Conclusion for the 14-week Program on Study Abroad

Welcome back! This is the last post of the 14-week long study for various ways that a student can make his or her own way to enjoy an overseas studying experience. Like what I mentioned at the very beginning, the reason why I chose this topic is that I was actually making the same study plan for myself. For a slow-thinker and a slow-learner like me, it's fascinating to have such a chance to look up for comprehensive information and plan every single details through the whole semester. The flowchart below elaborate how the whole process was about.

 

    From the flowchart above, we can clearly see that under the assumption of  "I want to study and travel at the same time", I chose two possible options to achieve the goal. One is apply for overseas universities or colleges and the other is apply for non-credit-granting programs that provide overseas experiences. After that I spent several weeks doing research about the top universities in English speaking countries based on the "QS World University Rankings 2013", and the research has yielded up some surprising results which is two schools that I've never considered before. However, after comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the two top universities in downtown London, the tuition fee and living costs are fantastically expensive that I can only gave up the plan and look for alternatives.

    Luckily, I did found a better way to send myself and people like me abroad via a economic way, which is the exchange programs for three reasons: First of all, the cost is way lower. In most cases, students only have to pay their own school's fee and nothing else. Secondly, exchange programs provide credits transfer that is crucial for a student's graduation. Last but not least, exchange programs provide just exactly the same experience as studying abroad. Students live and study on the campus, enjoy being the member of the school for that period of time...etc. These are what a summer / winter camp and volunteering cannot offer.

    In sum, if you're also planing a overseas study or travel plan and don't know where to start, hopefully the information I collected and organized here might help you to make the right choice. Good luck!

Alternatives: Summer / Winter Camp & Volunteering

In addition to exchange programs, which we talked about last week, this week let's take a look at some other ways that might also provide the same overseas experience.

    The first alternative I'm sharing to you is the summer or winter camp offered by prestigious colleges or universities. Attendants of these camps will have a chance to live on the campus of their school of dreams, moreover, they will take short-term courses which is specially designed for students to know more about the country's culture, language or history in a efficient way. However, summer or winter camps are expensive in comparison to those methods I mentioned the week before last week. For example, the summer camp to UCB costs at least 200 thousand NTD for a 6-week standard course. For those who only want to slightly experience cultural shock and are extremely well-off, summer / winter camps are options that you should not miss.

The second alternative that actually I recommended more for normal students is volunteering. This number of volunteering programs are increasing outrageously these days. Volunteering programs even have been categorized into several types, some offer free plane tickets, some cover volunteers' living costs, some even provide international certification or credits to their crews. Among all of these countless organizations world wide I strongly recommend AIESEC, an international not-for-profit and the world's largest student-run organization. They have plenty of almost every resource from every part of the world, therefore, you can find volunteering programs to any destination you can ever think of. Most of these Global Community Development Programs (GCDP) take place in summer or winter vacation, students who are interested in should remember to attend their interviews to have a seat in their volunteering programs. Good luck and enjoy!