2024 ND Pre-College Live Webinar: Study Abroad Programs

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OK. Well, hello everybody. Good evening. My name is Curtis Urban. I'm the Program Director for International Programs at the Office of Pre College Programs at the University of Notre Dame. See how many times I can see programs in a sentence. I want to welcome you all to our information session on study abroad. Really exciting. We have 4 great programs to talk about tonight. Hopefully some of you have already started thinking about your summer plans for next year and.

And maybe an adventure around the world to be a part of that. So I'll walk you through all four programs that we have to offer here at Notre Dame. We'll talk a little bit about the application process and then there should be plenty of time at the end of the session for you to ask any questions for me that you have about the programs or the application process or anything at all. Feel free to type those questions into the chat and we'll do our best to cover as many as we can at the end of the session.

So just to kick it off before we dive into the programs themselves, you know?

Why am I so passionate about study abroad? I'll I'll be honest when I was in high school.

Study abroad really wasn't.

Really wasn't on my radar. I I I don't want to say my parents wouldn't have supported me in it if I had expressed an interest, but I'm I'm sure I was more worried about football practice and homecoming than, you know, a potential trip to London for the summer.

But after having been immersed in this world now, I've been in this role for six years.

I've kind of seen the power that these kind of cross cultural exchanges can have on students.

As many of you probably already know, the study abroad experience is central to the Notre Dame undergraduate education. I think the last sets just came out. Notre Dame is #2 in terms of undergraduate study abroad participation in colleges in the nation, which is pretty impressive one that highlights.

The amazing international resources that Notre Dame has and that global community.

That extends well beyond the campus in Notre Dame and Two. But just how committed they are to shaping well-rounded citizens thinking beyond their high schools, beyond their towns, thinking about problems on a bigger global scale, and how they can become globally minded citizens looking to make change in the world.

So that's why I'm passionate about it. That's why I love it. I've seen, I've seen it first hand. I know two weeks doesn't seem like a long time, but it can have a really, really incredible impact on your development as you as you move towards your college experience.

We'll start here with our oldest program study abroad Italy. This will be our eighth time that we've run the study abroad. Italy program. Italy is kind of central to the Notre Dame architecture experience. Architecture students at Notre Dame spend their entire third year in Rome.

Notre Dame has a global gateway. I don't know if you're familiar with the gateways and centers, essentially Notre Dame hubs around the world. One of them is located in Rome. It's about two blocks from the Coliseum. You can literally see the Coliseum from from the from the rooftop patio. So not not a bad location at all. But as you can imagine, the program then centers around architecture, art, history, archaeology. We tap into a lot of the Notre Dame professors that call Rome their home. They.

They really shape the experience for the students and we also have a focus on anthropology as well. So not only getting to to learn about the historical roots of the city, but the people that make up the city and make that place so unique.

We go everywhere that you probably imagine. We go to the Pantheon, we go to the Coliseum, we go to the Trevi Fountain, Our hotel is 2 blocks from Piazza Navona. We take a weekend trip to Florence. So it's an incredible experience and and there's there's a lot of Gelato too, I think.

I think last year's average was at least at least two Gelato trips.

Per day, as you can see there, it's a two week program June 1st through the 15th, it's it's current high school juniors, rising high school seniors that this program is available too and we'll talk a little bit more about the application logistics at the end.

The second program I want to highlight is our study abroad South Africa program. This will be our third year running study abroad South Africa.

I love this program. We talk a lot about using these international excursions as a means to get students outside their comfort zones, expose them to things that they wouldn't be exposed to kind of in their day-to-day lives and their communities in America. I think no program does that more than our study brought South Africa program. It's run by Professor Andre Venter. He's a psychology professor. He's been working with pre college about 20 years now. He's been doing this program for three years with us. It's it's adapted for a program he's been doing.

For over a decade.

With undergraduate students, he's a native South African. He loves showing students his home and everything that makes it special and unique.

You know the the focus on the program as you Andre is a psychology professor, is.

How understanding the history of South Africa, the history of apartheid, the difficult race relations that that nation has experienced, How kind of understanding their past and and the approach that they've taken to those issues can.

