Study Abroad

We started by listing all the colleges I'm applying to and putting them in order of where I want to go.  Then I found most of each school abroad program offers, and I listed all the aspects that would determine my perfect SA. 

Once I had all my informational filled out. I colored coated the programs that I found the best fit, and bolded the best parts of each program. I also made some yellow that weren't my favorite but not the worst. Then I made one red and ruled it out completely. 

Then I started thinking about what schools I actually want to go to, and take out the programs that were with those schools. I also really started thinking about the location of the abroad programs, and if they needed language requirements. So I settled on my final four ideal abroad programs. 

After I found my ideal programs, I wanted to get more insight on the programs. So I drafted an informational email to send out to each school. With a list of questions I was curious about. 

After sending out the emails, I didn't get any response from Michigan. Tennessee said they would send my information to a past participant and see if they would reach out, but they never did. CU Boulder responded saying that it was a new program and didn't have a list of past Participants. But when I reached Purdue, I was redirected to a Purdue website where you put in a country and it shows all their abroad programs. Each program had a list of past participants and their contact information. So I emailed two of them that went during the spring semester. I got one responce back. 

After getting first-hand answers to my questions, it gave me a lot of ideas. Like doing a homestay, being able to live with a family, and the perks that come with that. Also joining clubs to meet new people, and have something to do.