2025 ND Pre-College Live Webinar: Study Abroad Programs

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All right, we'll go ahead and get started. Hello everyone. My name is Curtis Urban. I'm the international Program director for the Office of Pre College Programs at the University of Notre Dame. Welcome to our 2025 summer study abroad webinar. Hopefully we'll we'll talk about something that gets you excited about potentially studying around the world with us next summer.

I'm going to just kind of briefly go over our four programs, what they entail, what the curriculum looks like, the kind of trips we do in any group.

I'll talk briefly about the application process and at the end we'll have plenty of time for questions. If you do have a question that comes up during the session, feel free to type it into the questions portion of the chat. I'll do my best to answer any, any and all questions at the end. If there's anything I don't get to or I, I gloss over accidentally, you can e-mail precall@nd.edu after the session and we'll make sure to get those those.

Addressed, but I'll go ahead and get started this session is being recorded we'll send this recording out to you so don't feel like you have to jot every single thing down but again, this is the webinar for our study abroad programming. Study abroad is kind of essential to what we do at the University of Notre Dame Our mission as a university is is to create citizens that.

Want to be a force for good in the world?

Study abroad often is is the first introduction point for our students to a world beyond.

South Bend, certainly beyond the United States.

Study abroad is kind of essential to what the University of Notre Dame does. At last count, I think over 75% of Notre Dame undergraduates study abroad at some point in their academic careers, which is incredible. That's a huge number.

Here at Pre College, we want to give you a taste of that, give you a little bit of that experience of what?

Setting a rod would be like as a Notre Dame undergraduate.

And really we want to open your worldviews to show you that the world is a big place. There's a lot of different ways to see it, to experience it. I think it's even more important than ever in this kind of increasingly insular world that we live in, that you see different viewpoints, experience different cultures, different ways of living. And, and we certainly do that with all of the sessions that we have. We're also trying to highlight.

Notre Dame centers around the world. I don't know how many of you are familiar, but Notre Dame has.

Centers in London, Dublin, Rome, among others. And these are kind of launch points for students as they study abroad around the globe. But they're also kind of centers of Notre Dame culture and life that students can come back to and kind of experience that sense of familiarity as they as they experience life abroad. But now I'm just going to kind of briefly go through.

Each program and what it's all about. The first one I want to talk about is study abroad Italy. This is our oldest program. We've been doing this program since 2015.

Italy and particularly Rome are kind of an essential part of the Notre Dame global education experience. I don't know how many of you know, but architecture students who are admitted to the University of Notre Dame spend their entire third year.

In Rome, studying the kind of wonderful classical art architecture that the city has to offer. So as you can imagine, the curriculum is largely architecture based. We take advantage of those faculty that are kind of experts on the ground in Rome and kind of make Rome and Italy their home. We take classes with kind of private architects, but we also focus on anthropology, kind of what makes Rome this incredible city that it is today.

And of course our and our and art history former part of our curriculum.

Um, our hub is kind of ND Rome, which is again one of those buildings I mentioned that Notre Dame owns abroad. It's an incredible space. It's two blocks from the Coliseum. You can see the Colosseum from the kind of rooftop veranda from where we'll be having lunch. But we'll visit all the famous sites that you think of when you think of Rome. We'll be, we'll go to the Trevi Fountain and the Coliseum and the Forum and I could have everything you think of when you think of Rome, but also some kind of lesser known sites that we have.

Kind of access to through our faculty. There'll be plenty of Gelato visits. You'll eat more Gelato than you could ever imagine. I think every students required to make a top ten list of their favorite Gelato places by the end geolides mine. I don't know if there's anybody who's been to Rome out there, but for my money, you can't top Geo lady. We do several trips as well. It's not just Rome. We go to a small town called Orvieto. We go to a.

In Beach Town, it's for Longa and we also do a trip to Florence to kind of experience that wonderful Renaissance city and everything that it has to offer. Like all of our city abroad programs that we're going to talk about today. The program is 2 weeks long. It's open to current high school juniors moving into.

