Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Weekly Newsletter • January 27, 2017

Welcome back, everyone! We're thrilled to kick off another terrific semester at Tulane and across the globe. Here's everything you need to know from the Office of Study Abroad to begin the semester:
 

Global Café Kick-Off Party

The spring 2017 semester started on a great note with the first Global Café and Welcome Back Party for study abroad returnees and international students and scholars on Monday, January 23rd. Study abroad alumni Maddie Hayes and Josh Kirkorskygave Pecha Kucha-style presentations about their study abroad experiences this past fall in Morocco and Madrid. Representatives from Tulane Success Center, Hire Tulane Grads, Peace Corps, and Fulbright scholarships offered students information about international post-graduate opportunities. For returned students interested in returning abroad after graduation, we talked about the following opportunities:
For those who missed this week's event, don't fret. Global Café takes place every Monday from 3-6pm in the LBC Pedersen Lobby. As always, there'll be free food, good conversation, and amazing international opportunities for you to discover. 

Fall 2017 Study Abroad Application Deadline

Only 3 WEEKS until applications for Fall 2017 Study Abroad Programs are due!! Be sure submit your application by February 17. Visit studyabroad.tulane.edu for a complete list of programs and to access the online application. 

Pre-Departure Study Abroad Seminar

5 Weeks: March 8-April 12 • Wednesdays 3-5PM

Planning on studying abroad this fall? Looking for a way to prepare for the experience, or just looking to fulfill some extra credits? We've got you covered:

 Professor Annie Gibson is teaching a 5-week "pre-departure" seminar (COLQ: 3050-01: Global Cultural Awareness: Preparing to Study Abroad) open to all students studying abroad and designed to give students the skill set to capitalize on the experiences, network connections, and academic environment that their particular study abroad location offers. The 3-credit series is broken up over the course of 3 semesters, earning one credit prior to, one during, and one credit following the study abroad experience.

In the Pre-Departure course, students will work to understand the meaning of culture as it relates to identity and behavior, build cross-cultural awareness, appreciation, and respect, as well as gain a broader understanding of cultural and social issues in different regions of the world. Students will also have the opportunity to develop a Service-Learning or Internship project that can satisfy the first or second tier requirement to be conducted while abroad. 

 Contact Professor Gibson at agibson3@tulane.edu for more information.

Upcoming Tulane Events & Information


Countdown to Carnival: Mardi Gras Around the World!

In the coming weeks leading up the Mardi Gras, we will be featuring weekly explorations into Carnival celebrations across the globe on our Instagram and Facebook. This week, we take a peek into Brazil's festivities. Check it out!

"Rio de Janeiro has one of the most well-known Carnival celebrations. It features more than 100 block parades, many of which are supported by the students and staff of the city's samba schools. Rio's Carnival is heavily influenced by the favelas, the poorest neighborhoods in the city. Favelas residents are often members of local samba schools and participate extensively in group performances. Famous groups include Banda de Ipanema, Carmelitas, Cordao do Bola Preta and Suvaco do Cristo. Every neighborhood in the city has its own street band, with more than 300 bands participating in the revelry. The celebration is the culmination of months of preparation and brings many different types of people together." (USA Today)
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Thursday, January 26, 2017

A Year in the Life of a Study Abroad Applicant - Part VIII: I am a Study Abroad Application Completion Machine!


Hi everyone!

If you’re anything like me, you probably arrived back on campus with the best of intentions to get your study abroad application submitted as soon as you could! Well, I certainly didn’t, since I got swept up in seeing friends, starting classes and getting involved again in soccer and the other things I do around campus. But something about this cold weather makes me want to just hang out inside and work on my application! So, I thought I would loop you in as I work my way through it!

Last time I wrote, I went over the time-sensitive, logistical parts of the application, like the passport, advisor and faculty recommendations, and the transcript. This week, I’m working on the more program-specific items like my Academic Statement, learning goals and the courses I want to take. I’m going to keep up my application to University College Dublin, but don’t worry, wherever you plan to go, the same advice applies pretty much!

Once you are logged in to your application, over on the right-hand side, you’ll find a list of application questionnaires. Here is where I need to spend some time and, while I do, I’ll go over each one so we can get to the nuts and bolts of what we need to do.

First off, the Academic Statement is basically just your application essay, in which you explain why you want to study abroad on your selected program, and how the program will help you achieve your academic goals. You should definitely plan to talk about the academic connections between your field of study at Tulane and what you can do on the program when writing this essay! Does it give you a new perspective on your major that you couldn’t otherwise get? Or is it something that you can’t study at Tulane because of the constraints of your major? How have you prepared for the program and courses you will take?

When writing this essay, it’s also really important to make it clear that you understand what the program offers – whether the courses are in English or the local language, what type of support services are or aren’t available, etc. Don’t write about learning French on your program if that isn’t actually an option available to you! Finally, you should write a little bit about how your study abroad experience will help make your entire time at Tulane more “international.” How will you continue to engage in global issues when you come back to New Orleans?

