Study Abroad Things to Remember
>> Study Abroad is coordinated by the Office of International Education, Netzer 332C.
>> When advising students for study abroad, here are the basic steps:
1. Student decides when and where and how long to go, and gets a list of the courses offered in that program. Information is available on the Office of International Education's website, including a link to a searchable database of all the SUNY programs.
>> Remember that students pay OSC tuition when they go abroad through any SUNY program, and they can apply any financial aid toward that tuition. Non-SUNY study-abroad programs are harder to handle, proceed with caution and consulting International Education frequently.
2. Student and advisor look at the program's course list and student's arrow sheet, to see if the courses offered meet unfilled requirements to graduation, and to confirm which semester/summer is most convenient.
>> Useful at this point to plot out the student's course of study before and after the study-abroad experience, to avoid missing opportunities to take required courses, and to avoid repeating courses (either fold a piece of paper into two columns and eight rows, one box per semester, or use the attached Long Plan form).
3. Student applies to the program, probably asking advisor to write a recommendation.
4. When student is accepted, student and advisor fill out the "Approval of Overseas Study" form (available from the Office of International Education), checking the "Original" box-- FILE THE FORM BEFORE THEY GO!!!-- and specifying what courses will be taken and what requirements they will fulfill to the major or minor; remember they could count for Gen Ed requirements too, including FL2, HW2 or HO2, depending on the courses. Lots of signatures required.
5. Don't panic, the form can be revised later (and usually is), when the student's transcript comes from overseas with what they actually took. The courses listed on the final Approval of Overseas Study need to match the overseas transcript for the courses to slot in properly to the requirements you want them to meet. Be patient waiting for the transcripts, they don't usually arrive until a month or two after the program is over. Sometimes longer.