Can change how students think about their own place in American Society, how they think about where they fit in their own communities and how it defines their own sense of self. So it really is a trip about kind of using the experience of South Africa to think more about who you are and what's important to you and what values that you hold and how you and how you demonstrate those values.

So there is a focus on apartheid when we're in Cape Town, when we're in Johannesburg. But there is kind of a look to the future for South Africa, the conservation efforts that they're taking to move forward as a country and of course.

No, no trip to South Africa would be complete without without a safari at the end. So we do spend 3 days on safari to wrap up the trip. It's it's an incredible program. It's it's like nothing that I've ever done before and I think every student should experience it.

A Study by London is our newest program.

It's it was on our bucket list for a long time. To add to pre college programs roster, London is central to the Notre Dame undergraduate study abroad experience. It's it definitely hosts the most students. By far many over 200 Notre Dame students a semester are going and and studying in London. Our students stay at Conway Hall. It's the Notre Dame dorm.

Former former hospital during World War 2, It's now a beautiful space.

Wonderful facility. We crossed the River Thames, go through Trafalgar Square and we have class in Fisher Hall and a historic building there as well, the Notre Dame Gateway in London.

Really an incredible program. We we focus on kind of London as a center of knowledge and power that that lets us hit on a lot of key components of London's history. We're talking about the imperial history, whether that's visits to the British Museum.

Whether that's trips to the to to the Victorian Albert Museum.

That's arts that come to the city, you know, with Shakespeare, with going to see West End plays and programs, an incredible experience, an incredible program. And again, two weeks for juniors, you'll notice that's a theme kind of throughout all the programs that we offer.

And finally a study Abroad Ireland. This is our sixth year doing the study abroad Ireland program. It's a it's a near and dear to my heart. You can see I'm rocking the the Ireland quarter zip tonight. It's it's a wonderful program they're wonderful people at the Dublin and Calmore gateways and centers They they really do treat us like family and I think that's what helps set the program apart as they they make everyone feel like they belong in a part of Irish community and family and culture.

The programs kind of split into two weeks.

This week is in Dublin and the second week is at Kyle Moore Abbey. If you don't know it, Google it. It's a castle on the West Coast. It's set in the Connemara hills. It's a. It's an.

It's an unbelievable setting to be honest. We'll the first week when we're staying at DCU which is the university in Dublin and we're seeing kind of all the modern aspects of Ireland, the efforts towards sustainability, Dublin as a tech European tech hub, kind of this modern bustling urban center. And then the second week is more kind of your ancient, your traditional Ireland. We focus on Irish literature.

And and kind of really deep dive into all those stereotypes you have in Ireland where there's, you know, hiking through the green hills. You can see these students here on a hike.

Whether it's shearing sheep, whether it's learning about bogs and bog culture and how they use that as a source of energy, whether it's traveling to the errant islands at the kind of edge of the world, really. So you get that dichotomy between the two kind of the East and West Coast. So students really get a taste of everything Ireland has to offer in this program.

Again, one of my favorites. And again, two weeks high school juniors.

Before we hop into the Q&A, I'll talk a little bit about kind of the application process and what's expected of students.

The application is on our website at pre college dot ND dot ndu. You can find kind of all the information there with regards to study abroad, programming and the specific requirements of each program as well as kind of day in the life of students and.

Testimonials and all that fun stuff as part of the application process. I mean, it's all online, you know. I'm sure this. If you haven't done applications like this, this will be good.

Good practice for next year as you kind of start working on your college applications.

We require a few things. We'll need a School Report from your counselor, which is going to have your transcript. It's going to have kind of a profile of your school and a little recommendation from your counselor.

A recommendation from a teacher.

Again, this is all automated. This will all go through the online application system test scores. If you want to submit them, you can. They are optional.

We'll want to see a resume that highlights, you know, whatever you're passionate about. What we're really looking for is students who show leadership, show initiative.

They've shown character and resiliency in the face of adversity, and these are all things that can kind of come out in your resume. But I think they can also come out in the essays. We do ask for two essays. The 1st is kind of a generic essay on why.

You want to participate in a particular program that you've chosen, and the 2nd is more focused on how you've contributed to your communities, how you've been a source for good within your own life so far, and hope how you hope that translates kind of beyond into your college experience and into your future lives.

