Notre Dame Pre-College Live Webinar: Study Abroad Programs, Cost, and Experiences

Everybody will give everyone just a minute or so here before we get started.

All right, we'll go ahead and get started here. 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. I just want to welcome you all to our webinar on our study abroad, study abroad programs here at pre college.

Just a little bit about what we're going to talk about this session. I'm going to go over our four programs, including our newest program, our London program, and then we'll have ample time at the end to answer any questions that you might have about the application process, the application process, the programs in particular, really anything that you have while you have me or I'm happy to answer your questions. If you do have a question, you can type it into the questions section of the chat.

And we'll get to those at the end. We'll go ahead and dive in here. First, I want to talk a little bit about, you know, why I study abroad. I don't know about all of you, but when I was 1617 years old.

Study abroad was maybe it was an option, but it wasn't. Something on my radar wasn't even something I was really thinking about or considering.

But I think it's, I think I have evolved to recognize how kind of critical it is to engage in these cross cultural exchanges, particularly at a young age. As you may or may not know, study abroad is central to the undergraduate experience. At Notre Dame. I believe now over 75% of undergraduates study abroad in some capacity, whether that's a two week spring break program, a semester long program or or a year long program in the case of.

Of the room architecture program.

I think in a world I think we all recognize has become more isolated in the last few years with everything going on in terms of global issues. I think it's more critical than ever that students step outside their comfort zones, engage in these cross cultural exchanges to see the different perspectives, different ways of life that that other people and other cultures ascribe to and and to use this knowledge to kind of interrogate our own understanding of our own culture, our own selves. It's also critical to the Notre Dame.

To develop people, students that are, that are citizens of the world, citizens that want to be a force for good beyond kind of just their families, their local communities. And I think what study abroad can do when you have these exchanges with different cultures, different peoples, it can create a sense of human solidarity, a concern for the common good. We're all.

We're all connected in this, in this this big wide world out there. And I think by engaging with it, by opening yourself up to these unique and incredible experiences, it's so important, especially at your age at 1617 years old, to start to start thinking about these things and engaging in these, in these connections. That's the big picture. But I'll be honest, another reason it's a blast. It's it's an incredible experience to go be in the hills of Connemara.

In Ireland and Sheera sheep, it's it's awesome to learn from Notre Dame Redown faculty inside the Colosseum and kind of getting to see areas that regular kind of tourists don't.

It's all, it's all amazing and I hope to kind of convey how how awesome these programs are. In our session here today I'll briefly talk about each program and then we can talk more at the end. If you do have questions about any particular program, our first is our study abroad Italy program. It's now in its 7th iteration which is is pretty crazy. The first cohort went went back in 2015 Italy's kind of central to the Notre Dame.

Uh, study abroad, undergraduate experience. As you can imagine, being a Catholic institution with Vatican City located in Rome, there are deep dives, deep connections. Notre Dame has a global center in Rome, it's about two blocks away from the Colosseum. You can actually see into the Colosseum from the rooftop terrace at at the gateway. The gateway is kind of the hub of of Notre Dame life and Notre Dame campus culture. In Rome, it's where we'll have our.

Classes over the 12 days that we'll spend in the Eternal City, but the Rome's incredible program, we have deep ties because of architecture. As I mentioned, third year architecture students spend their entire third year in Rome at the gateway, studying from the faculty there. Paolo, Vt is our professor, he works with the architecture department here on campus and we spend the second week with Mauricio Albahari. He's an anthropologist on campus and we'll take a look at critical look at the Roman people.

And we, we see that passed, we see the Colosseum, the four and the Pantheon, Piazza, Navona, Hadrians villa, just the list goes on and on of the incredible archaeological sites that allow Vt will will show us and give us a deeper understanding of. And so we get a sense of the roots of Rome and where it's come from. And then Professor Albahari kind of rounds that out with the exploration of how has that shaped the people today? What does it mean to be Roman today? Who are these people?

