There are many benefits to studying abroad: the experience of living and studying in another country, the new academic environment, the language development. But did you know it can also help prepare you for graduate school?
Ways Study Abroad Can Help Prepare You for Graduate School
- Increased academic rigor. A new school, new academic environment, and possibly taking classes in a your non-native language. How can study abroad not be a more challenging academic experience than your home institution?
- New language development. Everyone knows that total immersion is the best way to learn a new language. Your increased fluency can make you a more attractive applicant to graduate programs -- and a better learner once you're there.
- Exposure to a new culture. Graduate school is all about delving deeper into the specific, and studying abroad is a great way to get a taste of that kind of experience.
- Demonstrated intellectual curiosity. Graduate programs look for applicants who are intellectually curious and passionate about their field of study. What better way to rise above other applicants than by showing you're willing to challenge yourself in an intensive, intellectual, academic way? And what better way to prepare yourself to keep up with your classmates once you're in a graduate program?
- Demonstrated initiative and independence. Sure, you could have stayed at your home institution and taken the same classes as everyone else. But instead, you went halfway across the world by your own initiative and independence. Doing so not only demonstrates these qualities within yourself but also that you have the ability to follow through with them.
- Exposure to new people, places, and ideas. True learning in a study abroad program happens both in and outside of the classroom (just like at your home institution). The new environment you're in, however, can be a great new world to discover during your study abroad program -- and a great way to build the skills you'll need to immerse yourself in graduate school.
- A way to show who you are as a person and scholar, not just as an applicant. Graduate programs are notoriously hard to get into, and studying abroad can be one more thing that helps set you apart from the crowd -- especially if your program is related to what you'd like to study at the graduate level. Which program you choose, where you go, and what you do there can all demonstrate to a graduate admissions committee who you are as a person and scholar in unique ways.
