Pick a place on the map: South America, Europe, Asia, anywhere. Now fill out an application and during the fall of your junior year, you’re there!
If only the study abroad process at Tulane was that easy. It seems that it’s a continuous struggle of disappointment, confusion, and frustration. When I first started at Tulane, I was under the impression that I would finally get to study in Florence, Italy, during my junior year. But I quickly learned that as a student in the business school, my options are very limited. There are only 13 options in Europe, and none of them are in Italy. Programs in England are excluded from the list, as well. There’s about five in South America and even less in Australia and Asia.
This wouldn’t be so bad if the lists didn’t fill up ridiculously fast. Even though I’m still only a freshman, I’m pretty sure I will not be able to go on the program I want to in two years. It seems crazy to me that we’re expected to know where we want to go and what we want to do so early on. To make matters worse, once we figure it out, we might not even get to go there because there are so few spots available. At this rate, it looks like New Orleans is going to become a really popular “study abroad” destination.
Those students not in the business school, fortunately, have some more options. Programs in Italy and England are available, as are some in Israel, Switzerland, and Ireland. Business school students can utilize these programs, however, but it involves a LOT of paperwork, and they might end up at a disadvantage – it’s possible that all their credits won’t transfer, and they’ll have to stay in school for another year.
Even still, very little of the information for study abroad – for all students – is publicized. Much of it is second-hand, found out from friends of friends. Tulane needs to do a better job of explaining the study abroad programs to students, and really needs to expand its program so students aren’t handicapped by waitlists and credit transfers.