Abroad Ambitions

National statistics were released Monday that ranked IU seventh among research institutions for the number of students going abroad. With spring around the corner, potentially 500 IU students are planning a trip to study abroad. \nIU's Office of Overseas Study helps these students make the transition from studying at IU into studying abroad.\nThe office offers many support services to students studying in another country. According to their Web site, services include "academic advising, pre-departure orientation, peer counseling with students who have studied abroad, group flights, and assistance with visas, housing, health insurance, and registration on your home campus for the semester after your study abroad."\nSenior Sara Egli, studied abroad in Wollongong, Australia last fall. She said she wanted to go abroad since her freshman year at IU, and the Office of Overseas Study was helpful for her throughout the process of planning her time abroad. \n"The student workers were very knowledgeable about the variety of programs and the staff made sure I was prepared both academically and personally," Egli said. "While I was in Australia, I was not left in the dark by the Overseas Office. They were still a large part of my abroad experience. Even when I came back home, they had follow-up meetings, advice about reverse culture shock and provided guidance with course credits." \nThrough IU, students can choose between more than 60 overseas study programs in 15 languages and many fields of study. The most common programs are in Italy and Spain, with England and Australia falling shortly behind. However, all programs are taken advantage of. \nIU has financial aid to help with program costs. \n"Scholarships are available for students from nonresidential campuses, minority students and qualified students on selected programs," according to the Office of Overseas Study.\nKathleen Sideli, associate director of IU's Office of Overseas Study, said the events of Sept. 11 impacted the study abroad program at IU. \n"Our numbers were down 5 percent overall in 2001-2002 since parents got skittish in the spring and summer of 2002 about having their children abroad," she said. "And the trend continued through this fall with a decrease, although we still have 248 students abroad right now."\nStudents can chose to use these services for a full academic year, a semester or a summer abroad. Summer programs can begin as early as freshman year, but full academic-year and semester programs require junior standing. The most common study abroad time is the summer, but spring is nearly equal as a popular time.\nThe Overseas Study Information Center is another source that students can turn to for complete details about IU's study abroad programs. Information includes student evaluations, course descriptions, financial aid resources, videos and photographs of program sites, housing descriptions and contact information of students who have studied abroad. \nJuniors Patti Murphy and Margaret Emerson leave for Florence, Italy in just a few short months. Emerson and Murphy are traveling through other universities on two separate programs. \n"The Overseas Office has helped even though I'm not going directly through them. They helped me pick a program and decide what courses to take," Emerson said.\nMurphy said the office has been an invaluable resource.\n"They definitely made the process easier. With so much information available there, you can turn to them with any type of questions about going abroad"