Their senior year of high school and again they're in the side. You can kind of see the the focus from our curriculum standpoint for our study abroad Italy program.

The next program I want to talk about is our Study Abroad South Africa program. This will be our fourth year going to South Africa, which is incredible. It's led by Professor Henry Venter. He is a native South African and a psychology professor at the University of Notre Dame. The curriculum really here focuses on it's kind of twofold. The first half of the class, we investigate the complicated history of South Africa.

Clearly with regards to apartheid, the struggle with race relations in that country has experienced over the last century or so. But we use that history, that complicated past to think about our own selves, our own identity, how we relate to other people and how we fit in the world. So it's it's really a vehicle for us to think about how we craft and shape our own identity in relation to others.

So with that, we'll spend a lot of time in Johannesburg, we'll spend time in Cape Town.

We go to the Apartheid Museum, we go to Robben Island, which is the prison that Nelson Mandela was held at. District 6 was one of the relocation neighborhoods. If you've ever seen the movie District 9, that's kind of a metaphor for that. We go to sway toe, which is where Nelson Mandela grew up. And we help students kind of develop this understanding of how apartheid happened and how people work to to undo it and move forward and, and, and, and create a more holistic community.

We'll spend a couple days at Tipsy Comma National Park. This is kind of the southern tip of South Africa. It's an amazing experience. We stay on cabins, on the on on the coastline. Really it's just a couple days for reflection after some really heavy stuff that we see in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Some really deep and meaningful conversations in an incredible setting that you'll never top in your life when there's kind of roaring waves out your window and.

Swimming by. So pretty pretty awesome experience I have to say.

But also kind of in the last few days of the program, think about how South Africa is moving forward and moving beyond that turbulent pass to create a future.

That focuses on hope and on progress and working together, and that's through their conservation efforts. That's through their tourism efforts. We'll be going to an elephant sanctuary. You can see Manu here in the photo with one of the elephants at the sanctuary. All the elephants were orphaned by poaching, which is terrible and sad, but it's incredible that they have this space where they can.

Grow up in safety in South Africa and we'll spend our last kind of four days of the experience at Kruger National Park on safari. Just an incredible experience. Probably, I'll probably never do anything like it in my life, but it's I don't know what to say other than it's an incredible safari when you see incredible things. You can see the program dates there. Again, open to high school juniors.

And yeah.

Study abroad London. This will be our third year going to London. As with Rome, London is kind of a key cog in the Notre Dame global study abroad experience for undergraduates. It's the largest Center for Notre Dame undergraduate study abroad. About 200 Notre Dame students a semester are in London studying in London.

Andy London also has a key relationship with Notre Dame Law School, so we'll see that presence there when we spend our two weeks in in the incredible city. If you've explored the website, you know our focus is kind of London as a center of knowledge and power. We do that because it lets us focus on a lot of different things and tap into a lot of different expertise, unlike some of the centers around the world Notre Dame London has.

A large roster of faculty that are there full time with a lot of different expertise. So our hope is we'll find something that kind of sparks your interest during that two weeks, whether it's finance or Rome and London or Shakespeare in London or art in London. Something there we're hoping is going to tap into your passion and get you excited about the potential for, for that field of study and, and, and that field of study within the context of study abroad.

We'll stay at Conway Hall and it's Notre Dame's dormitory. It was an old woman's and Children's Hospital before World War 2. An incredible space. Our walk to class will walk across the Thames through Trafalgar Square into Fisher Hall, which is Notre Dame's building in London. An incredible space, much like Rome will see those sites that you think of when you think of.

Of experiences in London will will go to the British Museum. We'll go to the National Gallery.

Of the incredible museums of the city has offer we'll go to Saint Paul's Westminster Abbey kind of those key highlights when you think London we hit we hit we hit it all we also have some fun excursions every year we go to Stonehenge and Bath to kind of see the kind of ancient prehistory origins of England and the kind of the the Roman roots of the country and Notre Dame is also trying to develop a relationship with Cambridge so we'll.

Trip to St. Edwards College in in Cambridge University to kind of help foster that relationship and that's an incredible experience as well. And we'll have plenty of fish and chips, no shortage of fish and chips. Again, the dates are there July 6th through July 20th for high school juniors.

