CIEE: Tips for Going Abroad Right After High School Graduation

Webinar Transcription

2025-02-26 – CIEE – Tips for Going Abroad Right After High School Graduation

Anna: Okay.

Hello everyone and welcome to our webinar with the Council on International Education Exchange on, “Going Abroad Right After High School Graduation.” My name is Anna Vande Velde. I’m a Senior advisor at CollegeAdvisor, and I’ll be your moderator tonight or this afternoon or this morning, or whatever time.

It’s wherever in the world you are joining us from. We’re really happy you’re here to orient y’all with the webinar timing. We’re gonna start off with a presentation we from the CIEE. Then we’ll answer your questions in a live q and a on the sidebar under handouts. You can download the slides that you’ll see tonight and you can start submitting questions in the q and a tab, um, whenever.

You don’t need to wait until we get to the q and a. Section to start submitting those. We’ll monitor them as they come in and get to as many as we can at the end. Without any further ado, I am very pleased to turn it over to our presenters to introduce themselves.

Lisa: Wonderful. Thank you Anna, and thank you everyone for joining us.

My name is Lisa Chestney Leeke, and I serve as the director of first year abroad partnerships here at CIEE. I have been with CIEE going on three years now, but really prior to joining CIEE, I’ve really spent my entire career working in the higher education space. I’ve worked in college admissions. I’m a former college registrar.

I’ve really spent a lot of time working with students who are in a similar place to you as you are really determining and deciding those next step plans for what comes after high school graduation. And I’m really excited to talk a little bit more about some of those options for studying abroad after high school graduation.

And I’m also, I’m joined by my colleague Emily.

Emily: Thanks, Lisa. Hi everyone. My name is Emily Gutierrez. I am one of the managers for first year broadening Gap programs here at CIEE. Um, I’ve worked with CIEE for three years total, um, but also have done a lot of work in the college access space. Um, I’m a former educator helping students apply for college and 12th grade specializing in personal statements, and I’m really excited to be here this evening and talk to you about some opportunities that exist for you to go abroad after you graduate from high school.

And I’ll pass it back to Lisa.

Lisa: Wonderful. Well, we are gonna dive in just to share a little bit about CIEE. So CIEE is the Council for International Educational Exchange. We were founded in 1947. We are actually the oldest largest nonprofit study abroad organization in the country. Our study abroad programs really started immediately following World War ii, uh, with different cultural exchange opportunities.

And our mission as an organization has really held true since that time that our mission is to foster peace through international education and different cultural exchange opportunities. And we have really been living that mission for 75 plus years now. We operate 41 different study centers. All around the world.

So we really have quite a large geographic footprint of all of the different locations that students study abroad on CIEE programs and CIEE study abroad Programs really range for students at every stage of your educational journey. We have programs for current high school students, for high school graduates, soon to be like yourself, for college students, and even for college graduates as well.

So CIEE has quite a robust offering of study abroad programs and really tonight we’re gonna focus more on those high school graduate programs. But I always think it is important to note that wide range of CIEE programs and really as an organization, we have a different study abroad and cultural exchange opportunity for you at any stage in your educational journey.

So like I mentioned, really what we’re here to talk about tonight is that pathway to college. And I think a lot of times the US cultural norm when you think of that, is for us high school graduates to graduate high school, let’s say in late spring, early summer, and to really start at a four year college or university that following fall.

That has really become the cultural norm. But that is not to say that is the only pathway to college. Actually, in a lot of other countries and cultures, it’s much more common for students to take some time off, take a gap year, have some self-discovery in terms of identifying what it is that you’re looking for in terms of your next step plan.

So we are here to talk a little bit about some of those. Alternative options to starting your college experience of not necessarily having to go directly from taking that high school cap and gown off and starting right at your college orientation for your on campus experience. So in terms of some of the benefits of going abroad and immediately following high school graduation, this is really important for students to take time to experience the world and really allow you to enter that college or university space with greater motivation, with renewed focus and determination for your academics, and also a greater drive in terms of what those next step plans are for you following starting college following.

Some time abroad, you’ve really gained some life experiences that have really led you in terms of what your next step path is. Many colleges and universities actually encourage students to take a gap year because they know, and the data proves that students who have taken a gap year and experienced some of the world tend to graduate college actually with much higher GPAs because you have that stronger sense of motivation and that renewed focus in your academics.

It’s always important to note too, for first year abroad, and we’re gonna talk more specifically about CIEE’s first year abroad and gap year abroad programs in in just a few minutes, but I do always like to note that a hundred percent from this fall experience for our first year abroad participant, a hundred percent of them reported that their career related knowledge, their independence and their intercultural awareness improved as a result of the first year abroad program.

So. Students really are kind of the greatest, uh, uh, kind of source of truth in terms of this overall experience. And a hundred percent of the students said that they had this really meaningful experience in terms of shaping their next steps. We also know academic enrichment. I mentioned that greater connection to your overall academics, to your major selection, to any, let’s even think about internships that you would be looking to have during that college experience.

