ND Admissions LIVE: Global Engagement and Study Abroad

I am going to quote until the map, right? And then you're seeing one. Did you know, OK?

My screen.

Got it, thank you.

Yeah, if you don't mind.

OK, yeah and then I'll introduce myself.

Oh here we go.

Well, there's the numbers cool.

Welcome everyone, we'll get started in just a second. We'll just give everyone a minute to kind of get settled in.

Alright.

Radicati

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right?

Welcome everyone good evening, good afternoon. Wherever you may be, UM, we are very excited today to speak with everyone about study abroad, global engagement and what that looks like at Notre Dame. So our presentation is go further study abroad with Notre Dame International.

My name is Laura Stipek. I am an associate director of study abroad with ND I and I am responsible for our semester study abroad programs in Africa and the Middle East, as well as all overseeing all of our short term summer study abroad locations.

And my name is Katie Covar. I'm an assistant director for study abroad and I oversee all of our programs in the Asia Pacific region, Italy, Germany, Russia and Greece.

So.

We love to start our presentations with this quote. Our campuses in South Bend IN our classroom is the world because we really subscribe to this within Notre Dame International as we promote our study abroad opportunities and global engagement opportunities to students.

So just to start with a little bit of an overview who is Notre Dame International? We are a department on campus that's rather large of over 100 employees.

More than half of our employees are located overseas at our global gateways and centers, but our goal is to advance Notre Dame through international engagement education research all around the world. We have five global gateways in Beijing, Dublin, Jerusalem, London and Rome. Our gateways are where we have.

Physical locations and staff. So Notre Dame is represented in those locations, and oftentimes we host some of our study abroad programs there with our own staff. We have global centers as well. In Santiago, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Mumbai and Kylemore Abbey, which is in Western Ireland. There we have staff, maybe not physical space, but our staff work with the local universities and help with the alumni clubs to connect our students with with the world, which is wonderful. So what we as ND I do is not just study abroad. That is a big part of it.

But we also have teams that work with faculty research abroad. We support international students who come to Notre Dame, and we also have an international travel, health and safety team that monitors right now, a lot of COVID issues around the world, but monitors health and safety around the world so that we can safely send students and faculty abroad.

We like to just present this map because it shows a pretty good representation of where all of our programs are located. You'll see not only our global gateways and centers, but we have programs in other locations as well. Where we work with partner universities.

So just some fun fact, some for everyone here. Notre Dame actually sends over 70% of our undergraduates to study abroad at some point for academic credit during their undergraduate educational career. That is actually among the top three percentage in terms of sending institutions, so it is quite impressive. It is quite embedded into the culture with Notre Dame students that a lot of them will prioritize that international experience, which is such an importance for us.

And obviously, one of the benefits of being at Notre Dame.

We do offer more than 70 programs in over 30 countries throughout the year or this summer. We know that sometimes work better for other students. Some locations work better for other students, so we do have plenty of opportunity and we're always looking to add more and every year those do change and update and get some new things added, which is always very exciting.

Study abroad is truly compatible with all colleges. Uh, I know there is a lot of stereotype about, you know, STEM students or engineering students. Maybe not having the opportunity to go abroad, and we do our best to make sure that we have ample opportunity for all students, regardless of what major they are or what they're studying. So some of those you know, maybe very major specific. For example, we have a London neuroscience summer program, whereas some may be more broad and most students can go for example.

Almost any major can go to London and kind of complete their coursework there, so we like to make sure that we have a wide range of offerings for our students.

So just quickly, UM, we always like to talk about. Kind of the benefits of study abroad more than just kind of completing your courses and making sure you get that international experience. The first is that it is an opportunity for you to grow academically, so whether that's within your major, whether that's learning a new language or developing your linguistic skills, deeper thinking about internships, research, community engagement, so really taking that extra step to engage with the local community.

So not just being a tourist, but really integrating there, such an important part of study abroad.

