There are many elements to studying abroad, and deciding where to start can get overwhelming. Here are a few guidelines that might help it seem slightly less overwhelming, and provide a good starting point to getting your pre-departure papers squared away. I have found that with the study abroad experience, the first thing you need to decide is when you want to (or can) go. This is going to start narrowing down the available programs and help you focus in on the overall timeline you will need to stick to so that your goal becomes a reality. For simplicity's sake, I'll be using my 6 week 2016 summer program in London as an example.
PAPERS
First things first, look into your passport! If it isn't valid, it could take 6-8 weeks to get a new one and will cost you around $120 USD. This is based in the USA, I'm not sure what the passport process looks like in other countries, always look into how long it would be in your area, as you have to mail papers in and get your passport mailed back once it is finished (which can add to the 8 week estimate if it is a high traffic time of year). You can look into all of the specifics online, but if you don’t have the required ID to do a normal passport renewal, it can take longer than 6 weeks. It's better to be safe than sorry. If your program requires a Visa (my 6 week program did not, but locations and time constraints will determine if you will need one) you will typically need your valid passport before you can apply for your visa, some of which take an additional 6 weeks (or more) to process depending on your country of travel. Some visas require a blank page (front and back) in your passport as well, so be sure to look into visa requirements once you have decided on your country of travel. In the USA the passport also needs to be valid for 6 months after the final date of travel, so make sure that even if it is valid it will be valid for long enough.
If you are a US citizen, you can get started with your passport renewal HERE.
TIME
I knew during my junior year, that going into senior year of college with strict class requirements, meant that if I wanted to study abroad it would need to be during the summer before senior year started. Another thing to consider is what the weather would be like if you need to get to or from your program/home during winter months (I had a friend nearly not make it home for the holidays one year due to snow), and if it is your final semester, are you willing to possibly miss out on walking at graduation? If you are looking to have a longer experience, with a more flexible home school, a semester (or even yearlong) option could still be on the table for you.
LOCATION
Once you have selected the length of time/when you will be studying abroad, the next major question is where do you want to be. The whole point of this experience is to spend time in a place that you are interested in. If you are going to a place that holds no value, or any reason that you would want to get to know a region, then there is not much of a reason to spend so much money on the experience. Studying abroad is a large time and money expense, it can be one of the most memorable times of your life, but if you aren't going into it with the right mindset then it may be better to plan the study abroad for a later date. Even saving that iffy location for a shorter trip and selecting something more intriguing for the longer study abroad experience could be a more sustainable approach.
For instance, I had a shorter study abroad experience in 2013 that allowed me to spend a few days in London, followed y several other cities. This sparked my interest and I knew I wanted to go back. Even if your interest is merely based on a story a friend or family member told you or a photo you saw, it is a seed of curiosity and wonder that keeps pulling you back to programs in that city and surrounding areas. Note: look into near by cities as well, there might be a good program fit in the area you want to be in that you hadn't considered before!
PROGRAM
Now that you have a time frame and general area laid out, it is going to become more tricky. If you are lucky, your home university will have some sort of study abroad or global office. Get in contact with them at least one semester ahead of time, there are generally going to be things you have to get done with them and submitted before they will approve you to do a trip connected to the school. Personally, my University required an orientation, travel paperwork, and itinerary information in order for them to help facilitate my time abroad. Trust me, if you wait until mid-terms or finals to go talk to them, the last thing you will want to do is watch 3 informational videos and answer a quiz about it if you have a test to study for!
Once you have established a connection with them, they will generally point you in the direction of the program providers they have worked with in the past. If you are not very confident when it comes to researching various companies and schools, this is probably the easiest rout to take, as these companies are verified with your home school. If you are a little more independent or have the time to do extra research, there are two main categories you can search through besides the resources that your home university has. The first is universities abroad that have study abroad programs. Many of these are summer programs, but change depending on the area you are looking. Most of my searches like this would look something like
"study abroad summer London architecture"
or
"study abroad (time) [location] (subject)"
Sometimes trying them in different orders, or synonyms of the words, will show you new search results. These searches will turn up universities that you can contact, and talk with about their study abroad programs. Your home university should then have procedures in place as far as the paperwork goes for you to participate in the abroad universities program.
The other type of program you can look into would be companies that facilitate study abroad. This is the kind of program that I found. It was a company that my home university had worked with before, but a new program. The paperwork for this with your home school will be similar to that of the independent study abroad programs. Please note: while these programs do make it easier to go abroad, and generally have many excursions and add-ons that you can pay for, they do tend to be more expensive. Just be sure to weigh out the cost vs convenience.
CREDITS
One of the most important thing (in my opinion) that the international office at your school can help you accomplish is getting your class credits pre-approved. This means that before you leave, you know that all of the classes you take will transfer back as usable credits towards your degree. The trick that most people don’t think of until it is too late, is getting more classes approved than what you plan on taking. Sometimes a class gets canceled because there wasn’t enough interest, or you realize when you are there that a backup class fits into your schedule better than your first pick. This will give you the flexibility to change your schedule or pick up the slack where need be, without having to worry about falling behind with your degree. This was one of the main reasons why I spent so many hours researching programs, to make sure there were enough classes that would qualify for the credits I needed even if a few of my first picks were canceled. Overall this will relive a lot of stress when it comes to sending your transcript back to your home university (many programs include one free transcript sent back to your home university, but it is worth looking into just to be sure).
TRANSPORTATION
Paperwork started, Time frame chosen, with program and location selected, means there is one more thing to look into before you are well on your way to study abroad. Travel information! Now that you have your program dates secure you can look into flights to get you where you need to go. Most programs DO NOT include flights, but some do have a "pick up from airport" option, typically for an extra fee. This can be great if you have never been to the city, aren't yet comfortable with public transit, or if you have a large number of bags. There are some flight aggregating sites such as StudentUniverse.com (who I booked through) that provide slight discounts to students, but googling "student flights" should bring up some other options as well. Generally the non-flexible flights are the cheapest, but you have to have solid dates that you are traveling, or else the re-booking fees will make the ticket nearly double in cost. For more information and detail about tips and tricks for booking flights (particularly solo travel and student flights) check out some of my other blog posts.
OVERALL
All said and done, these 6 major milestones are the foundation that needs to be set before your study abroad journey can really get under way. A great way to try and keep it from getting overwhelming is to just focus on one thing at a time, and set a generous time frame to get it done in. Sure you could get it done in a week (if you didn’t have to wait on any visa paperwork), but if you don’t need to you can probably save yourself a lot of stress by spreading it out over several weeks or a couple months, roughly 6 months before your general departure time. As exciting and new as the experience is for you, there are plenty of people who have done it before who would love to help out and share their stories with you in the process. If you have any other questions, please feel free to leave a comment below.
All the best,
The Vintage Travel Team