Does studying abroad count as an extracurricular activity?

[USCtrojane]

Does studying abroad count as an extracurricular activity? Trying to fill out the extracurricular section on PharmCAS. Hope someone can help me out with this question. Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[RxWildcat]

If you earned credit for studying abroad then I would say no.

 

[PharmDstudent]

The answer is no, but learning about a foreign culture and their language would count.

Are you in any foreign language clubs?

Try your best to tie everything together. In my opinion, it helps if your activities reflect your interest in science, health care, or pharmacy school, i.e. if you studied biochemistry in France, then your interest in French stuff would relate back to biochemistry in a roundabout way.


I have a liberal arts degree in a foreign language. I did an internship at a foreign health care facility and used that language while working and living. I was on my foreign language club's PR committee. (I did other things too, but they're irrelevant to this thread.)

language + health care + leadership = my path to success

 

[drugdoc]

Does studying abroad count as an extracurricular activity? Trying to fill out the extracurricular section on PharmCAS. Hope someone can help me out with this question. Thanks.

I say yes. I studied abroad while in college, and forgot to mention it on the application since there wasn't really any obvious spot to talk about it, from what I remember. I kicked myself when I realized it, but did make sure to talk about it in my interviews. Looking back, I would have put it in the extracurriculars section.

 

[Hels2007]

No. It was part of your curriculum, which is why you got academic credit for it. Anything you list among your credits earned is NOT extracurricular. Otherwise, sports classes taken for credit would count as extracurriculars as well.

Extracurricular activities are something you do outside of clasroom, by definition.

You can and should mention that you have done study abroad, and how it benefited your personal development, but extracurricular activities is not the right section. Not to mention you would look really, really desperate if you put it there and it is the ONLY thing there.

 

[Snake Doctor]

I disagree with part of the statement above. Even though credit is given, it is still an EC if you are involved predominantly outside of the classroom setting. This is especially true for internships where you receive credit and professional experience at the same time.
I agree that sports classes don't count.

As for study abroad, I can see it count as an EC as well as not an EC... I think the experience speak for itself because it'll be brought up during interviews regardless.

 

[phuang06]

To the post above,

Studying abroad is most definitely an experience worth talking about and noting on an application, but I'm not sure if extracurriculars is the place to put it. It is comparable to me traveling to China to learn/practice martial arts from the best in the world, but the extracurricular activity isn't the fact that I traveled to China, but that I did martial arts for 10+ years and still continue to do it. Or if you look at study abroad itself, if someone loved French and everything about France, and they decide to study abroad in France to get immersed in the culture and whatnot for credit, it is considered school and academics, but the experience is nonetheless worthwhile to talk about.

What about students who came to the US from another country? They studied in their homeland for however many years. Would that also count as extracurricular activities? They lived there for however many years and would be predominately outside the classroom setting and immersed in the culture and would be an experience that most of us would not have. I still think it's just an worthwhile experience to talk about and note somewhere, not necessarily the EC section.

 

[optimistic828]

So this thread never really answered the questions so Im going to repost here rather than starting a new one...

I was part of a study abroad program during winter of '08 and I did get 2 credits for it but its just listed as an Honors Directed Study on my transcript. Can I list it as an extracurricular too or should I just leave it as is on my transcript and talk about it in my personal essay?

 

[kattster]

If you studied abroad and simply took classes, I would most definitely not list it as an extracurricular. I studied abroad for six months and that's my take on it. I did work as a paid tutor for the school I was enrolled at abroad, so I listed that under work experience. If, during your time abroad, you volunteered for an organization for example, that should be listed as an EC. I hope this helps to clear things up a little?? It sounds like your study abroad experience might be in a gray area, though you don't give enough detail for us to make a definitive distinction. As a rule though, I agree with some of the other posters that if you're receiving credit for it, it shouldn't be counted as an extracurricular. There's nothing "extra" about it to make it an extracurricular. If you're still unsure, you could try calling and asking the schools you're applying to or call PharmCAS. I'm sure they're used to fielding questions on these matters. Or if you're already going to talk about it in your PS, you probably don't need to list it as an EC.

Also, if I'm remembering correctly, I believe when you enter all your courses into PharmCAS, they have an option where you classify the course, in your case "Honors Directed Study" as "study abroad" so schools will know that you studied abroad.

 

[optimistic828]

If you studied abroad and simply took classes, I would most definitely not list it as an extracurricular. I studied abroad for six months and that's my take on it. I did work as a paid tutor for the school I was enrolled at abroad, so I listed that under work experience. If, during your time abroad, you volunteered for an organization for example, that should be listed as an EC. I hope this helps to clear things up a little?? It sounds like your study abroad experience might be in a gray area, though you don't give enough detail for us to make a definitive distinction. As a rule though, I agree with some of the other posters that if you're receiving credit for it, it shouldn't be counted as an extracurricular. There's nothing "extra" about it to make it an extracurricular. If you're still unsure, you could try calling and asking the schools you're applying to or call PharmCAS. I'm sure they're used to fielding questions on these matters. Or if you're already going to talk about it in your PS, you probably don't need to list it as an EC.

Also, if I'm remembering correctly, I believe when you enter all your courses into PharmCAS, they have an option where you classify the course, in your case "Honors Directed Study" as "study abroad" so schools will know that you studied abroad.

My study abroad program was for 2 weeks during spring break where we went to Belize and volunteered in rural areas and built mobile clinics in community centers/halls and performed general physicals (height, weight, blood pressure, test for diabetes and HIV, counseling).
We also visited schools and gave lectures about importance of eating healthy and exercising to prevent future illnesses like diabetes.

I got credit for it because we also had to right papers before and after the trip.

Im thinking im still going to list it uner extracurricular because I got credit for the course that is on my transcript but it was still volunteering during the 2 weeks which was a great experience.

thanks for your input!

 

[hondagirl86]

Hey, I saw your post about study abroad and was wondering of you could help me out...I also took a short overseas class and got just 2 credits for it with my US college...did you need to put the overseas school as its own entity under the "colleges attended" section? and were you also required to have a transcript sent from the overseas school? Thanks you help!