The next benefit is to advance your intercultural competence and communication skills so this can really happen at any point in your life, but study abroad is for college students. A lot of the times a very memorable experience in time to do that, because maybe it's the longest that they've been away from home. Maybe it's the longest they've been in another country, UM, or they're pursuing a program in another language, so there's a lot of opportunity to learn about different cultures and to learn how to.

Kind of work against some of the biases and learn a little bit more about your own culture as well.

Next is to build independence and adaptability so there is a lot of personal development that traditionally happens in study abroad, so whether that's learning a little bit more about yourself, a different time management skills, you have maybe different perceptions you may have of yourself, or different cultures. Looking at how gender is viewed in different places, there is a lot of ways to grow and to kind of learn about that and learn about yourself in the process as well as of course.

Meaning a lot of confidence along the way and being able to navigate these things on your own and independently. And finally, of course, when we're thinking about the future, study abroad is a great way to develop professionally by learning not only skills that can be marketable to future employers, but also having.

Background to back up those skills, so being able to point to a specific time that you navigated a certain situation that may have been a little bit challenging and showing how you can use those intercultural competency skills to an employer is a huge benefit of study abroad and really does still make you stand out in the job search. It is still quite a unique experience, although as I said, many Notre Dame students have done it in the grand scheme of applicants, it is something that will make students stand out.

So we'll start off talking a little bit about our semester programs, which are incredibly popular with Notre Dame students. A lot of our students, most of those who study abroad, choose these semester programs. We're actually very excited. We chose our twenty 2223 cohort not too long ago. We're going to be sending over 1000 students abroad next year, which is the largest number that we've had in quite awhile. So we are so, so excited about that. Just a few key points about semester programs. Is that most of the programs that we have, regardless of where they are in the world has.

English is the language of instruction, and so, as we're advising students, we always tell them not to be concerned. If English is not the language of the country, because we have programs where the professors are speaking in English to the students and teaching in the different courses. So that does make these programs a lot more accessible, and language learning is not required. That being said, we also have intensive language programs in several different countries that match the languages that are taught here on campus, so both opportunities are available depending on what students are looking for.

Most of our students do study abroad in the third year, so junior year. However, we've noticed a trend, especially since COVID first started of seeing a lot more flexibility. Their students are starting to apply to go as sophomores. We've even seen students who apply to go as first semester seniors as well, so that is starting to spread out a bit. But I think the majority still focus on junior year.

Study abroad happens in many different locations. Of course at our gateways and centers. So the gateways themselves, such as London, will host students how we have our own faculty. We bring in staff there as well to have students live and study kind of in the center there. But then we also have programs that are more exchange programs where we work with a host university and our students will directly enroll with the local students. So we have a wide range of programs that can really accommodate what students are looking for in terms of independence and.

Just comfort level, if they need more students. If they're looking for a cohort of Notre Dame students. If they want to go abroad by themselves, uh, we have a little bit of everything to offer there.

And then GPA wise, most of our programs require a 3.0 GPA for eligibility reasons. With some programs there is a little bit of flexibility with that if students happen to have a slightly lower GPA, we rarely have a higher GPA for some of our programs we do, but is pretty rare. So 3.0 is typically what we recommend to students who would like to study abroad.

Students who choose to study abroad on semester programs are required to take 15 credits, so that's something that we tell students in advance they can plan to make sure they are taking a minimum of 15. In many cases, we also recommend that it's the maximum because we do want students to have time to really explore the culture and get to know the country where they are so they can fully immerse themselves and have that rich study abroad experience. One thing that's super exciting about Notre Dame and just really, I think, unique to us as well, is that it. Study abroad really is embedded into the academic culture.

What's great about that is that our office has fantastic relationships with all of the academic advisors and the different academic departments, so we work very closely with the Deans, and DUS is here to help our students bring back the credits that they earn abroad as Notre Dame credit, so it doesn't come back as transfer credit. It does apply directly on their Notre Dame transcript. The grades in factor into the GPA's.