Finally, the study abroad Ireland program. This will be our 6th year during Ireland. I'm rocking the swag here today.

The focus of this program is kind of old versus new, traditional verse, modern East versus West.

Antiquity versus modernity.

And that kind of dichotomy is really separated by our time in Dublin and our time.

On the West Coast in Calamara. So we'll spend our first week in Dublin at O'Connell House. That's the Notre Dame building in Dublin, an incredible staff there that always makes everybody feel like family. It's it's a wonderful place and we'll spend that week week learning all about kind of.

Some history of Ireland, but more kind of where the country is headed in terms of kind of its emphasis on sustainability and and in Dublin as a tech hub.

We'll tour the city, we'll see the wonderful sites that Dublin has to offer. We'll take some trips as well. We go to Glendalock, which is a 6th century monastery nearby in a beautiful valley. And then we take a trip to Belfast, which is always a very powerful experience that students get kind of first hand accounts from people who lived through the Troubles in Belfast in Northern Ireland. But we'll again, we'll see all the sites that you think when you think Dublin Trinity Library. We'll see the bog bodies.

Archaeological Museum, incredible experience. But then we'll head out West and it's, it's a totally different experience. We'll stay at Kyle Moore Abbey. I don't know how many of you are familiar with Kyle Moore Abbey. If you don't know what, Google it. It's essentially a castle in the in the hills of Connemara.

And Notre Dame has a lease on on the space, and it's an incredible space, one of my favorite places in the world to just sit and relax and be.

Will the focus out West?

Will be with Professor Lisa Caulfield and we'll focus on Irish literature and Irish poetry and and Irish music and dance and all, all those kind of stereotypical things you think of when you think of Ireland are are really integral to life on the West Coast.

We'll take a boat ride to the Erin Islands. We'll do a hike along a road that was built by famine. Workers will hike to the tops of mountains. We'll do bog challenges. I won't get into what the bog challenge entails quite yet.

But it's really of all the programs that Ireland would be for the outdoorsy, particularly Week Out West and Kyle Moore. But it's an incredible experience really, really too for the price of one in terms of kind of the different experiences that you'll have with with Ireland.

Maybe you wouldn't get it's just a tourist.

A little bit about the application process. You can go to our website. If there's anything I don't address here today, everything can be found there.

But in terms of program dates, they're all listed on the web page.

Deadlines and all of that, but really what you how to apply? You apply online at precollege.nd.edu.

The application we try as best we can to mirror, you know, the Common App, the undergraduate education process, just so that you guys get a little practice for that. I know, I know you might not want to think about it, but you know, undergraduate application time will come up sooner than you think. So it's a good opportunity for you to to practice those skills, whether it's asking a teacher to write a letter of recommendation or working on essays that highlight your passions and.

I think all everything that you'll do for this will be good practice for the next step, but like the the page says there, we do have requirements.

You'll need a letter of recommendation from a teacher, preferably one that can speak to your academic interests. Your high school counselor will submit a transcript as well as kind of a School Report and maybe a brief blurb about you. Test scores are optional. I I get this question a lot is is there a benefit to submitting test scores? I would look at what the averages are on the website and if you think.

You know you fall within that or above that, then submit them. If you don't think that it's going to help your application, then then don't submit it. There's really no nothing. It's not going to hurt you by not submitting a test score. They're optional for a reason, so take advantage of that.

As you think about your application, you can submit a resume or list your activities. I suggest.

Submitting APDF resume it's just good practice and it helps you kind of mentally outline all the things you're involved in, all the things you're passionate about. And then you'll be asked to essay questions one, essentially why you're interested in the particular study abroad program and two, it'll ask you a little bit more about your communities and how you give back to those communities that you're a part of. That's all online. You can do this all online. The deadline is January 22nd for these applications, so coming up sooner than.

I think about a month and a half out from when these applications are due, decisions will be released in early February. And then as you saw, the kind of first program is our Italy program which starts on June 7th. Probably goes out without saying, but you have to have a passport to participate in these programs. So if this is something you're interested in, the passport process has been taking longer.