So those are kind of the main components of the application.

You know, suggestions for you. I mean, it is a competitive program. Not everyone's going to get in. So you want to make sure you put that effort into it, that you.

That that you feel good and feel confident about the product that you're presenting to the selection committee for these programs. You want to make sure you're taking classes that challenge yourself. You want to make sure that you're taking the hardest classes that your high school has to offer.

Recommendations. You want to get them from somebody who knows you. You'd be surprised how many letters you get. And you read it and think, does this teacher even know this student? So start building relationships with people.

Making those connections so they can speak, speak to your character, speak to the to your academic goals, speak to your initiative and drive. I mean, it's it's honestly great practice for what you're all going to be doing a year from now when you're thinking about your undergraduate college experiences.

You know test scores. I'd say look at the averages on a website and if you think it it stacks up, feel free to submit it. If you don't think it stacks up, it's optional, you don't have to submit it.

So again, we leave that up to you guys and in terms of essays, have your parents read it over. You know you don't want to submit something with that. You put minimal effort in that has typos that with a couple proofreads and some insight from from parents who have gone through experiences like these before would have kind of.

Help benefit your application immensely. So have them look over things like that. That's kind of all I have. In terms of the application, again it is on online applications for all four programs are due on January 22nd and then decisions will go out by the middle of February. A couple other things and again all the center is on our websites. Don't feel like you have to re watch this recording or jot all this down, but you need to be 16 by August 1st, 2024.

Juniors in high school going to be rising seniors.

All the fees for applications and tuition are are on the website. Again know that programs are all inclusive. So that price you see there for the program cost that includes the flight that from Chicago O'Hare to whatever destination you're going to. That includes the lodging, all the meals, your tuition. You do earn one college credit for participation in this program which is incredible.

Everything is covered by the expense. The only thing that would be on top is if you want to buy yourself souvenirs or something like that. And yes, students buy souvenirs.

A girl bought a full size suitcase to to get all of her souvenirs back last year.

So.

Some may need more money for that than others in terms of kind of oversight on the programs. I'll be traveling on three of the programs this year is kind of the main point of contact for South Africa.

London and Italy. Paul Miller are the director of Pre College Programs, will be traveling with the group to Ireland. And then of course we have resident counselors that we hire for each program. These are Notre Dame undergraduate students who have studied abroad, who have been to these locations and are kind of wonderful resources for you to not only learn about their study abroad experience, but learn about their their Notre Dame undergraduate experience as a whole. So it's wonderful to have them on board and I think they're key to the experience.

Other than that, I've talked a lot. I've gone over a lot of information. Again, it's all there at the website precollege.nd.edu. I'll take a look at the chat here. If you do have any questions, feel free to send them in now. If you can't think of something and something comes to mind later, you can e-mail me. It's I'll type it here into the chat.

Curband1@nd.edu Feel free to shoot me an e-mail when you want hay to talk through any any questions that you do have. I do see one in here already about financial aid. One of our programs does have financial aid study abroad London. You can find information about that on the website. Just note that it is very limited kind of need based financial aid. So if if, if, if that's something that's of interest to you and somebody could help help you out and being able to kind of participate in one of these programs.

Again, that's that's with the Study Abroad London program.

Questions.

Applying to multiple programs, that's a great question. I mean you'll just have to look on our website and and see there are is overlap between our programs. I mean the reason I'm not doing.

South Africa and Ireland is because there's kind of significant overlap between the two programs, but you're more than welcome to apply to multiple. We have had students do multiple programs in a summer. Last year a student left South Africa.

And the next day was at Summer Scholars on campus. So as long as there's not, you know, overlap between the two programs, there's no reason why you couldn't be admitted to multiple programs either in the study abroad setting or or on campus. So I would say just apply to as many as as you're passionate about.

Apply to as many that that interest you and then let the chips fall there they may in terms of kind of that.

Admissions process, good question here about group size. We have typically 18 students. That's the cap on these programs. You know, gender breakdown, you know, use for whatever reason it usually ends up more girls than guys where they're roughly about, you know, 12613 five. But we always bring 18 students and we do that intentionally.

Anything more than that and I think you lose that kind of.

