking classes in Asia, or a volunteer stint in the Peace Corps too rich to pass up — a healthy attitude for someone who might not return overseas for decades.

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