Study abroad

When former IU student David Kerner was watching hippopotamuses on a camping safari in Botswana, he didn’t know he would be woken by one outside his tent at 4 a.m. one day.
Kerner went on this camping safari and other trips while studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa.

The IU Office of Overseas Study facilitates more than 250 programs on all eight IU campuses to more than 2,500 students and gives more than $100,000 in need and merit-based scholarships annually.

With so many options, the Office of Overseas Study provides guidance for interested students with a staff in Bloomington for advising, student services, financial information and budgets. While IU offers study programs in 17 languages in 52 countries, fluency is not required, according to the IU Overseas Study website.

Kerner graduated in 2011 with a degree in psychology and was in Cape Town for the spring 2010 semester. “The best thing about IU study abroad programs is there are so many destinations,” he said.

Kerner had advice to give for students traveling abroad.
“Get your major out of the way quickly so you can take electives abroad,” he said. “Making friends with teachers always helps for those letters of recommendation.”

Because he didn’t have many major requirements to fulfill, Kerner said he was able to take classes he wanted to while abroad, like a course in African politics.
“Try everything,” he said. “Take risks.”

The “First Steps” section at the IU Overseas Study website provides information on choosing a program, financial aid, alternative overseas experience and profiles of students who have studied abroad. IU programs and non-IU programs are both offered, but prospective students need to keep some things in mind when choosing, according to the website.

IU programs offer direct IU credit, grades count in grade-point average and most financial aid is applicable. However, students should check that credits earned in non-IU programs are transferable and that financial aid can be applied.
Grades for non-IU programs are not calculated in the GPA and it does not count toward senior residency. Application instructions for programs through Overseas Study, other IU units and non-IU programs can be found at overseas.iu.edu/apply/index.shtml.