Study Abroad: Full or Half Year?

Choosing a study abroad program can be overwhelming. There are so many choices to make. Depending on your program provider you may have the option to spend a semester or a full year abroad. How do you choose how long to go for? Let’s look at the factors which go into choosing how long to stay abroad.

Academic Responsibilities

Depending on your course of study at your home university, there may not be room between your required classes to spend more than a semester abroad. If your program is fairly loose, however, with few specific classes you’re required to take, you might find you can get the credits you need while abroad, even if you go for the full year.

Academic Experience

Because of the different ways academic programs in different countries are structured — the way classes are graded, timing of exams, etc. — going abroad for a semester might impact the extent to which you experience the academic reality of university. If getting an “authentic” experience of student life in your host country is important, a full year is likely your best option.

Home Sickness

Studying abroad for a full year might mean you don’t see your family from the time you leave until the time you return. Depending on where you go, it might not be feasible for you to fly home for a break or for your family to come visit. If you go for a semester, you’ll be back among the familiar after a few months; if you go for a year, you have to adjust to being more on your own.

Host Culture Integration

A semester is usually about three or four months. Because of the relatively short amount of time, there are things that a semester study abroad student won’t experience. Depending on the program you go with, a semester might mean your only option is an island program — a program with only American students, taught at a program center and not at a local university. Semester students also often don’t have the option of living in on-campus housing with other students at the local university. Because of this, semester students often end up hanging out with each other and being somewhat isolated from the local population.

Range of Interests

When it comes down to it, study abroad is about what you’re interested in. If you want to do two things, that can be an option (depending on your home university’s rules). In some cases, you can do a semester abroad in one country, and then another semester somewhere else. This way, you end up doing a full year abroad, but in different countries — and you usually get to come back home in between. If you have your heart set on one place, however, go for the full year. A full year in one place allows you to settle, explore your range of interests, and come as close to the experience of living like an authentic local as you can.