And because of that, a lot of the classes that they take can fulfill major requirements, minor requirements, core language requirements or core university requirements. So it works out very nicely that students can still graduate within four years and study abroad, just kind of seamlessly fits in there and does not extend the graduation date at all.

We also because we have all of these partner or sorry global gateways and centers around the world. We have our own staff there and so they are there not only to help students through their study abroad semester, but also to connect our students with internship opportunities, community engagement opportunities, connect them with the alumni clubs and the parent and family associations in the different countries as well. So we do have support that I would say some other universities in the US may not be able to offer and I think that's a really wonderful thing that we can give to our students.

Is those connections abroad?

The other great thing about saying you ride through Notre Dame is that all of your financial aid goes with you. So when study abroad happens at Notre Dame, our students pay standard semester fees directly to Notre Dame, just as if they were on campus for the semester. So tuition, room and board fees. The additional fee that exists is the $750 study abroad fee. That's the only additional charge that we have for study abroad semester now. There are additional costs that students are responsible for and that would be, of course the airfare, which I think is the biggest one.

To get to the country passport and visa fees and then books and supplies and any personal travel that students are looking to do while they're abroad. But the wonderful thing about us charging our own fees is that any financial aid that students receive will be applied just as if it would, as if students are on campus, so nothing changes there, and in some cases students are eligible to receive even more financial aid because the cost of attendance is adjusted for students who go abroad.

Additionally, there are funding opportunities both through Notre Dame internally and externally at different organizations, independent organizations, or through the US government for study abroad scholarships. So we have a lot of financial information on our website and we direct students to those scholarship opportunities as well to really try and make this an affordable and accessible opportunity for all of our students.

Great so Katie covered a lot of our just kind of basic semester information so I want to spend a quick minute on MDI summer programs so you'll see there a list of the current summer programs now these change every year. Some stay pretty consistent and have been running for many years, but every year we put a call out for proposals from faculty members at Notre Dame who are interested in leading these programs, and so every year we do get some new and exciting proposals for different subjects or different locations.

So summer programs are great options because they provide flexibility for students who aren't may be able to go during the semester or they want to go twice. There is some students that want to go for a summer program and then they go their junior year. During the semester. I would say that's fairly common. This is also a great opportunity for freshman freshman after their first year. That is a very common time for our students to participate in summer study abroad.

Uhm, good opportunity to get some of their university requirements and maybe go to a location that they wouldn't go for the semester. Or if they just wanted to take a class that maybe doesn't relate as much to their major, but they're really interested in it. It's a good opportunity to put that into their schedule as well so you can take courses. As I said outside your major, they usually are not prerequisites for summer programs, with very few exceptions, so usually they are open to everyone. And as I said.

But we do encourage rising sophomores at that time to apply.

Now they do apply the fall of there the year before. So for example, if your freshmen wanted to apply for a summer program, they would typically apply by November of the year before, and then we would kind of have run the program the following summer.

So they are open to all class levels and it's a really unique mix of students that participate in these programs, which is great. We have a lot of diversity in terms of.

Maybe students that wouldn't normally meet each other if they weren't in classes together or kind of weren't in. You know the same dorm or didn't cross paths summer programs and study abroad is a great opportunity for them to kind of expand their their circles.

The courses are usually either three weeks and 1/3 credit course or six weeks and two three credit courses, so 6 credits total. So you can kind of take advantage of whatever works best for your schedule. They do typically allow for you to do multiple things within the summer, so you can participate in a short three week program and then maybe work or participate in an internship or take summer classes the rest of your summer so it kind of there are options for anybody and anyone schedules.

Depending on on what you may want to do for your summer.

So financial aid does work a little bit different for summer. Unfortunately it cannot be applied in the same way that it can for this semester. There are loans that you can take out, but there are also scholarships that are available through MDI. That's something very. We're very excited about. This year is our first year that we have been able to offer those to our summer students and they will be continuing moving forward. So it's a great opportunity for someone that may. It may not be sure about how to how to fund those. Just know that there is funding available through Notre Dame International for summer.