The second part of this statement asks you to write down three questions that you might have about your host country that you can try to answer while you’re studying abroad. You can think about these questions as part of your learning goals. Then, write a brief essay about how you will answer these questions. For example, for me, I want to know how Dubliners carry on the literary legacy of such famous Irish writers as James Joyce. One way that I will try to answer that question is by taking courses at UCD like “Reading the Story of Ireland” and “Reading Joyce.”

But truth be told, I could also take similar courses at Tulane, so I want to make sure and list some additional ways that I can learn about Joyce that I could only do in Dublin. I would definitely plan to visit the James Joyce Centre, home to many of Joyce’s writings, and the host of the annual Bloomsday festival. They also offer walking tours all year that visit many of the places he frequented or put into his books. I’ll write about those two opportunities and explain how they will help me answer my question about Joyce.

The purpose of this essay is to give us an opportunity to really show that we have some plans for learning about our host country’s history and culture while we’re there! And it’s a good way to do some research about it before we go!

All of this research, by the way, has gotten me really excited about all the Dublin eye candy I’ll get to see. Here’s a sneak peek.
In and around Dublin...SO gorgeous!
OK, enough of that! Back to work!

The last part of the application I’m going to talk about in detail is your proposed course schedule. To answer this question, you have to be able to navigate to your program’s web page and find courses that may be available for you to take when you’re there. It’s okay if these courses don’t end up being the ones you ultimately enroll in once you’re on site. The important thing is that you’re able to find course listings and get an idea of how those courses might translate back to Tulane. That’s why the application asks you to list the course at your host institution AND list the Tulane department equivalent! 

It’s also really important that you demonstrate that you understand which courses you can and can’t take. For example, at UCD, I’ll take five or six courses during the semester I’m there. But, I have to take at least four of them within my major. So if I list 4 courses outside of my major, then the Office of Study Abroad might say, “Hey, wait a minute,” when reading my application! So before completing this part of the application, make sure you know the courses you can take and the rules and restrictions that you may have to think about!

One other, minor thing. The “Backup Study Abroad Program” questionnaire was added this year because some programs fill up or have too many applicants. So in the rare case that not every student can be accommodated on a program, the OSA has a space for you to put your second choice, just in case. This way, we can all act very quickly to make sure you still study abroad, if not on your first choice program. You’re not required to fill this out, but it doesn’t hurt anything if you do!

You’ll notice that, as you complete these items, a check mark will appear in the “Received” column on your application. This way, you’ll be able to track your progress!

Remember, the application deadline is not until February 17th, so you have plenty of time to get it in, even if you haven’t started looking! For those of you who know where you’re going, check out the Study Abroad Facebook page because we regularly post scholarship opportunities that our students should be looking into!  

If you have any questions, just send an email to osa (at) tulane (dot) edu.
I’ll be back soon so we can do one final review of all aspects of the Tulane application! 

In the meantime, keep an eye out for our weekly newsletter, posted every Friday right here on our blog. Every week until Mardi Gras, we’ll be featuring Fat Tuesday traditions from around the world! Make sure and check it out!
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Friday, January 20, 2017

Weekly Newsletter

Welcome Back to Campus! 


With the first week of classes under our belt, the staff at the Office of Study Abroad is ecstatic to be back on campus. Not only are we reuniting with returning study abroad students, we are welcoming new international students to Tulane. The Office of Study Abroad and the Office of International Students and Scholars has been busy at work planning the Global Café Kick-Off event to celebrate and reunite the global community on campus.

International Networking & Welcome Party


This Monday, January 23rd come join other intentionally-minded Tulane students for an afternoon of networking, culture, and FREE food! Prospective, returning, and international study abroad students will engage in networking, storytelling, and socializing in the LBC Peterson Lobby from 3-to 6 PM. What should you expect?

Networking 3-4 PM


Meet with representatives from Peace Corps, Tulane Career Center, Tulane Success Center, and Tulane Honors Program to collect information about nationally competitive scholarships and post-graduate career opportunities abroad. Staff members will be instructing how to best present your study abroad experience on your resume.

Student Pecha Kucha Presentations 4-5 PM


Returning study abroad students will share their abroad experiences through the Pecha Kucha-style panel. These students are excited to present what they learned during the semester over seas and how their abroad experience ties into their larger Tulane education.

Socializing 5-6 PM


It wouldn't be a welcome back party with free food and music! Join us in meeting new faces over king cake and international tunes. Whether you are still deciding where to study abroad or you want to celebrate the experience you just had, stay and hang out with Tulane's very own global community. You can even still submit song suggestions for the party!

Check out our Facebook event for more details. Hope to see you there!

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Monday, January 9, 2017

A Year in the Life of a Study Abroad Applicant - Part VII: Starting my Application to Study Abroad

Hi everyone!