Language acquisition is also an amazing benefit of going abroad, even if you aren’t. Directly studying in a classroom, setting that local language, the amount of language acquisition you’re able to gain just by living in a different country culture where English is not the primary language, you will be amazed how much language and vocabulary you are able to pick up just through that full immersive experience.

And then that’s not to mention those lifelong memories of being able to have these memories to look back on of experience, different cultures, countries, landmarks, even some of the personal travel that you are able to do while you are living and experiencing another country culture. I think another kind of hidden benefit of some spending some time abroad after graduation is your network development skills.

So really up until this time, most of you have really spent your time at kind of your one specific high school, maybe in your same school district, in the same town. So your network is quite small in terms of its overall reach. By studying abroad and really immersing yourself into another country and another culture, your network exponentially grows.

Not even just with people who live in different countries and cultures, but even with other students and other participants on the program program that students from all across the country in different locations, that you are really able to connect and engage in both personal and professional ways with all of these others people to really help you build some of those network development skills.

So in terms of we’ve, we’ve alluded to this kind of as we’ve gone along, but thinking through those different options following high school that we know the traditional college pathway definitely exists for you to start your studies at a college or university in the US immediately following high school graduation.

But another option would be for you to take a gap year. And this is really taking a break from academics between high school and college. This is really for your personal and professional development, um, gap year. Tend to be non-credit bearing experiences. So there is that break in academics and that academic kind of structure and rigor.

So you are able to learn and develop skills and passions in, I’ll say, a, a less traditional learning environment. And then you also have the option of doing a first year abroad. And first year abroad really is starting your college experience by studying abroad. This is doing that first semester or year of college in another country.

And we’re gonna talk more specifically about the details of the CIEE gap year and first year abroad programs right now. And I’ll pass it over to Emily to go through the details of those programs. Thanks so much,

Emily: Lisa. I’m really excited to speak to you all in more detail about both first year abroad and our gap year programs at CIEE.

So first it’s important to note that we run programs all over the world for both gap and first year abroad. Um, so you can see from this slide we’re located in Australia, Japan, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Costa Rica. And some of our locations we run both gap year and first year abroad programs.

So I’m always speaking to students and really trying to dig in and ask them, well, if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? And so that’s a really great place to start when thinking about these opportunities is what locations excite you. Um, and from there we can also begin to think about what program components, um, best fit what it is you’re trying to achieve during your, um, study abroad experience.

So the first program I’m gonna speak about is first year abroad. So first year abroad is the chance to actually begin college at one of our international study centers. So first year abroad students are a full-time degree seeking students at Dean College, which is a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts.

But you’ll not be attending your classes in Massachusetts. You will be attending your classes in Kyoto, Japan, or Barcelona, Spain or London, United Kingdom. Um. You will take a full course load during the semester, so you’ll be earning between 12 to 13 college credits, uh, taking four courses that are fulfilling your gen ed requirements.

You are not gonna be declaring a major during this time. Your goal as a student is to really be beginning college in a small and supportive cohort model. Um, with the other first year abroad students on your program, you all will take courses together and all of your courses will be taught in English.

So even if you are studying abroad in Spain, for example, um. Yes, you’ll get the chance to, um, have cultural immersion activities and live with a local host family and be immersed in the culture and hear the language, but your actual academics and your courses will be completely taught in English. Um, again, you’ll enroll in intro level, uh, courses on our goal is for you to fulfill those gen ed requirements, and Lisa will talk to you a little bit more about what students do with those courses after they leave the first year abroad program.

But many of our students are either already accepted to other colleges and then work to transfer that credit to their other institutions. Um. In addition, first year abroad, tuition fees begin at $17,000 per semester. This is gonna be inclusive of your housing, your activities, your tuition fees. It is all lumped together.

Um, and we’ll discuss in a little bit more detail how these costs compare to, uh, academic experience in the United States. Um, but overall to be able to go abroad to also be a full-time college student earning all of your college credit and living expenses. Um, we find that it is more affordable for students to participate in these experiences than to enroll in private or out of state public institutions.

Our other option for students after you graduate from high school, like Lisa mentioned, is that traditional gap year, um, experience. Our gap year students are very passionate about learning another language during their study abroad experience. Um, so our languages that we offer currently are Spanish, French, German, Italian, or Japanese.

Regardless of the language that you’re gonna be learning, um, the structure of the program is very similar. You are going to be living with a local host family for your semester or year that you’re abroad. Um, and you are gonna be attending a local language school during the week. You can expect to be in class for about three hours each day.

Um, and what’s really great is that you’re gonna be in a community of folks who are also passionate about learning that language as well. And it’s not just gonna be the other CIEE gap students in your classes. It’s gonna be anyone who’s living in se, Spain, for example, who is enrolled in the Klik International School, learning that language alongside you.

So you get to have a community of folks, um, who are passionate about learning language, but then you’ll also have a community of CIEE. Students who are doing a gap year or college students who are doing a traditional study abroad experience for the semester. So you’ll also have your CIEE community, and then you’ll also have your host family community.

Um, the host family experience is integral to your gap year experience because they’re going to be speaking to you in the target language, even if, um, they don’t speak any English at all and you don’t speak any of the language that you’re learning. That is our goal. We really believe that language acquisition happens through full immersion.