And Next up I wanna touch quickly on our website because this truly is probably the best resource we have with the most information and a good place to just get started. Really so you'll see here come in that top photo on the left in that column there is a couple resources that I would point out. The first being that identity abroad page R it kind of goes out to multiple pages, but basically this is where students can go and learn more about how study abroad, maybe for them.

Has a certain identity, so we have things like women abroad, LGBTQ students, abroad, students of color abroad, first generation students, high financial need, so it's a great resource for some good helpful questions to maybe ask your advisor as you're determining which program is a good fit for you and just questions of consider as you kind of go through that process and we are more than happy to have those discussions with each student individually, but it's just a good place to start. Get you thinking about where you should go because there are a lot of options and they're all.

Pretty great in their own way.

The next three I'll book together, which is research abroad internships abroad and community engagement abroad, and these are again great resources. If you know that you want to pursue one of these options, they actually list out programs that kind of specialize in that, for example. So if you're really interested in research, you can click on that and learn about which programs would be good options for you to consider.

The next part that I want to point out is that bottom picture, which is our programs page, so you'll see here that it is separated out into semester programs, summer programs and non Notre Dame programs. So I assume most of you would probably consider in the first two categories, but you can click through and scroll and see all the different options and then they link out to our program pages, which have immense details on each location and details from housing to academics, to student life, to finances and everything in between.

So it's a really good place to get started. We are also always happy to do individual advising and you would see our information linked on the relevant page so you would know who to contact when. If you had more questions. Additionally, on our website we have our travel and safety section. So as Katie mentioned, Notre Dame International does not just do study abroad. We also kind of have travel. We have a Director of International Travel safety for the university, so any concerns or questions you may have.

There is a lot of information on there and we also have a great resource in her to kind of help advise for our students. Both traveling with study abroad and just independently with the university. And finally, finally there is a finances tab which has information on the scholarships that I've mentioned as well as kind of what we call cultural enrichment funding, which is scholarships for semester programs as well. So it's a lot of information on there. It is definitely a great resource, but we are always more than happy to help.

Answer any questions and help anyone navigate as as it gets closer and as you kind of start determining which program is a good fit for you.

OK, so Next up now this is the fun part where we get to invite some returning students who actually were able to study abroad for the fall 21 semester, which was our first semester back after we had to take a little bit of a hiatus because of COVID. So we have Sean Ford who unfortunately was not feeling well tonight, but I may read some of his answers. He sent some in to share with you all and I know Dublin is always a popular location, but we also have Lala petty.

And Karen, are you both on the call?

No.

They were here earlier, HeLa.

Very good, hey.

Right?

It worked out excellent. OK, so uhm, first I was just hoping you both could introduce yourselves. So maybe why you chose your program and where you went so Lala would you like to go first?

Sure, so small introduction. I'm calandro petty, but I go by La La la. It's much easier. I'm a junior. I'm studying science preprofessional studies and Spanish, which is why I chose deployable program 'cause it's catered towards students who would like a future in the medical field. But I also know that they have a spring program that is catered towards other students.

And also I'm from South Bend.

Uhm, yeah.

Awesome.

Thank you Allah Karen.

Yeah, uhm. First just wanted to say congratulations to all of you for your admittance to Notre Dame. I love Notre Dame. So excited to be here. I am a junior. I'm studying economics and pre medicine and I studied abroad last semester in London I chose London because it fits really well with my academics and also as someone who grew up in Egypt. I've never like seen that part of the world so that was really interesting to me.

So yeah, I had a great time and excited to answer any questions that you guys have throughout our conversation here.

Great, thank you.

So questions that we just kind of wanted to ask to Karen and Lala to get the conversation going. And then I know if you have more questions, feel free to put them in the questions box and then we will answer them at the end and kind of get everyone's input there. So the next question we had prepared was how did this experience tie into your Notre Dame experience? Overall Karen, you want to start on this one.

