Studying abroad is an exciting opportunity to explore the world and learn while immersed in a new culture. It's an exciting time to travel to a foreign country and live there for extended periods time to better understand the world around you. Hispanic students often have an advantage as many Hispanics have grown up bi-culturally and are able to better fit in and understand foreign cultures.
The Steps
1) For both high school and college students, your first step is to stop by either your high school counselor's office or the study abroad office.
2) Check out the programs your school generally works with.
-Approved Programs: Are there approved programs your school has a direct exchange agreement with?
This would mean you would receive direct credit for any courses you took while studying abroad. In plain English…Your grades would be directly transferred as if you were studying at your home institution in the United States.
Direct exchange is beneficial if you residency requirements or need to maintain a certain GPA, and could use the GPA boost.
-Other Programs: What other programs does your school have agreements with?
Oftentimes, schools will have other types of agreements with schools abroad, include the transfer of credit (i.e. pass/fail information only).
3) No programs in the country you want to go to?
-Independent Programs: These are run by independent companies and may have a significant cost. However, they are oftentimes located in various countries around the world-perhaps the country you want to go to.
4) One semester or a year ?
-Remember, a year is a really long time. It may seem exciting right now to choose to go for a year, but think about if you don't like it. Then you'll be stuck in your study abroad location, and you will be unhappy.
Often times a semester option can be a good one, especially if you can choose to extend it to a year if you really like it. Take it from someone who has studied abroad a lot. The semester option is a good one, especially if you end up not liking it.
Financing
1) Self Financed: The easiest is going to be self financing your study abroad.
-Plain and simple, this is just the easiest route to go, can your parents help? Do you have enough money in savings?
2) Scholarships:
-There are study abroad scholarships out there. These include scholarships offered by study abroad programs themselves, or even associations such as your local Rotary club.
3) Raise money
-This can be done successfully, depending on how driven you are. We know of one student who raised thousands of dollars towards her study abroad by putting together a fundraiser consisting of her parent's friends and family.