We also spend a weekend in Florence just to kind of give you a different taste. It is a very different place than Rome. It's small, very walkable. Students really get to know the city and the two days that were there, and that focuses more on kind of art history and kind of the wonderful Renaissance Renaissance masters that worked in Florence is is our focus during those two days.

There's all the pasta you can eat for those gluten free folks out there. We had two gluten free this year and they found plenty of amazing things to eat in row. I don't think anyone's ever had a bad meal in that city.

Will likely go on 20 to 30 Gelato runs depending on how hot it is. I'd recommend the strategy of telly that's that's my go to, but as I mentioned, it's a 12 day program.

All courses are taken at the Notre Dame Global Gateway in the morning and then typically in the afternoon we go on excursions. The cost is 8575, but that's all inclusive. That includes a college credit. So you'll earn a college credit for the class that includes the flight from Chicago to Rome and back to Chicago and that includes our lodging, we say at a hotel that includes all meals, all excursions. It's, it's an all inclusive.

Number, the only additional money you would have to bring your souvenirs or fear of big snack person, which I am and the second program I'll talk about is the South Africa program. This will be our second iteration of the South Africa program. I was fortunate enough to go last year with the group. It was an incredible experience.

The focus is really an investigation into the really complex and difficult history of apartheid in South Africa and the role that average citizens play in creating the racial structures in a society. So we visit Soweto, we visit Nelson Mandela's house, we go to the Apartheid Museum District 6, which was one of the relocation neighborhoods. It's really a kind of a difficult and heavy week learning about.

How these racial structures were able to be put in place in South Africa. The course is led by Professor Andre Venter. He's a native South African, he's kind of a pre college institution at this point. He's been working with us for over 20 years. He's a psychology professor so he'll use that kind of investigation of part of apartheid to then have students reflect on how what they've seen, how what they've experienced impacts their own sense of self, their own understanding of who they are and how they can be a force for good.

In this world. So we'll be in Johannesburg, we'll be in Cape Town.

After all of the apartheid history focus, we take a couple day break at at Titsey Common National Park. It's this beautiful National Park at the very tip of Africa. We we spend 2 days in cabins, kind of just having deep reflections, deep talks about how how these experiences are kind of changing, shaping our understanding of who we are as individuals. It's a really, really powerful couple of days and at the end we kind of look at the positive steps that South Africa has taken to move forward.

Collectively, through their kind of shared pain and look at the the strides they've taken in conservation efforts. So we'll go to Kruger National Park, we'll do a safari for two days, which is incredible. We explore beautiful Cape Town. It's a it's a, it's an incredible trip. Just like Italy. You get a college credit for the experience. It is again all inclusive $9950 for the South Africa program, but that includes the fly lodging and everything that we do in South Africa.

Other things included.

And you do get to take pictures with elephants as well. We go to an elephant sanctuary. It's a it's an experience with elephants who have been orphaned by poachers and which which is devastating. But it's it's really great to see the strides the communities taking to help these kind of awesome creatures. And there's mano posing with an elephant from last year's study around London is our newest program. We've been eyeing up London for a long time.

Add it to to our roster. London's kind of really this a staple of the Notre Dame undergraduate experience. Over 200 students per semester from Notre Dame are studying abroad in London at any given time, which is an incredible number to think about.

We'll be taking classes at Fisher Hall. For those of you familiar with London, Fisher Hall is only about a block away from Trafalgar Square, will be staying in Conway Hall, which is just across the river past the London Eye. So you're walk to class is past the London Eye, over the Thames, through Trafalgar Square and right right to Fisher Hall. The class focus will be the history of London as a trading capital, so it within that we'll focus on economic development.

Of the city and everything that that entails as well. What happens when you focus on economics, you bring arts to the city, you immigration becomes a major issue, it becomes a financial capital. So these will all tie together and we'll think about how the City of London became the city that it is today. And then of course we'll go on a lot of excursions as well around around the city and around England. The cost for this program is 8575. There is, I did want to mention for those of you interested.