Than normal in recent years they say 8 weeks but it's usually a little bit longer than that, so maybe that's something you want to start thinking about.

And the age requirement, you just have to be 16 before August 1st to be a participant. But again, it's for current juniors in high school that are going to be moving on to their senior year next year.

OK, that was fast. That's just a taste, guys of kind of everything that these programs have to offer. I've been doing this for several New Years now. These are incredible experiences.

I know when I was 16 and 17, I wasn't thinking about taking advantage of opportunities like this. Studying abroad wasn't even on my radar. So I think it's incredible that you're already thinking about this. The fact that you hear shows that this is something that you're interested in and passionate about. And I just think it's an incredible opportunity to learn one from kind of world class tenured faculty from the University of Notre Dame, but to do so on kind of an International Space, I think.

It's just such and it sounds so cliche, but it really is an eye opening experience that I think is going to benefit you no matter what you going to do, no matter where you going to study. So I'm excited that you're interested. I want to answer any questions that you have about the experience. So I'll do that now. Just take a look here.

A question about the letter of recommendation. Really it can be from anyone you want it to be and we do accept more than one. So if you have a teacher that you have that you want to write or and then maybe like a coach or a mentor or somebody at your church, whoever it is, you can submit more than one letter of recommendation. So don't feel limited by that one. We do like 1 teacher usually that can speak to your academic interests and what your passions are.

And I would say if you are going to submit more than one application.

Or one, one letter of recommendation, please make sure that they're going to say something different about you, that they can speak to some other aspect of of your character or your personality. As often letters or recommendation from multiple teachers kind of end up saying similar things about you. So if you're going to submit more, that's fine, but make sure it's going to speak to kind of a different aspect.

Of of your your character.

Is an essay required for this application? Yep, I mentioned it but there are two essays.

Without off the top of my head knowing the exact wording, the first asks why you're interested in the particular study abroad program that you're applying to. The second is asking kind of what communities that you're involved in and how you're contributing to those communities. Basically how you're being a force for good in this world, which is.

A kind of a central part of the Notre Dame mission. You can apply to multiple study abroad programs. You can apply to domestic programs and study abroad. Every year I seemingly have a student, you know, go from summer scholars straight to South Africa. So that's definitely not unheard of. You know, if you get into multiple programs, you just might have to make choices. I think there's definitely some overlap between our study abroad programs and our on campus programs.

But that's just something to think about it as well.

Does applying early affect your chances of being accepted? No, it doesn't.

We don't kind of review them on a rolling basis. We won't kind of review them until after the deadline. So there really isn't a benefit to your acceptance chances by applying early, maybe you can get out of the way, one less thing for you to worry about. But no, in terms of acceptance rates, there's no kind of difference between.

At the beginning of the program. At the end of the program.

The question about homeschooling, you know, you just use the network of people that you have through your homeschool program, whether it's through kind of a centralized organization or if you know your family is the way anyone's managing that, that's OK too. We have plenty of homeschooled students apply in the past, so.

I wouldn't worry too much about kind of where the materials are coming from. I think your parents will be able to help you. But whether it's kind of a centralized system home school network that you can get your materials from or your parents that's that's OK with us wherever those come from free time. That's a good question. I will just mention if you want to see more kind of about the day and the life if you go to our website and each individual study abroad program.

There should be a link to oh, here's a day in the life of a South Africa student, but it kind of gives in depth information about kind of the different places we're visiting, student testimonials, kind of all that fun stuff. Most of our programs do have a little bit of free time and not I don't want to exaggerate that our our goal isn't.

To have you by yourselves in a in a foreign city. But we do understand that you want a little free time to explore, particularly souvenir shopping.

You know, I'll say this, in Ireland last year in two weeks of program, I think there was an hour and a half of free time, 2 hours one day with a buddy system involved and A and a sharp, sharp cut off end time to that. So you will for most programs have a little bit of free time. We understand that you know, you want to get those souvenirs and all those fun things to remember your experience. The only one I'll say that doesn't have free time.