Sure, come so I will start with a more tangible one and then give some, maybe less tangible UM, but nevertheless not less important, no? So I was really blessed with an internship abroad where I interned with a traumatic brain injury clinic and that was, you know, like a direct connection to my interest in medicine and just really help me get more involved in the culture and to be able to see how.

You know the the culture around work and work life balance. That was really different abroad and that was something that I really appreciated seeing UM and then also Notre Dame really prides itself on creating global citizens and not just sort of U.S. citizens. And that's something that I didn't understand before going abroad and I feel like it's hard to fully understand until you go. But it's definitely true because also with such a strong alumni network like you go abroad and you see.

Other Notre Dame alum and you're like, wow, like Doral is very connected and also you just see so many similarities and you see issues that we face both in the US and abroad. And you're like you know it's it's something that you can.

You see that in your future sort of professional life, I think you see it as more of an accessible option of being able to work on more global issues, and I found that to be very fulfilling and rewarding.

OK, so for me when I think of like how it ties into my indie experience, I think about the college experience as a whole.

And I knew for sure I wanted to study abroad. Like I I knew I needed to get out and explore the world, especially being that I live like 5 minutes away from campus. So I just wanted, you know, to see some new things but.

Something that study about gave me which I think is surrounded around my Notre Dame experience is that I began to view my identity as a power and not a burden, and I will forever be grateful for that. And additionally something that this experience has given me is.

Increasing my appreciation for my culture and my country because I think in like I said, I would view my identity as a burden or I didn't necessarily think America was his grand thing. But again, gaining the appreciation for my country, my culture, while also increasing my cultural competence. And I think that goes hand in hand, especially for, you know, for humans in general that should happen, but I want to be a physical therapist and.

Uhm, being that I study like science preprofessional studies going into this program, I had the opportunity to do research which was the creation of a brownie for patients with multiple sclerosis and that was like really cool for one because patients with multiple sclerosis usually.

Usually participate in physical therapy and it just so happened that I got this specific research because I didn't necessarily get to choose. It was just like given to me and it was just so ironic how all of that worked and I think.

That all connects to my Notre Dame experience because I'm going to college to be a physical therapist and just how all of that became full circle, whether that was socially, culturally, personally, and then also with my academia.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Now the next question is why did you decide to study abroad? Lala, you touched on this a little bit, but do you want to expand on that a little bit more?

Yes, so also being from South Bend there is a huge Latin population and I actually grew up partly on the West side which has the majority of the Latin population. UM and.

That's just how I grew up like that was my environment that was just something that I I was around every day. But then also.

I just always had this like want of exploring other cultures and this was my chance and Spanish was a language personally that I really wanted to learn and I thought what like it felt like everything was given to me at once like this program specifically for the you know this. This group of students and I'm wanted I'm a part of that group and then also being my background in my personal interest. So that's why I wanted to study abroad.

Karen, what about you?

What?

Yeah, I come. So when I was applying to Notre Dame and hearing about you know, study abroad and hearing about how you know over 70% of students go abroad that really sparked my interest, but I didn't know a lot about it because I grew up outside of the US and I'm the first like in my family to go to college here. So it was a foreign concept to me and when I came here it really just came from talking to students.

And every single student who I met who studied abroad, without exception, highly recommended it. Like it wasn't like, oh, there was like one who didn't like it or there was one who kind of liked it but kind of not everyone highly recommended it. So it was mostly me trusting them and not really understanding what I was fully going to experience. But knowing that it was going to be good and knowing that it was going to be worth it and it definitely was.

I think you just.

Yeah, it's and also like growing up outside of the US like I have always valued being able to experience two different cultures and being able to, you know, go further into that with something that I knew was going to be valuable.

So we all know there is a lot of options and there is a lot of choices. So how did you narrow it down and how did you pick where you ended up going?

Either one of the start.

Yeah, I can start off with this one. Mine was mostly like I said with my academics because I'm studying premedicine so there are a couple of options or I think there's three options for me pre medical students.

