I would like to give some time and credit to my amazing study abroad program that makes my year of travel possible. This is a unique study abroad program through my American university, the University of Toledo. It is a year long program that caters to students in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. I was blessed to stumble across it after being frustrated with the other study abroad programs “offered” by the university (which were really just companies offering their verrry expensive programs).
I pay less to go to school in Manchester than I do to go to school in Toledo. Most study abroad programs can cost more than tuition so my face when my director discussed numbers (that is, $$$) amazed me. Basically, because this program is a direct exchange, I am still a University of Toledo student. Read: I am UT enrolled and therefore pay UT prices. This includes all my scholarships, merit and private, that take off most of my tuition costs. But even better yet, because I am not staying at the university, all of those annoying fees that they tack on, like lab fees and student services, are no longer applicable to me. AND because British universities don’t use textbooks in the way that American universities do, I have no book bills rolling in. Or have to pay for overpriced dining hall food. Overall, it’s a pretty sweet deal. I’m left with my bare minimum UT tuition and the cost of housing, which is only slightly more than the cost of living on UT’s campus.
My credits aren’t transfer credits. Yeah, that’s a pretty cool, especially when some students find that not all of their courses transfer correctly or are even applicable to their degree. This is helpful for grad school as well when colleges are looking at prerequisites. The one “downside” is that I will take around 30 credits total that are purely science related, ie. no electives, ie. harder classes. But this isn’t a totally bad thing. When I return to UT to complete my senior year, I will only have to take one or two science classes that I didn’t take at Salford. We were also reassured that taking 15 science credits a semester in a British uni is much different than taking 15 science credits at an American institution. This is because we are tested and graded more throughout the semester, while at a British school (and I’m guessing most European ones as well) we are only tested with one final exam at the end of the semester with a few lab reports spread throughout the course. Even after talking to the Salford students that exchanged to Toledo, they agreed that it would not be as scary as it seems, most likely due to the fact that they actually did have to take 30 pure science classes at Toledo which probably sucked a lot.
The program is a year, no shorter. Most study abroad programs range from a handful of weeks to one semester. In fact, out of the 32% of American students that study abroad for a full semester, only 3% of those students stay for a whole year (look it up on Google, these are facts!). Which might be because travel is more expensive when you go across the ocean to get to most places that Americans study. But Europe, Asia, and Africa are all smushed together so it is not as scary and costly to spend more than a few months away from home. It has been hard to prepare to be gone for a year, but I think it is helpful to not just be plopped into a new culture and then taken right back out. A year is definitely a perfect amount of time for those who are willing.
I am thankful that the University of Toledo provides this opportunity and that it has been around and established for 35 years. It makes the program strong and hopefully can continue to be provided for students in years to come.
BroadsAbroad 