Is South Africa.

We're very kind of regimented in that program and in that, you know, we're going to a destination, we're going back to a hotel. There isn't that kind of model of free time of wandering around somewhere built in to that program.

There is financial aid available for London program, very limited need based financial aid. I will stress kind of limited on that, but if you go to the London study abroad program, look at kind of the financial aid and fees and everything associated you should see.

You should see information there about filling out an application for financial aid. It needs to be filled out by a parent or a guardian. A little bit more about prices and fees. When you look at the fee structure, everything is kind of included from, you know, the college credit that you earned through the experience. I didn't mention that every program has one college credit.

Upon passing, I don't want to put the cart before the horse. You have to pass the course first on a pass failed basis.

But one college credit, all the meals that we do, the lodging.

Any excursions that we do anything at all once we're, you know, kind of on the ground on location that's covered, the only expenses you'd have kind of on the ground or souvenirs or or something like that. One big change that we do have this year that I want to make everyone aware of. I'm in the past we've had a lot of suggestions from families that.

They wanted to organize their own travel to particular locations, specifically Dublin, London and Rome, that they could find, you know, cheaper ways to get there than than the programmatic cost of traveling to those various locations. So we're experimenting with something new. This year. Students will be required to book their own.

Flights to London.

Dublin and to Rome.

For the program dates all that said with the caveat if you don't feel comfortable with your student flying by themselves to Europe, we will have kind of central organized flight going out of Chicago O'Hare at the specific time before the program starts. And so we can work with you to make sure that your student is on that flight with the chaperones and the professors and everyone else that's going to be headed to location. The only one we're not doing that for is South Africa that when you look at the.

Africa program cost, the flight is included in that. That'll be a round trip flight from Newark to Johannesburg. So that is going to be included in the cost that you see when you look at that South Africa price. That's why it's a little bit more than the other three programs, but that's because it includes an international flight in the cost.

Of.

Someone asked if the applying to the program or participating in the program increases your chances of getting into Notre Dame. You know, I always say it, I get this question a lot and I always say you can't hurt to have an experience, a college experience where you get to explore your passions, explore your interests and have a college credit from the University of Notre Dame.

I think where it's most beneficial is for you to start thinking more deeply about what it means to be a Notre Dame student.

Or what it means to be kind of committed to the mission that the Union University of Notre Dame has for its undergraduates. And whether it's Notre Dame or any wherever else you might end up for your undergraduate experience, I think you know, the conversations you have, the connections that you make, the mental intellectual pathways that you open in your mind are going to be nothing but beneficial as you think about essays for your.

For your undergraduate applications or more simply as you think about what, what passions you want to follow kind of at the next level?

And those essays, as I mentioned on our applications, are about 300 words or so each.

Just looking through the questions here.

I think that's pretty much hit everything.

If there's something I didn't hit, you know, feel free to e-mail our office. Uh, we'll be happy to kind of answer any questions that you do have. Umm, hopefully you found this session helpful. I know there's a lot of information. Very quickly. Again, we'll send, we'll make this recording of this available to you.

And we'll.

Make this recording available. I'm available if you have any questions. I'll put my e-mail here in the chat for any questions that you might have about the programs. They're wonderful experiences. I go on all on all of the programs and help lead professors in our Notre Dame undergraduate counselors that come along for the program. We hire 2 resident counselors for each program who are kind of there as.

As chaperones to you, but also omentors and kind of help help you understand what it means to be a Notre Dame undergraduate student. Really incredible 2 week experiences. There's nothing like I'm always off track each year that of all the students that kind of get the opportunity to participate, What are what are opportunity for growth and and just to experience the world.

So hopefully something about this excited you if you.

Have more questions or want to learn more about the programs? Our website is pretty comprehensive in terms of program costs and financial aid and a day in the life of the student and all of the kind of requirements of the application. So go to our website, check that out.

But other than that, that's all I have. I want to thank you for joining me tonight. Hopefully you found this helpful.

And yeah, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out. Thanks everyone, have a good night.