Um, we also are gonna be offering students the option if you wanna be earning college credit on your gap year program, you do have the option to enroll in online college courses through a SU. Again, this is completely optional. Some students do want to be earning that college credit while they’re still getting their gap year language experience.

Um, but regardless, all students will also be participating in cultural immersion activities throughout the week. So this could be a cooking class, it could be a dancing class, it could be going to a museum with the other gap in college students. Um, and all of these activities are organized by our CIEE study centers.

So whether you’re participating in a first year abroad program or a gap year program, you do have our CIEE study centers at the forefront. Our staff are planning all these activities. They live, um, in the ci the cities where we operate all of our programs. Um, and they’re fluent in the language of all of the countries that we run programs so that there’s anything you need.

There are adults there to support you throughout your experience. I’ll also add that we are launching a new program and as a writer this excites me so much. Um, we are going to be launching a writer’s retreat gap program, which will go to three different locations in Europe. Um, so we’ll be going to London, Edinburgh, and Paris.

Um, and we will be launching this program soon on our website. So stay tuned for all my writers on the call. You’ll have the chance to, um, really dive into your craft for your semester abroad. So a lot of times students are interested in these programs, but they really don’t know how to decide like, which program is the best fit for me?

So there’s some questions that you can ask yourself about what is important for you while you’re abroad and what are your goals for going abroad. If your goal is to start college immediately, you wanna be earning your college credit, you don’t wanna be falling behind. Then a first year abroad program is great because college credit is already included, and all of the classes that you’re taking while you’re abroad are going towards that goal of earning college credit.

If you are more passionate about learning another language during your semester abroad. Gap year is gonna be the better option for you because that’s how you’re gonna be spending your day. Um, if you’re very focused on specific locations, that’s also gonna be a determining factor because as we saw on our map, we have some locations where we only offer first year abroad.

We have some locations where we only offer gap year. So that’s also, um, a good place to begin your search is if you have a certain country that you are only interested in, then see which program is offered there. Um, we do offer both first year and gap year programs for a semester or a year. So sometimes students hear gap year and they think, I don’t know if this is a good fit for me, because I don’t know if I can devote an entire year to an experience.

That’s totally okay. A lot of our students actually only participate for a semester, and you have the option to go abroad for the fall term or the spring. Um, housing is also a big factor that plays into students’ decisions. If you know that you wanna study abroad, but you do not wanna live with a host family, first year abroad is probably a better fit because we do offer some locations where students live in residence halls.

So, for example, our students who study in London for first year abroad live in a residence hall. Um. Regardless of programs, all of our students get excursions organized by our CIEE staff. Um, and lastly, gap year students have that option to add on college credit. So if college credit is something that maybe you wanna have, maybe you don’t, it’s not really the deciding factor.

A gap year program would be a great option because you can choose to add that on should you decide that’s the route you wanna go. So because we offer home stays for both our first year abroad and GAP programs, I do really wanna highlight the importance of why we believe that this is such an integral part of studying abroad.

Um, I wanna really emphasize that our host families do not depend on stipends from hosting students. Um, we really wanna attract families that are doing this because they, um, are. Passionate about cultural exchange. A lot of our host families have been hosting students for many, many years. Some have young children who they want to expose to English in the same way that you wanna be exposed to their language.

Um, all of our host families are carefully background checked, interviewed. Um, our local staff is gonna visit all of our host families homes to make sure that these are safe environments for our CIEE students. Um. Especially if you’re living with a host family as well, it’s a great time for you to be able to share meals with your host family.

And breakfast, lunch and dinner will be included and you’ll also be receiving wifi in your host family’s home. Um, I always say this, sometimes the host family speak English, sometimes they don’t. But regardless, we tell them they need to be speaking to you in the language of the country that you’re living in.

That is the goal is for you to come away, not just from taking language classes, but being exposed and hearing that language, um, day in and day out. And the last thing I’ll flag is that if you’re going abroad for a year, it might mean that you have to switch home stays between the fall and spring semester.

So again, I just really wanna highlight the biggest difference between these two programs is what students are studying during the week in their courses. So you can see from the first year abroad courses, all of our students are taking intro level college courses in English, and they’ll be taking four of those courses throughout the semester that they’re abroad.

So student might be taking intro to communications and computer science one, general psychology and digital photography, for example, versus our gap year students are going to be taking language courses throughout the week. Um, so they can expect to be at their language classes from 15 to 20 hours per week.

Some eligibility criteria that, um, both of our programs share is that students must have graduated from high school in order to participate in gap year and first year abroad. Um, for all of our locations, students have to be at least 18. We do have two exceptions though, so we will accept 17-year-old students for our Kyoto Japan location.

So Gap and first year abroad, students in Kyoto, Japan that are 17 can participate and the same is true for Monteverde. So 17 year olds are welcome to apply to those two locations. Otherwise you must be 18 or older. Um, for gap year students, you cannot have started college yet. So right after high school graduation, you are eligible for a gap year program.