A small amount of financial aid available for London on a need basis and this is something brand new for us. We've never, unfortunately never been able to offer financial aid for study abroad, but we do have a small amount available for London is available on any basis. You can apply for financial aid on our website. That application is due a week before the London application is actually due, but I just wanted to make you aware of that.

And finally, our study brought Ireland program in its fifth iteration, awesome program I've had the opportunity to go to several times. So we kind of explored the dichotomy between traditional Ireland and modern Ireland. So we're looking at Irish history, literature, culture over the last 200 years. But then we looked to see how that pass has shaped the Ireland of today in Ireland, a Dublin that's a leading tech nation in Europe.

One of the leaders in sustainability in the European Union. So how do we go from that that kind of more traditional pass to the very modern Ireland that we see today in Dublin. The first week we spend in Dublin at the Dublin Global Gateway, they they treat us like family. Their their, their motto is kind of learning through the soles of your feet. So we're always on the go. We're always exploring the city. It's run by director Kevin Whalen of the Gateway. He's he teaches the class for the first week. He's kind of an expert on all things Ireland.

We take a trip to Belfast which is incredibly powerful for those of you know who know kind of the history of the troubles and everything that went on in that city. We get a really personal and engaging tour from two people that experience it themselves and students every year walk away say that was one of the most powerful things that they've experienced and it's always a highlight of the trip. And we send the second week in Connemara, Kylemore Abbey.

Benedictine Abbey that Notre Dame now leases. I think there's a 30 year lease on it now, so we'll be there for a long time if to come. But it's nestled in. Google it, look it up. It's nestled in the hills of of Connemara on the West Coast of Ireland. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful place. We take hikes, the rolling hills, excursions to the air and islands cycling on the Omni Islands we go sheep shearing, bog hikes. It's really an incredible two weeks to engage with.

Kind of more traditional Ireland in the sense that we think when you think of Ireland.

And Lisa Caulfield leads that second week. She is the director of the Kalmar Center Global Center at Notre Dame.

Cost for that $8575 and as with all the programs I've talked about, that is all inclusive flight from Chicago to Dublin and everything that's involved, I didn't mention it, but all four of the programs are for current high school juniors or rising, rising seniors. So currently in your junior year going to be in your senior year next year.

And they are all roughly 2 week programs. The South Africa program is a little bit longer only because we have longer travel. It takes a little bit longer to get to Cape Town than it does to get to Dublin.

A little bit about the application process before we get into kind of a question and answer session you can apply online at the link I've included in the chat there, we'll take you to our website where you can hit apply to apply online applications are due January 23rd, so you still have plenty of time to complete that. We try to model our applications after the Notre Dame undergraduate experience one just to kind of keep alignment with what they're doing but.

Two to give you guys a.

Kind of almost a trial run of practice and kind of building your college applications. I know as juniors you're not quite there yet, but as seniors it's going to, it's going to be coming all-encompassing thing in your lives. And so I we really think this is great practice as you look towards kind of the common app and figuring out applications and you're in your final years of high school, we require a letter of recommendation. I would say someone you know someone who can speak to your academic interests. When it's someone that doesn't know you, you can tell pretty quickly.

Those letters are usually pretty brief, but you want to you want somebody who can really speak to your passion, speak to what you're interested in is going to have great things to say about you. So that means asking them, maybe having a little one-on-one session meeting with them before they write the letter, just so you can talk about why you're interested in this program. We'll need to report from your counselor.

That counselor will send a school profile and your transcript. What we're looking for there is we want to see that you're challenging yourself with the most kind of rigorous curriculum that you're high school is offering. We know every high school different. Every high school has different amounts of AP or IB or no AP or IB. But we just want to see that you're challenging yourself within the context of your particular high school. And we want to see that you're meeting that challenge, that you're getting your grades, especially compared to your peers at your school. We want to see that you're kind of meeting that challenge that you set for yourself.

