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Is it a good idea to study abroad in college?
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What has the study abroad office told you? Otherwise, why can't you buy a plane ticket and/or get a visa?
googles540
New Member
You want to do it early so you can stack non pre-reqs and classes that will transfer over easier. I did mine spring semester of sophomore year. There are also summer programs you can do research at.
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Honestly, I think study abroad is overrated if your primary goal is getting into medical school. At baseline, students already feel do not have enough time to coordinate the coursework and experiences they need to have a passable application by the time they reach junior year. Many take gap years after graduating to continue padding their CV.
While I do think it is valuable to your self-development/cultural awareness to travel and see how other countries organize their healthcare and the society around it, that wouldn't really be what you're studying in Bologna, Italy. You will (hopefully) be taking all the same classes you would be taking at home, lest the study abroad experience itself becomes completely nonsensical. I promise you, cells are cells everywhere and the information itself will be exactly the same.
Separate business and pleasure. Absolutely travel if you have the opportunity to do so, but there's no reason to make it a resume line. I highly, highly doubt anyone will think you got any real work done there, anyway. It is an opportunity for underage, well-to-do students to drink and party in Europe under the pretense of getting an international education... which you can do for far less than what you would be paying in tuition (and with less probability of getting in trouble in a way that reflects poorly on you as a student). Go to school, take a vacation with friends if you can. Just my 2c.
While I do think it is valuable to your self-development/cultural awareness to travel and see how other countries organize their healthcare and the society around it, that wouldn't really be what you're studying in Bologna, Italy. You will (hopefully) be taking all the same classes you would be taking at home, lest the study abroad experience itself becomes completely nonsensical. I promise you, cells are cells everywhere and the information itself will be exactly the same.
Separate business and pleasure. Absolutely travel if you have the opportunity to do so, but there's no reason to make it a resume line. I highly, highly doubt anyone will think you got any real work done there, anyway. It is an opportunity for underage, well-to-do students to drink and party in Europe under the pretense of getting an international education... which you can do for far less than what you would be paying in tuition (and with less probability of getting in trouble in a way that reflects poorly on you as a student). Go to school, take a vacation with friends if you can. Just my 2c.
I would wholeheartedly encourage you to study abroad and broaden your horizons while you are in college. It's a wonderful time of life and you will never again have the freedom you do now to explore and satisfy your wonderlust. I would look at going abroad during the Spring semester of your. junior year.
Oh to be young again!
Oh to be young again!