And with gap year, even though it’s a language immersion program, it’s okay if you’ve never taken the language before. You can attend as a true beginner and just be placed in a beginner level course once you go abroad with us. Um, for first year abroad, you cannot have graduated from high school, more than 18, uh, 18 months.

Okay. Um, in addition, you can do first year abroad after starting college, but you cannot have completed more than one semester of college after high school graduation. So we get a lot of questions like, I’ve earned my associate’s degree during my time in high school. Am I no longer eligible for first year abroad?

The answer is yes. You can just not have taken any more than one semester of college post high school. Um, and with first year abroad, you have to have earned a 2.7 or higher GPA in high school. Um, with both gap and first year abroad, you will be submitting your high school transcript as part of the application.

Um, and if you have any questions about that, you can always reach out to our team.

So let’s talk about cost, because that is such a huge question and such a big determining factor in students’ education post high school. Um, so for our gap and language programs, our programs start at $12,500. We offer the most competitive price for gap year study abroad programs. At this time, we do not offer financial aid for our gap year programs.

Um, but again, because our cost is so affordable compared to the study abroad market currently, um, we hope that this has made it more accessible for students who have traditionally been shut out of gap year abroad. Opportunities for first year abroad, our programs start at $16,800. Um, with both gap and first year abroad, again, you’re gonna see a range of program costs, and that’s because certain locations, the cost of living is simply higher.

So if cost is a big determining factor for you, that is something that you should think about as you’re exploring the different location options. We have some program locations that are much more affordable, not just on the tuition side, but also on the day-to-day cost of living side is your dollar is gonna go a lot farther in Monteverde Costa Rica, for example, than it is in Kyoto, Japan.

And our team is always here and happy to advise and talk to you about which location might be a good fit if cost is a concern for you and your family. Um, regardless, gap in first year abroad, uh, program tuition fees are going to cover your room and board, um, your tuition fees for first year abroad, so college credit, all of that is gonna be bundled in with your tuition costs.

Um, support from our local CIEE. Staff, your medical insurance is gonna be included in these costs. Um, overnight trips, any educational tours, any visits to museums, cooking classes, all the fun stuff that CIEE is gonna plan. All of that is bundled into your tuition costs. We’re going to greet you at the airport as long as you arrive when we tell you to arrive.

Um, and you’re gonna be receiving 24 7 support from our CIEE study Center. So I know a lot of folks say I can go and just travel on my own after high school. I don’t necessarily need a program to do that, and that’s true, but I think. A great opportunity to study abroad with CIE is that you are receiving support from our staff should anything go wrong.

And in this day and age, we know that the only thing that we can plan for is the unexpected. Um, and so I think it’s really important, especially in that in between time, between high school and going on to college, um, to still be able to have that level of support. Should you miss a flight or should you need help going to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription.

Um, it’s just really beneficial to have our CIEE staff there and to have someone plan all that cultural immersion activities for you so that you can get that authentic experience while living abroad. In terms of funding for first year abroad, because you are a full-time college student, you are eligible to utilize federal financial aid to help pay for your tuition costs.

So students can complete the FAFSA and list Dean College. Um, to receive a financial aid package, you can go onto the Federal Student Aid website and put in your family’s financial information and you can get a estimation of what federal aid you can expect for next year. Um, so Federal Pell Grants, Stafford Loans can be utilized towards this program for students who live in Massachusetts as well.

You’re eligible to use the mass grant since Dean College is in Massachusetts as well. We also accept 5 29 college savings plans. Um, and then there’s a number of outside scholarships that students can apply for. Uh, the Gilman Scholarship is a federal scholarship, but we also have students all the time who are getting a scholarship from their electric company.

I spoke to an organization this morning. Um, it’s a local nonprofit that is gonna offer a student $3,000 for a first year abroad program. So if you’re someone who’s already applying for outside scholarships to fund your college plans for next year, those same scholarships can be applied to the first year abroad program.

Uh, we also do accept private loans since again, you will be a full-time college student with first year abroad. So we are talking all these numbers, but I think it’s really helpful to get a sense of what a example student could expect to pay, um, using federal funding as well as their own fundraising and scholarships.

So in this example, you can see that this student has earned a $3,500 Pell Grant from the government. They do not have to pay that money back. They are also going to be receiving a $5,500 federal direct loan. That is money that will go towards this program, but they will have to pay that loan back eventually.

Um, this student applied for a study abroad scholarship and earned a $3,000 scholarship that will go towards their program. Their family is going to contribute $8,930 towards their trip. They have fundraised on their end and, um, have earned two, have raised 2,300, $401. The family has taken out a private loan for $1,500 and therefore they have two $24,771 to contribute towards their trip.

In this example, I’ll also call out that the student is going to the most expensive location. So this student is going to Kyoto, Japan for first year abroad. Um, and so if you’re looking at these numbers and thinking, I don’t know if my family could contribute up to $8,930, just know that we have locations like Costa Rica, um, that are significantly less.

So I just can’t emphasize that enough that there is a lot we can do on our end to work with you to help advise on which locations are the right fit based on, um, your preferences, but also your financial situation. And. I really wanna highlight this because I think we can get a little bit of sticker shock when we start to talk shop and talk numbers.