Test is optional for study abroad applications. If you want to submit an SAT ACT, you're more than welcome to it's not required. If you don't think it's going to help your application, don't submit it. You can look on the website for averages of ACT SAT scores at Notre Dame, but I would recommend only submitting if you think it's going to be going to be helpful to your application. You can type in all your activities on the online application.

Where you can include a resume, I would strongly suggest including a PDF resume. It kind of really outlines what that particular award was about or what that particular job, what did you do in that particular position. Our resume really fleshes out what I I don't think comes through in the online application. But we want to see what you're passionate about. We want to see where you're investing your time, we want to see how you're making an impact in your local communities. We know not everyone can do any everything. There's only so much.

Time in the day. But we want to, we just really want to at the end of the day, see that you have a passion and that you're following it kind of to the fullest extent. That kind of comes through in your essays as well. We'll ask you to write 2 essays, why you're interested in these programs, what kind of traveler are you? Are things things of that nature. But the essay is great because it's really our chance to get to know you as an individual between test scores and transcripts and resumes, a lot of people.

They're all high achieving students. You're all doing great things at your schools and your communities. The essays is where you can set yourself apart. Show us who you are as an individual. Be creative, be unique, be funny if you want to. If you're not funny, don't try to be funny. Not the time to start, but it's a really a chance for us to get to know you. So I would recommend having your parents, guardians, read that over, maybe having somebody else look at it. You can never have too many eyes, particularly when you get to the undergraduate level.

If you're an international student, a TOEFL is required, or a Duolingo English test online. If your school is English language 1st and you have the requirements saying you must have been a TOEFL or do a lingo. If you e-mail us, let us know your school is English language first, we can get that way for you. The application fee for all of the programs is $75.00 and they're all due on January 23rd, 2023. I think the only kind of final requirement.

That's kind of unique to the.

Study abroad space is passports. We want to make sure everyone's passport is valid at least six months from the end of our program date, whatever that particular program is. A lot of countries, particularly South Africa, don't have a lot of leeway in that. So we are kind of strict with that rule and sticking to the six month time frame. And you do have to be 16 years old to participate in the program by a particular date. Each program has that unique data on the website, but make sure you have to get those.

Passports, if you are thinking about this, if we are considering at the passport process, it's it's picked up in the last year. It's getting a little quicker, but for a little bit there it could take up to two, three months for a turnaround on a passport. So just something to think about as you're looking towards applying to these programs.

OK, that was a lot of information. Uh, hopefully you found that helpful and I addressed some of your questions.

I'm gonna take a look in the chat here and see what other questions that you guys have and then we'll go from there.

Yeah, so someone asks what does a typical day look like on the Ireland trip? I'll I'll use.

You know, the second day, for example, uh. So we stay at uh, University College, Dublin, UCD. It's about a 10 minute bus ride from the city center. But that's where all the Notre Dame undergraduate students stay. We'll get up, have have breakfast at the dining hall, we're on the bus by 8:30. We're in our seats in the classroom at at UC at O'Connell House, which is the Notre Dame Global Gateway in Dublin, right off Marion Square. Beautiful.

Building Kevin Whalen will give a lecture, probably about a two hour lecture in the morning.

On something pertaining to Irish history, Irish culture.

We'll have lunch usually at O'Connell house and then in the afternoon it's excursion. So one day we go to Kilmainham jail, it's the jail. All kind of ROI IRA prisoners were held in in Dublin. It's a really powerful tour, really powerful experience. We get a walking tour of the city of Dublin and and a focus on Trinity.

Trinity College we get a tour. We tour the library, the Book of Kells, which is amazing experience, or we or we get on the bus and then we go out into the world. One day we go to County Wicklow and walk along the coast in the hills of barley rolling and with lighthouses in the background. Or we go to Glendalough where there's a a monastery by monastery built in the 6th century kind of nestled in this valley just outside of Dublin. So excursions are typically in the afternoon. We're back in the city for for dinner and.