Professor Student ratio. That makes the program so special. That makes going to Ireland make it feel like your family.

When we're at the gateway, so we keep those small just because any more than kind of 18 and I think you lose that kind of really unique experience that.

That's what makes the program so special.

Someone asked what I would say the most important part of the application are. That's tough. It's a holistic approach. I know you might be hearing that a lot in your kind of undergraduate application experiences and and that's become a little bit of a cliche, but it is real. No one part matters more than the other. We, I mean, we want to see that you're challenging yourself in competitive classes. We want to see that you're doing well in those classes and receiving grades that are competitive with your peers at your own high school.

If you took a test score, we hope you did well on it. We want to see, you know, a resume that shows someone passionate about whatever it is, whether it's band or sports or the arts or volunteering or service in their community. You know, we just want to see that you're passionate about that.

But I think for me, I mean the essay is really important because where you can stand out, it's where you can make yourself unique and make yourself remembered by the, by the, the committee that's reviewing these applications.

You know, at Notre Dame, at a lot of institutions, they get a lot of applications and a lot of the students are great. A lot of the students are top 1% in their class. A lot of students have top five percentile test scores or are, you know, captain of five different teams and whatever it is. But where you can stand out is showing who you are and what you're passionate about. And and what's important to you, I think is in the essays and and that's where I think.

I think that's that space that you can carve carve out to show. Here's why I'm unique, here's what I would kind of contribute to the program.

In terms of kind of varying students across the country, students come from all over. They come from all over the world. It's not just American students. Last year we had a student from Panama and a student from Switzerland participate in the programs. We've had students from China in the past, we've had students from Brazil. So students come from all over the world. There is no kind of geographic focus. You know, I think the most we had in any one program last year is I think London had.

Five students from Texas just kind of happened that way. But students, you know, we have students from.

New Hampshire to New Mexico kind of all over the country. So there is no kind of one kind of geographic focus for the students are in terms of kind of the the resident counselors that come along kind of the breakdown of that. So we'll have 18 students.

The leader, be it myself or Paul Miller and then we hire two resident counselors for each program and that's just the support from the pre college side.

Every different place has kind of support on the ground. In Ireland, we have the support of the entire Gateway staff. They hire an undergraduate intern who's with us the whole time. Kyle Moore hires an undergraduate intern who's with us the whole time in South Africa. Professor Venter is with us 24/7. We have a security consultant who travels with us just just as kind of a safety measure is experiencing South Africa and he he's he's an incredible resource for us.

And of course, the two resident counselors in Rome we have.

We have the two resident counselors, we have the Rome Gateway staff, you get the idea. So there's always multiple layers of students, but in terms of kind of that RC to student ratio, 9 to one, I guess if you're breaking it down that way.

There is of course support for disability, you know, through the various resources that Notre Dame has. But every location that we go to supports any kind of disability that that that a student might have and present. And we'd obviously work with each individual student, you know, case by case basis and what we do to do to support them and and make that their learning experience as best as it could possibly be.

So yeah, if you do have questions about that, feel free to e-mail me, but of course that that is supported.

Taking a look here through the questions if there's any more.

Looks like I've hit most of them if there's any more last.

Second questions, feel free to to get them in now.

It looks like that's all we have. Again, if you do have any more questions or you think of anything else, don't hesitate to reach out either to pre call or my my e-mail curve at 1@nd.edu. I'm excited to see your applications. These are incredible programs, really eye opening experiences that I think are just building the foundation. I think there's a cliche that says study abroad will change your life. I don't know about that, but I do think what's steady abroad does is give you those experiences.

Those building blocks that let you establish a foundation that when you show up to that first week of college, you're already going to know how to engage with people from around the world and interact with with high achieving peers that you're meeting for the first time. Because you've done it in a global setting, you're going to know how to engage with different cultures and different backgrounds because you've done it kind of in all these wonderful places and locations that we go. So I'm excited for you. I'm excited to see the apps. And again, if you have any questions at all, don't don't hesitate to reach out.

Appreciate you taking the time out of your evening. I know it's probably late for some of you.

If you want the recording of this, please don't hesitate to reach out. And yeah, other than that, have a wonderful evening. Go Irish.