Um, but I think it’s important to call out what the cost of college is currently in this landscape. So an average public four year in-state tuition, uh, is $12,460. That’s the most affordable option you’re gonna get for college, but you’ll see that our first year abroad and gap programs, um, are more affordable than going out of state for college to a public university or going to a private university.

So. Even though even at our maximum budget or even at our maximum locations like Kyoto, Japan, we are still a more affordable option than that private four year institution. Um, and our gap year programs, I think, really speak for themselves when they’re really competing with the most, uh, affordable option for college at this time.

So, um, I don’t want anyone to look at these numbers and think that this is a reason not to apply when this is the reality of our current college landscape. Um, and again, we’ve had many students earn outside scholarships, apply for awards to help bring down the cost of their first year abroad programs.

Um, some terms that I just wanna highlight before I pass it back over to Lisa. Um, again, I’ve been talking a lot about semester or academic year, so it’s just important to note that we’re just talking about the length of the program. So for both first year abroad and gap programs, we allow students again to go for a semester, whether that’s fall or spring, or a student can go for the academic year.

Um, the only difference is that if a student is going for the full academic year. It means that they’re going to need to apply for a Visa if they’re doing their gap year abroad program. Um, if you are interested in going abroad for the full year with first year abroad, you will likely have to switch locations.

Um, we can’t apply for visas with first year abroad, but it means that you could do one semester in Barcelona, for example, and then your next semester in London. Um, depending on where you wanna go, we might not be able to do those locations just because of Visa restrictions. Um, but our team can always advise on the program combinations that exist for first year abroad students to go abroad for the full year.

And I will pass it off to Lisa to talk a little bit about what our students do after they complete first year abroad and gap.

Lisa: Wonderful. Thanks Emily. So, like Emily said, we’re gonna talk now just about the, what comes next? How do we take these meaningful, high impact first year abroad, gap year abroad?

Experiences and now connect them to that overall college bound landscape. So in terms of first year abroad, after you’ve completed your first year abroad program, you really have three different options and you are really the driver of your end pathway here. So following first year abroad, you could use that international experience that you’ve gained to really impress the admissions office at the Dream School of your choice.

The first year abroad. Credits all come from Dean College. Dean College is the academic home and school of record for the first year abroad program. Dean College is a fully accredited college or university You are earning fully accredited us. College credit. So that college transcript is going to transfer to easily to other colleges or universities.

You could also apply to one of C’s first year abroad college partners. And I’m gonna throw us all for a little loop here, and I’m gonna toggle my slides just a little bit. These, this is a sample of some of our first year abroad college partners. This is a growing list. This is, these are all colleges or universities that have said, we want you coming to our institution.

Following first year abroad, these institutions have actually all already determined how your first year abroad college credit transfers into their college or university. So it just makes it a little bit more of an easier, more seamless transfer. Process because we have kind of done that legwork for you ahead of time of having those courses pre articulated for transfer credit at the college partners.

Also, many of our college partners are also giving application fee waivers, so you can apply to one of these college partners following first year abroad with no additional out of pocket expenses, which is just another little great benefit there. You could also, if you want that guarantee, and you are at a place where you’re like, I never wanna fill out another college application in my entire life.

You have a guaranteed pathway. You could go to Dean College right on campus in Franklin, Massachusetts, because you are already an accepted degree seeking student at Dean College, that you could go right on campus and finish your degree. So you have that guaranteed pathway. So it’s really up to you following first year abroad of what that next step plan is.

Some of the institutions we have seen most recently, our students from gap year and first year abroad, going to Berkeley College of Music, university of Vermont, NYU, Dean College, as well as Penn State and many, many others. But students really are using these experiences and continuing on in their pursuit of their college education all in different ways.

Following the gap year abroad program, you really, you’re gonna be coming home with this new skillset, this new wonderful experience. To add to your resume to start at that college or university, Emily alluded to, we want most gap year abroad students to. Be thinking of that college process and have that deferral, um, in hand.

We can help work with you on understanding exactly what that process is, but you’re really gonna be returning home with that better clarity of what you wanna do next in your life in terms of your studies, in terms of what comes next following that experience. So in terms of deferring college, we have alluded to this a lot.

I think when you hear college deferral, it’s kind of, okay, what does that actually mean? Really when it comes down to it, deferring college just means delaying the start of your enrollment. That means the term that you applied for isn’t the term that you necessarily want to start at that college. You wanna start in a subsequent semester, whether that be.

One semester out or a full academic year. There’s an option there. And also when you hear deferment kind of in the admission space, it’s really mean, meant in two different ways that you could hear a deferral in terms of your application review. A lot of times you will hear that if you have been applying as early decision or early action, you’ll hear that your application is being deferred.

That just means that it’s being deferred for that next step review process, whether that goes into kind of the regular decision review. From there, when we are talking about college deferral, we are talking about that enrollment deferral, so that deferral for the later enrollment. That’s the piece that is important for first year abroad and gap year abroad.

