Featured Programs
The programs featured in the have been carefully selected and represent some of the best opportunities available in study abroad and domestic study away today. From the broad academic and geographical range of options, students generally identify a program well suited to their academic goals. You can narrow down your search for programs by subject area, language of study, region, country, city, and term.
Study away programs offer you the opportunity to enhance your major, concentration, or other areas of academic interest while broadening your liberal arts education by learning about another part of the world. On some programs, the courses are linked by a common theme, such as women's studies, environmental studies, or global development studies. On others, coursework may be closely connected to a particular major such as biology or economics. Some programs, however, are not particularly specialized and offer a wide range of courses in the liberal arts. Programs may be organized by U.S.-based educational institutions, universities in the host country, or a combination of both in a cooperative arrangement. Formats vary from traditional classroom-based instruction to field work, independent research, and internship opportunities.
How do I Choose a Program?
Assessing the Value of Study Away
You may already have a good idea about where and what you would like to study off campus. However, if you are just beginning to explore the possibilities, you should reflect seriously on what you are planning to do. At this point in your life and education, you are likely to be at the optimal point in your capacity to learn by living and studying in a new and challenging environment. Since an optimal point occurs by definition only once in a lifetime, and study away may hold valuable personal, academic, and professional benefits, the careful choice of an appropriate program may well be one of the most important decisions you will make during your college career.
Core Academic Rationale
Grinnell requires that you select a program compatible with your academic goals, as set out in your four-year plan and essay responses. It is largely up to you to define your goals together with your faculty advisers. Since your program choice is linked to your objectives, you should begin by thinking about your purpose in studying away, i.e., your core academic rationale. Some students choose to link study away to their major or concentration while others choose to enhance their understanding of other subjects studied on campus. The link you choose should provide a sense of academic direction for studying away.
Additional Objectives
In addition to the core academic rationale described above, your choice of program may be partly determined by additional objectives, in consultation with your faculty adviser, a program adviser, and IGE staff. For example, you may wish to broaden your liberal arts education by studying a language or taking liberal arts courses not offered at Grinnell. You may also have broader educational and future goals connected to the experience of engaging with another culture. The possibility of community service, fieldwork or an internship might be an important consideration. Such additional objectives are important to consider along with your core academic rationale and should be of help in guiding you towards a program that is a good match.
Students who are unsure about whether to study a language while off-campus are strongly encouraged to consider the many and unique benefits of language study.