And kind of exploration and night and back in the rooms by nine 9:10 o'clock. So that's kind of the typical day. It varies, but that's typically what a day looks like.

Someone asked this. This is being recorded. It is. It is being recorded. And I'll send out the recording to everyone who was kind of sitting in in the session. So you can have that. You don't have to be.

Frantically scrambling and writing down everything that I have to say, lot of people are asking how many students go on each trip, each strip. Each trip is capped at 18 students. We do that for particular reason. Notre Dame prides itself on its faculty to student ratio. We want to, we want to make sure you're getting that contact to the faculty member. We don't want you to get lost in a crowd. So it so at 18 it's.

Everyone kind of gets those contact points with professors that ability to have those important conversations with them, ask any questions that you have, anything that's kind of sparking your interest, sparking your passions. So we do cap it at 18 per program in terms of when do you find out if you've been accepted. So the applications are due January 23rd, about the third week of February. We'll we'll announce though the decisions via e-mail.

Check your e-mail at that point and that's how you are notified if you are an international student.

Someone asked, I'm an international student, how would I, how would flying into a particular location work? We'd work with you to to whatever you were most comfortable with. If you'd prefer to come to Chicago and meet with the entire group so you can fly together, that's something that can be arranged. But if you'd prefer to meet on site, if you're closer to the destination, depending on where you are internationally, we could talk through that as well, but that's typically how we would manage that.

Someone asked a question here about financial aid. Yeah, just to clarify, the only program that we have financial aid available is for the London program and again that is limited on a need basis and you have to complete an application on our website. But yes, it is just the London program at this time.

Someone asked how many chaperones go with the students, and that's a good question and kind of brings up something I forgot to mention in the presentation as well. So we have.

Myself as the pre college staff member, I go on. I go on all of our our trips. We hire two resident counselors who are current Notre Dame undergraduate students who come and serve as mentors. Friends, counselors, authoritative figures for students. They're with us 24/7 and they participate in all aspects of the program. We try to select students that have particular I've already studied abroad and particular location, for example.

South Africa are to resident counselors have both already done the program with Andre Venter. He's been doing this program for 10 years with undergraduate students and he's adapted it for the pre college world. So we're really grateful for that but we we like to have those students that already have the experience on the ground and and and and know all about what what a place has to offer and then from there it kind of varies depending on location in Ireland.

Professor Director Kevin Whalen at the gateway is with us almost all day. They hire an intern, a Notre Dame undergraduate student from the summer who's with us 24/7. While we're in Dublin, Kylemore Abbey hires an intern who's with us 24/7 when we're there. And then kind of we have the support of the gateway and the the Global center staff while we're there as well. In Italy, the professors are with us. Whether it's professor Vt or Professor Albahari, they're with us during the day. Every day we have the support of the gateway.

Staff there as well. In South Africa, Andre Venter will be with us 24/7. We actually have a security consultant, he's retired South African police officer who travels with us the entire time just to make sure all the locations are safe. He does all the scouting and make sure everything's all good to go before we arrive at a particular location. And myself, the RC's are there as well and in London we'll have the entire gateway staff. We'll really be a gateway.

Space program there the, the, the, the, the staff there has kind of been incredible in facilitating our online programming last couple of years. So we're really excited to have them kind of be central centrally figured within our our London program experience. So lots of lots of lots of adult chaperones for each program and I don't know if the students will love that or not, but plenty of plenty of plenty of adults for each for each. Someone asked can you apply to all four programs?

You're more than welcome to apply for all four programs. There's an application fee for each one, so just think about that as you're going through it. I would say the only limitation on participating in more than one is if there is some overlap in the programs. For example, there's some slight overlap with South Africa and Italy. So you couldn't do both. We have had our student in the past do more than one program. It is very rare, but.

You can do more than one if you're accepted to more than one, and you're more than welcome to apply for as many as you want, as well as our on campus programs.

Uh.