The length of your deferral can vary. Most the maximum most colleges and universities allow is one academic year. Um, but the really important. Piece to re remember is that deferral process is gonna be slightly different institution to institution. So you do want to have a conversation with, let’s say, your dream college or university, so you have an understanding of what their actual deferral process is, what that would mean for you in terms of doing a study abroad experience following high school graduation.

And we’ve talked a little bit already about some of the benefits of deferring colleges and how many top colleges and universities actually encourage STU students to take these gap year programs because it actually helps them as an institution in terms of their overall graduation and retention rates for their student body.

So really the steps to defer are making sure that you are preparing your application. So this is gonna be completing your CIEE application, so your application for first year abroad and gap year abroad at the same time as you are reviewing and looking at some of those college applications. And the next step, like I mentioned, the deferral policy is going to be slightly different at every college or university.

So you’re gonna wanna make sure that you’re reaching out to that specific college’s admissions office, so you understand that deferment process. What are your options there? You’ll want to submit any required documentation that they would ask for. Some colleges or universities for deferral want to see a formal letter.

They may want to see the transcript. They even may wanna see your, your offer of admissions too. The CIEE first year abroad or gap year abroad program. So you’ll wanna make sure you follow those next step plans there. And then you’ll just wanna make sure that you’re, you’re finalizing your CIEE plans that you’re following through, especially for the gap year abroad program, that you are providing that proof of deferral to our team so we have that on record for you.

And then you’re really able to, to go out, embark on that journey and explore the world and really, um, have this wonderful, meaningful experience to help you shape and decide what it is that you want to do and what you wanna gain from your overall college experience. So in terms of the requirements for deferral, I alluded to this a little bit, but a lot of the documentation you are going to be required to provide is going to be an intent to defer letter CIEE.

We actually have a template right on our website for you to use. We have a template for our gap year abroad program and a template for our first year abroad program to help guide you in how to, how to write and how to share this. This letter and this information of what is all included in your program, you would most likely need to share that as well as a lot of institutions will require an enrollment deposit as part of that deferral process that you will have paid your enrollment deposit for that future semester that you’re planning to start.

The deadlines to submit this documentation are going to vary just as the exact policies are going to vary slightly institution by institution. So it is important to make sure that you are speaking with your college or university so that they are able to give you that specific deadline roughly. Those deferral deadlines tend to be between May and July for a fall semester start.

So if you are accepted for a fall semester, your time window to request that deferral generally is between May and July because part of that two colleges and universities, they need to review your request for deferral and they need to make sure that they have the, the adequate time to go through their process, render that decision, and get in contact with you with any of those next steps.

So their communication and their response time is going to vary slightly.

In terms of important reminders, these are just a lot of questions that we receive about deferrals. I think one of the most pressing that we always hear is, well, how would a deferral impact my financial aid package? And I can tell you from a federal financial aid perspective, deferring does not have an impact on that.

You will need to submit. Most likely a new FAFSA for that most recent academic year that you are applying and intending to start on that specific college’s campus. You would be doing that whether, whether or not you’re starting your experience or continuing your college experience. You’ll complete a new FAFSA every year.

Some of the variations may come in any institutional specific aid. So for some institutional specific aid and scholarships, it’s specific only for first year students, and some is only specific for transfer students. So this could be in your benefit if you are applying and coming as a transfer student, that there may be some additional aid and scholarships available for you because it was just allocated for transfer students.

Like we’ve mentioned, many colleges and universities allow students to defer their enrollment to have these very meaningful experiences, but it is so important for you to get in contact directly with your college or university to have those discussions so that you have the clear picture of what that means for enrollment at that specific college or university.

Also, keep in mind for first year abroad, you will be a full-time degree seeking student. While you are on the first year abroad program, you will be enrolled at Dean College, the academic home and school of record. Just an important thing for you to keep in mind as you are having those conversations with your college or university.

And I think a question that always comes up of students being fearful, well, what happens if my college doesn’t allow me to defer my acceptance? Just because a college does not allow you to defer your acceptance does not mean that you are not eligible or able to do the first year abroad or gap year abroad program.

What this means is that most likely you, if you still want to go to that college or university following first year abroad or gap year abroad, you would need to reapply as a transfer student. And I know this probably sounds scary of, well, I’m giving up kind of this guaranteed spot to now kind of run a risk of applying again to see if I can get accepted.

I’ve worked in college admissions for many, many years and I always tell students, if you were accepted as a first year student. Most likely you are eligible to be accepted as a transfer student. And it’s a lot of times actually in your benefit if you really excel in your college academics, you are coming with even more information for these college admissions officers of why you should be accepted because you’re able to provide that college transcript of showing how you perform in the academic setting at that college academic level.

So you do really well in your first year abroad courses. You have that 4.0 GPA coming in, following your first semester. You are making an extremely strong case for yourself to be accepted as a transfer student. And I always like to note as well. Numerous colleges and universities actually have a higher acceptance rate for their transfer applicants than they do for their first year applicants.

And these are quite wide range of institu institutions like UNC, chapel Hill actually has a higher acceptance rate for their transfer applicants than their first year. So does Vanderbilt, UCLA, Tulane, Berkeley. Um, so there are a lot of colleges and universities that are always accepting transfer students, so I never want a student to feel defeated if, if they aren’t granted their deferral that they feel like they’re not able to do one of these programs.