And one of them, you know it's Jerusalem. And since I grew up in Egypt, I felt that I already have experienced that part of the world, and another one was Pablo was lauded and I did not speak Spanish at the high level, so I couldn't go there. So that narrowed it down to me for London, but I will also say that like being in Europe, I got to visit a lot of different countries and that was also really cool.

For me, something that I did in the beginning was.

Uhm, I kind of like.

I I guess I want to say like visualize what I wanted to come out of my study abroad. I didn't necessarily have any like specific expectations, but I was like what do I want from this program and.

I had a little bit of guidance with my scholarship program and Bryce Scholars Initiative and they like helped me write down things that would be like beneficial while I was abroad. So obviously like getting some of your credits done that apply to your major and research was another one like that. I got to experience and then lastly just increasing my like.

My Spanish speaking skills and my comprehension skills, and specifically with a public program. I love the fact that there was like medical rotations or like a ways that you can observe. So for my group specifically, we had a physical therapy rotation which was like the highlight every week for me. And then there was also the schools clinic and then there was like a general like clinic or hospital.

That we got to observe. So that's kind of how I narrowed mine down. There were other options, I think my second option was like Santiago, Chile.

And there are multiple options for like the Spanish language, but this one was better for me because of the medical aspect.

Awesome.

Now the fun stuff. Can you each give us a highlight of your time abroad? I know it's kind of hard to pick one, but do your best.

Can I cheat and choose two?

Alright, you still.

I'm sorry, OK, one is like heartfelt and the other ones like. I mean, they're both heartfelt, whatever, but so the first one really quick was. I was definitely like the cheesy person abroad. I was taking videos and pictures and at the end we have like this Thanksgiving dinner and I like created this like 10 minute video that displayed like our journey thus far as a group and for Puebla, Puebla is a little bit of a smaller group compared to.

I think London it is, but our group was like 18 people and so we got really really close and I just depicted in that video like our moments where we like. For example we hiked loud melici which is like 4 hours up 4 hours down and during the time I was recording everyone's like emotions throughout it. Obviously we were very tired. Everyone was very grumpy and then I recorded times where we were all really happy. So I guessed that moment that Thanksgiving moment.

Of like just in communion and like being together and looking at our experience abroad was like a highlight for me and I really gained friends like friends that I will have forever and then another one is I met this little girl. Her name is Ashley and we were actually on just like a small trip in Veracruz actually and we were both at the same hotel and she saw me at the pool and she only speaks Spanish but we were like teaching each other. I was teaching her English.

Teaching me Spanish and we spent two days together straight. I got to babysit her. Her grandmother trusted to base there. We went to the beach and like we exchanged numbers and I just I have this hope that one day like somehow someway will cross paths and we'll look at each other like she's much younger than me but just just crossing each other. I hope like we'll have that moment. We're like Oh my gosh I remember you so that kind of like keeps me going for sure.

That's special.

Yeah.

That's awesome. Yeah, uhm, I just highlight was my internship was something that I really enjoyed. But since I already mentioned that I would say outside of my academics traveling with two of my really close friends. So we traveled across Europe and we even got to meet the Pope in Rome and that was incredible and it was. It was just a really fun time 'cause every place we went we got to practice the language a little bit and we went some locals and.

Yeah.

Kind of like what you said, Lala, we we were like teaching them a little bit of English and they were teaching us a little bit of their language and it was just a really beautiful exchange I think. And seeing the beauty in every culture and seeing sort of what people thought of what America was like and us, you know, adjusting our ideas of what other countries were like, I think it was really special and I think I really appreciate doing it like now. I don't think there would be.

A better time of like being able to travel with your friends, like when you're in college. I think it's it was just a wonderful experience.

Alright, one last question before we get to the questions coming in, UM, advice to future Notre Dame students and study abroad students. Hopefully, what would you? What would you tell them about study abroad?

Yeah.

I would say that.

Don't let don't let your like boundaries stop. I guess what I'm saying is don't let like money or.