Question here, what does a day in Italy look like? So we're staying at a hotel just outside of Trastevere, kind of a really exciting neighborhood, vibrant neighborhood located in the heart of Rome. Then we'll walk. It's about a 10 minute walk to the global gateway outside the Colosseum. We'll have class there in the morning, typically just kind of like we do with the Dublin Gateway, 122 hour class lunch at the Gateway and then it's an excursion. One day we'll walk across the street and we'll be in the Coliseum.

Then we'll get a tour of the Roman forum and the Imperial Forum. Then maybe we'll have a little free time before dinner. We'll have some amazing pasta or pizza, go get Gelato at all that resident counselors favorite Gelato spots, and then and then we're back to the hotel in the evening. I will say our resident counselors for Italy are typically students that have done their entire third year in Rome, so so they often know the city even better than I do, which makes for a really great.

Really great experience.

So I had some questions about the acceptance rate of the programs. Each one varies and each one varies based on year. I'd say we get about 100 apps per.

And so you can think about it that way and I wouldn't so much worry about that and worry about just putting the best application you can forward. And I think that goes not just for pre college programs, but when you start thinking about undergraduate admissions and undergraduate education. A lot of people, one should I submit, do I have enough here, you'll know when your application is complete and you've done the best that you can to make the most complete application that you can.

So that's what I would say to that, just just focus on building the best kind of possible application that you can.

That's kind of all I'm seeing in terms of questions.

Does anybody have any last minute ones they want to get in there before we sign off today?

Someone asked about the dorms and the hotels. Will they be Coed? No, they won't be co-ed, but you will have for the majority of our programs and the majority of the place, we say you will have a roommate randomly assigned.

We do that just so you can get to know your classmates better. Uh, that's part of the college experience. It's having that roommate there and getting to know them as an individual and and sharing a space so you will have the opportunity to have a roommate. No, it's it's not Coed. You will have some time to explore the cities. Not a lot. I don't want to convey that. There's a ton of free time, I think.

In the two weeks we were in Rome last year, there were only a couple hours that students kind of had to roam the city and explore on their own. But it's a chance for you to.

Kind of see anything you want to see that you didn't get to see. It's a chance to do some souvenir shopping. So there is a little bit of time for kind of student exploration, but very, very minimal. Someone asks if this will affect your acceptance to undergrad. It doesn't impact it in any way. I often get the question, is this going to help when I apply to the University of Notre Dame or any school? I would say simply that I can't hurt to participate in a college.

Program with with tenured faculty members and earn a college credit for that experience. That's never going to hurt when you put it on a college application. I think it's also going to help you make for a richer application when you're applying to undergrad. Oftentimes are your students use their experiences abroad in their in their undergraduate application essays.

It's going to help you think differently, think more critically about who you are as an individual. So directly is it going to impact any kind of acceptance here or anywhere else? No, it's not. But as I said, I don't think it's a bad thing. It'll never be looked at as as a negative to have participated in a college program from the University of Notre Dame with college credit tied to it.

There is a deadline, of course, for the standardized test that we do have one question about that it it does have to be in when your application is in if if you want to send it later, you're more than welcome to just kind of knowing the timeline of when we'll be completing our review process. Again, just know test optional. You don't have to submit a test store. It's not going to hurt you if you don't submit a test score. Just if you have a really great test score and you want us to see it, you're you're more than welcome to submit it.

Any other questions?

All right, everyone. Well up there are no other questions. I just want to thank you for spending some time with me tonight. I know you have a lot, everyone has a lot going on. So I appreciate you taking a few moments to to learn more about these programs. I hope, I hope I've sparked some interest. I hope you're excited to to explore one of these four locations with us next summer. If you have any questions at all, feel free to reach out to me. My e-mail is kerbin1@nd.edu and I can answer kind of any question.

We have about our programs or itineraries, the application process. But again thanks for joining us. I hope you found this helpful. And yeah, I hope to be seeing applications from you all soon. So thanks so much. Bye everyone.