You always have that option to do a first year abroad or gap year abroad program. You may just need to reapply as a transfer student, but that is not a daunting experience and actually could be in your benefit in the overall admissions space. And now I’m just gonna turn it back to Emily really quickly, um, to kind of talk about next steps.

Where do we go from here? If you are really interested in first year abroad or gap year abroad? Thanks, Lisa. Um,

Emily: I. Before I jump in, I know I have a mix of grades on this call I wanna highlight for my juniors. If you are starting to think about these options, just know that also if you are planning to potentially graduate a semester early from high school, you are eligible to participate in first year abroad or gap during the spring term before you go on to college.

Um, if you are a senior and you are starting to get some responses from colleges and maybe things are not panning out the way that you thought, um, there is still time for you to apply and participate in both GAP and first year abroad. So. First thing that you should be thinking about, regardless of whether you’re a freshman or a senior on this call, is doing your research.

So we gave you a really high level overview of the programs. We offer the differences, but our website is extremely thorough. Every single program has its own program page where you can read blogs from former students, get a sense of what the day-to-day is like, what is the housing situation. Our website is great, and that’s where you should start in terms of thinking of things like destinations and costs and any questions you could have.

We can put you in touch with our alumni who are happy to talk about their experience. We also, uh, host webinars where alumni will come and talk, and our team will also present in more detail about specific locations. Um, you should consult with your guidance counselors in your schools. Um, they should have experience working with programs like ours.

And you’re also welcome to plan, um, to have an advising session with a member of our staff. We offer free advising sessions to talk to you about the programs that might be a good fit depending on what it is for that your goal is for studying abroad. Um, we know costs plays a huge role in. The decisions that you make, whether it’s college or study abroad.

So knowing what that budget is will also be really helpful as you begin to do that research. Um, and it’s never too early to start thinking about these opportunities. So if you’re a freshman on this call, um, this is the time to start planning and thinking, how does this, uh, fit into my college plan in the future?

But even if you are a senior on this call, and this was something that you just started thinking about this evening, uh, it is not too late. And the good news is that we have later deadlines than all traditional colleges for this exact reason. So our deadlines for first year abroad. Um, so in terms of our fall deadlines, um, our final deadline is gonna be on June 1st of this year.

So way after you’re gonna hear back from all of your colleges, um, there’s still time for you to apply to our program. Um, if you are, you know, a junior thinking next year for the spring, just know that our early spring deadline is gonna be August 1st, and we’ll give a discount to students who apply by that early deadline.

Um, and then our spring final deadline is gonna be in October, um, for gap year. Our deadlines are a little bit later, so July 1st is gonna be our, um, early deadline, and then. Sorry. Um, June 1st is gonna be our early deadline, and July 1st is gonna be our final deadline. Um, and then for our spring term, uh, October 1st is gonna be our early deadline, and our final deadline will be in November.

And what can you expect for the application process? I know many of you are probably traumatized right now by the Common app and all of the various supplements and everything, and you think it’s done and it’s never done. But our application is very straightforward. Um, you can expect a lot of informational questions.

Just making sure we know where you live, who to reach out to in case of an emergency. Personal details we are gonna ask you. It’s not an essay. Anything like that. But we are gonna ask you why do you wanna study abroad? Um, and you can answer that directly in our application. Um, but nothing like, you know, your personal statement or all those supplements that you have to do for your college apps.

Um, we will be collecting health forms. We wanna make sure that we can support you while you are abroad. It is a big undertaking to go abroad and we wanna make sure that our staff is prepared, um, to welcome you and support you for the semester or the year that you’re with us. Um, so that is a big part of our pre-departure process as well.

Um, and then we’re also gonna need to verify some important information. So we’re gonna ask for your passport. We’re also gonna ask for your transcript because again, we are an academic program at the heart of our institution, so we’re gonna wanna make sure that either your uh, GPA is eligible for first year abroad.

Um. And we’ll also be collecting some forms that your family is gonna sign off on. Because this is a group decision, we need to know that they are supportive of you going abroad as well. Um, we will also be reaching out to you when you open an application. We really wanna get to know each and every one of our applicants.

Um, and we’ll also have an interview with you once you submit your application so that we can get to know you a little bit more, um, and make sure that everyone is on the same page about what to expect for your semester or year abroad.

So in terms of next steps, um, you have a few things that you can do. Uh, you can go ahead and open an application directly from this QR code. Um, we are running a promotion right now, so for students who apply by May 1st, we are going to enter them into a raffle to win a free flight to a program. So even though our final deadlines aren’t until June 1st or July 1st, depending on the program, if you apply by May 1st, you could potentially be getting a free flight to your location.

You can also use this QR code to schedule a call with a member of my team. Um, we are here to answer any and all questions you could have about study abroad, that’s we spend all day just talking to families, um, and students about study abroad. And we’d be happy to, uh, offer you a free advising session, um, to discuss any of our programs in more detail.