Uhm, I just have to get to this like place in my life quicker and I think if I don't study abroad then that's just that's how it will happen. But I think especially for me like I'm first generational and I was like worried about money and things like that. But I'm so happy I came to a place where I said, like you know, what like this is an experience that I want and not even one time abroad that I worry about money and also there are multiple resources people at Indy.

Grants, uhm, I'm also a Gilman scholar, but I didn't even get to use the money because of all the COVID regulations. But still, like it was just money should. If money is your issue or your you know what's stopping you, I would say still go for it. And I would also say what what's right outside of your comfort zone is like the place where you begin to.

Develop personally also the best memories of your life and how you grow as a person and all of those like good things.

Yeah, my my advice.

Would we just do it like no similar to law? Don't let things sort of stop you, and even if you don't go to Notre Dame, which you should come. But even if you don't, Notre Dame makes it pretty easy and it has a lot of programs set up, but if you if you go to a different university, I would highly recommend that you try 'cause there are ways to be able to do these programs and get funding even if you have to do a little bit more of your own work. But genuinely I think like for your own personal and professional development, it's something that.

You know it's a great opportunity and we're really blessed in the US to be able to do that.

And yeah, it's like you'll hear from nine other people about what it's like abroad, but it's really hard to describe and sort of really get a sense of it until you are there, but I can tell you that it will be worth it. Like wherever you decide to go. However, you go about it, but do your best to try to get there.

Love it, thank you both. It's always great to hear, hear from you and here we're so happy to have returnees back after a long break with COVID here and we're so happy that you both had a very positive experience. And to do that.

So we do have a lot of questions, so we're I think we're gonna try our best to get through some, UM, so the first one that I'm going to add here is excuse me. Does it make sense that when our daughter goes to freshman advising she mentioned she already wants to fit in study abroad, especially since she will be in business. I would say for any major this is super super helpful to mention as soon as possible to an advisor to uh, like whoever that they're meeting with within their relevant.

College if you want to tell them that that's something that's on your list of things to do. They can help you plan your schedule out accordingly for the next four years and just make it easier. It's always possible, but I would say it's definitely easier if you plan ahead because they can help you save electives or university requirements. Classes that are just generally a little bit easier.

Regardless of location that you, you may want to go.

Uhm?

The next one.

And, funny enough, my advisor mentioned that to me first, so yeah.

Ideal, but that this one I was actually Lala. I was going to throw this to you. Do you find that students speak the language of the country where they studied abroad more fluently? What was your experience with that in Pueblo?

Yeah, just really quick. The first week I was mute. I was so scared and I kept stopping myself. But then finally after that week I told myself like how are you going to get better and once I started doing it.

Like it got so much better, I wouldn't say I'm completely fluent, but I definitely understand like I will catch myself as like people when they walk by and they're speaking Spanish. I can like hear what they're saying just as if like they were speaking my first language. So I definitely noticed a difference with my comprehension and my level of comfortability with speaking the language more.

Yeah.

So, uhm, I would say that I increase for sure my language skills.

Yeah, I would say that's generally a trend with most programs. Obviously some more than others depending on how involved it is, but it definitely does always help.

Uhm?

Yeah.

Katie, we have a couple of questions here about housing. Do you want to talk about the different housing options and what that looks like for some programs?

Yeah, so each program is different of course. For example, our London program students will stay in Conway Hall, which is a building that Notre Dame owns for our Rome program, which is slightly different. Students will study at our gateway. Most of the students will stay in the villa that we also own. However, we also contract out some apartments. We've done that, especially with kovid and social distancing. Just this past two semesters. So we have our own apartment complexes, and we have some programs that are more on the exchange.

Or, you know, independent provider side that we work with and so with those students are often staying in the university dormitories, wherever they are. So in Hong Kong, students stay in the dorms China, same thing, so it really varies and that's one of the factors that we advise students to consider as they're looking at programs. Is the type of housing they'll be comfortable in, the type of environment that they're looking for.