(Almost) welcome back for the spring semester! I know class is still one week away, but I’m already thinking about the things I need to do when I get back to campus. This semester will get off to a busy start for me – and all of my fellow Tulane students out there who are planning to study abroad in the fall – because our Tulane applications are due on February 17th! The application is online on the OSA website – basically, when you are visiting the program brochure page of the program you’d like to apply for (as an example, here is the University College Dublin program brochure), you can just click the “Apply Now” button on the top right-hand side of the page. Then you log in to the site using your Tulane username and password, select the term and, voila, you have created an application!

Before I get into the weeds here, I want to make sure that everyone understands the difference between the Tulane application and the secondary application. In order to study on a Tulane-approved program, you have to apply through Tulane on the OSA website. This post will go into a lot of detail explaining that application! Many other programs have what we call a “secondary” application as well that you will have to complete. For example, to go to UCD (University College Dublin), you have to fill out the Tulane application and the University College Dublin application, which is available on their website. These applications are not due by Tulane’s deadline, you can fill them out in advance of their deadline. It’s always a good idea to look at the secondary application while you’re filling out the Tulane application in case the secondary app requires something like a faculty recommendation or language evaluation – you can get them at the same time that you’re talking to your professors and advisors for the Tulane app! You can determine if your program has a secondary application by looking at the top part of the program brochure.

OK, back to the Tulane application: Make sure that you select the program you’re really interested in when you start your application! (If you decide to switch to a different program before the deadline, you should email the study abroad office to let them know instead of creating a new application. They’ll be happy to switch it over for you.)

Once you log in, there are two different places that are really useful to look. One is the Applicant Home. (I put a screenshot below – it’s one made by a staff member in the office, so it doesn’t have any of my info on it! She has a few more program applications out there, so ours won’t look exactly the same…) You can get there by clicking the little house icon on the left side of the toolbar. The applicant homepage is nice because you are able to see all of the messages that have been sent to you through the online system. It’s really important to check on those every now and then, in case the actual messages don’t make it through your spam filter…These emails usually contain really important information like deadlines and visa info and official letters…don’t ignore them so you don’t miss anything important!

Click here for a larger version of this image
The second place where I will be spending a lot of time is the actual application portal. You get there by clicking on the program name on the left-hand side of the screen, under application! Once you click on the program name, you get to the application itself, which has a number of boxes on the right hand side. Basically, you should just click through each of the boxes and read the instructions. I’ll point out some of the things I think are really important for us to think about.

First off, there are some application requirements that we can control, time-wise, like our academic statement, the list of courses we plan to take, and our signatures on a bunch of the forms. They’ll be finished as soon as we finish them. On the other hand, we also have to rely on other people to complete the application! So, I’ll focus on those items today and in my next post, I’ll talk about the other requirements.

The big one: the passport! If you don’t have a passport yet, get one ASAP. Why? Well, first of all, you need to submit a copy of your passport as part of your study abroad application. If your passport application is being processed, you can write that and your study abroad application will still be considered, but I’d advise everyone to get their passports as soon as possible. Your passport should be valid for at least six months after the end of your study abroad program. So, if you’re going to Dublin until May of 2018, your passport should expire in December 2018 or later. (Seems like forever from now!) The reason for this is also the reason that you should get your passport ASAP: Visas and Customs!

Most of us will need to apply for a visa in order to study in our host country. (More details on that later.) Both, the staff who process visas and the officials that work in customs want to see that your passport is valid for at least six months after your program ends, so start doing that math and if you need to get a new passport, go ahead and apply before the semester gets too crazy.

The other part of the application that will require you to rely on other folks are all of the advisor approvals and a faculty recommendation! Since somewhere between 300 and 400 Tulane students study abroad each fall, professors and advisors have a lot of requests, so I think it’s a really good idea to ask them as early as possible. Most programs only require that a professor “approve” that you are a good candidate to study abroad. They don’t really even need to write a letter. With your academic advisor and major advisor, you’re expected to meet with them and go over the classes you plan to take and how you think they’ll fulfill your requirements at Tulane. (I did this at the end of the fall semester.) Then, just ask them if they’d sign off on your application. If they agree, you’ll type in their email address and the application system will automatically send them an email!

If your secondary application also requires faculty recommendations, language evaluations, or any other approvals, you can get all of this at the same time, or at least talk to your professors all at once. It’s definitely a good idea to know what your secondary application requires when you start the Tulane approval process

The last thing I will do is order an official transcript so that I can upload it to the application system. Ordering a transcript is super-easy and free, if you just walk over to the registrar’s office to get it. You can get one free transcript per week, and just keep in mind that it takes 3 days to process, so try to go get one as soon as you get back to campus. If you don’t mind spending a few bucks, you can also order them through. If you don’t mind spending a few bucks, you can also order them through your Gibson account online. The transcript should contain all of my grades from up to the fall semester, so just be sure that you request that the transcript is held until all of your fall grades are posted.  

OK, for those of us that don’t like big, thick paragraphs, here is a very concise pictograph to explain what I’ve just written!
Click here for a larger version of this image


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