And that is the end of our session, but we definitely have a few minutes left for any questions that folks have. This QR code that’s on our screen will also bring you to our program page where you can explore our gap year and first share broad programs in more detail. You can also see our email addresses on this slide, so you can always reach out to our [email protected].

Um, and give us a follow on Instagram. You can see our students sometimes do takeovers and you can see in real time, um, the different locations that we offer.

Anna: Thank you so much, Lisa and Emily. Gosh darn it. You’re making me wish I had done this. It sounds like a fantastic opportunity. Um, as you said, that’s the end of the presentation part.

We hope you found all that information helpful. Remember, you can download these slides if you want to reference them again from the link in the handouts tab. We do have some time left for q and a. As we get to each one, I will read it out loud, then paste it into the public chat so everyone can see them.

Then turn it over to the panelists for their answer. As a heads up, if your q and a tab is not letting you submit questions, just double check that you join the webinar through the custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page. So you might need to close out, go to your email and rejoin.

Don’t worry, this is being recorded and it will be available so you won’t miss anything if you need to do that. And now onto the questions. First one for you is, do students need to be US citizens to apply or do they need to be living in the us? How does that work?

Emily: I can take that one. Um, the short answer is no, you don’t have to be a US citizen to apply.

Um, you can participate in all of these programs. Um, the only difference is your visa might be different depending on the type of program and the location that you want to go to. Um, and you should reach out to our team directly with those questions.

Anna: Awesome. Thank you. Is it cost saving to do a home stay versus living in a residence hall?

Emily: I, I can. Do you wanna take that Lisa? Or I could Go ahead Emily. Um, that’s a great question and the short answer is, um, I. If you’re thinking about things in terms of cost saving, it’s not necessarily around programs that offer residence hall or home stay, it’s more location specific. So for example, um, Costa Rica is our most affordable location for first year abroad.

That happens to be a dormitory. Um, but then you’ll see a location like London and uh, Barcelona, which are very similar in tuition costs. And one offers a dorm and one offers a home stay. So, um, the price that you see online for program fees is inclusive of the housing of that program.

Anna: Thank you. Will students have time and will they be able to work a job or find an internship or gain professional experience while abroad?

I.

Lisa: I can take that. I think there are a lot of different opportunities to gain professional experience in terms of having a job while you’re abroad that. Is not usually likely and feasible just because of visas, um, because you won’t have a work visa while you are studying abroad. So having a paid job in another country is generally not an option, but there are different ways for you to be able to gain some of those professional experience, whether that be doing some job shadowing, some volunteer opportunities, and like Emily mentioned, all of our staff members.

In these cities and countries are so connected with the local communities that if you, there’s a passion area that you have of really wanting to get involved, um, in a specific area, talk to the CIEE staff members. ’cause they can very likely connect you with a local organization that you can get some of those fulfilling experiences from, whether that be volunteer efforts, even down to, um, some, some club sports and just being, um, connected with other cultural activities in that city.

Really speaking with the CIEE staff members and expressing what your interests are so that they can help make those connections for you. But due to visa restrictions, you won’t be able to have an actual job while you are abroad in another country.

Emily: Can I add one thing onto that? I think like a lot of students in this day and age are involved in.

So many things and you know, it’s not uncommon as students are preparing to go abroad that they’re like, oh, I have, you know, a remote internship that I’m gonna be doing while I’m abroad. And what I would challenge and tell everyone on this call is while you’re abroad, you really want to focus on like immersing yourself in your experience as much as possible.

So is it impossible? No. Like there’s definitely been students who are involved in things still in the United States remotely while they’re abroad, but we would just really caution against overcommitting yourself to your extracurriculars or things back in the US while you’re doing an experience like this.

’cause we really want you to, you know, immerse yourself in the in-person opportunities that are available to you for first year abroad. And gap

Lisa: and time differences are a thing as well too. When you, when you are connected to opportunities still at home, always keep in mind time difference. Yes.

Anna: I think we have time for one more question.

Speaking of fully immersing yourself, will students be able to travel to other cities in the countries they’re, they’re studying in?

Emily: Do you

Anna: want

Emily: me to

Anna: answer

Emily: least? Yeah, the answer, the answer is absolutely. Um, I’d say gap year students have a lot more autonomy over their schedule because outside of their like language class, which is only a few hours a day, their schedule is their own and they.

Can do a long day trip. They can also like do a weekend trip. You’re allowed to travel independently. You just have to tell your host family and our study center where you’re going because we are still responsible for you with first year abroad. One thing to keep in mind is you are a full-time college student, so you have exams and papers and you know, you have a lot going on outside of class.

So yes, you can still do all of those things, but you have much more responsibilities, um, during the week for your, uh, courses. And we do an overnight trip for every gap and first year abroad location. So CIEE will also take you to another city regardless of the program that you’re on.

Anna: It sounds like so much fun, y’all.

I hope you give that QR code a scan, check it out, see if it’s a great fit for you. Thank you so much for coming out tonight to learn more. Thank you, Lisa and Emily for your expertise. This is the end of our time together, but we had a really great time talking about traveling abroad after high school and take good care everyone and travel.