So the next question here is how many students were with you when you went abroad and how large was the group and we actually have two great.

Differing examples with Lala and Karen so Lala. Do you wanna talk a little bit about your group and then Karen if you wanna talk about your group as well?

Yeah, so I think I mentioned like my group was. I think it was 18 of us.

Uhm, and I think with that, like we were able, especially in this specific situation, we got really really close. So yeah, that's how large my group was.

Yes, I wanna say London is actually the largest program that Notre Dame has, so my ear, which is actually less than usual because of COVID. Some people don't want to go abroad that year, but it was 150 around that much and we all live in one residential building. That Notre Dame has so more sort of apartment style, but all in the same building.

And I would say that, UM.

Was so the way it worked out were, I guess like you'd probably be curious of like what that sort of means, and I think like we there were sort of like groups of friends like had you know, like it wasn't like one big group 'cause we were too big to just 150. I'll go get coffee together, but it was. You did find your group and you did have close friends that way. But also, like some people would say like oh then other name bubble and like you don't get to go outside of that which I.

Awesome.

Uhm, I mean I love my Notre Dame friends and I like I enjoyed having them around. UM, and I also what I did was like I went to an off campus church every week and had great British friends there. So I stole you know, keep in contact with them and it's really fun. So I would say that's not really. Wasn't something that I experienced. If you make the effort to join something outside of Notre Dame.

The next question we had here is about can athletes study abroad, and the answer is yes, but it's usually restricted to the summer only, so we have several summer options, some towards the beginning of the summer, some towards the end depending on what sport and what season. But they are specifically. Some of them are specifically designed to fit around student athletes schedules, so we do have, I think, uh, now we have six or seven options that are specifically would be available to student athletes, so that definitely is an option.

And most coaches you'll find are very receptive to letting you participate in one of these programs.

Yeah.

Can I just add on to that Laura? I've been able to send two athletes to our semester programs in one in Sydney and one in Perth in Australia. It really depends on the sport and so how much flexibility there is. But I was able to send a track athlete and I'm going to be sending a rowing athlete next year and we were able to identify training programs and connect the the trainers here and the trainers there to make sure that they were getting the appropriate training for the entire time that they're abroad. So it is possible it can be challenging.

Uhm, one other question. Uh, so it's talking specifically about engineering, which I kind of want to touch on since I know there's probably a good number of potential engineers in the group here. So how to study abroad fit with that curriculum? The answer is it does fit well. It just requires planning, so this is definitely a group that I would say this hand science. So our engineering and our science students it is more important. I would say for you than most to have these discussions early with your advisors.

And to have them help you plan out what could be feasible for you. And there are certain locations that are better for certain types of engineering, so again, it's definitely very, very feasible. It just requires a little bit of planning, although I will always throw out the example. I had a chemical engineer go to Gali Rwanda, which is not at all a program that's meant for her in terms of her curriculum. So it is truly possible to go anywhere. Just requires some work on the front end usually.

I'm gonna probably do one more question.

Uhm?

What is a typical study abroad application involve? So it basically is a like personal statement that you would complete and you get approvals from relevant Deans and DUS or your academics and in your rector and then some of them require a letter of recommendation. Not many. It's only when it's required from a host institution. Katie. Am I forgetting anything there?

I would just add on to that that that's our application through the study Abroad Office, since once a year in November. However, each academic college has their own requirements and so we recommend to students. We have a study abroad week, usually in September between that time and between that when the deadline is they should meet with their academic advisors. I work directly with Mendoza College of Business, and I know that they require students to attend their own workshop before they will approve students applications. So there are different requirements for each college that students also need to pay attention to.

To complete the application.

Well, unfortunately I know we're over time, but thank you all for coming. I think I can safely speak for everyone and say if you have questions, feel free to reach out to any of us. We're more than happy to to help and we hope to welcome you all to Notre Dame next year and then hopefully send you abroad soon thereafter. So thank you all for coming and hope everyone has a good rest of your day.

Thank you.

Bye.