When I decided to apply for a Study Abroad opportunity, I thought choosing a university would be pretty straightforward. Instead, I found myself with 41 tabs open, knees-deep in options and trade-offs, and constantly changing what I thought was a great choice for me.
Get ready to dive into the details with me as I share both the obvious and the not-so-obvious factors that can help narrow down your choices (and how to research them), and which university won me over!
Initial Research
Built-In Filters
Most of this part is pretty obvious, just filter the program finder results based on your major, places you want to go to, type of program, etc.
Here's how I filtered my search (since I knew I wanted to study in Europe), which greatly reduced the number of programs to choose from:
One thing I noticed is that you may still want to consider programs without the Languages and Areas of Study filters - some universities have courses in multiple languages but the filter won't always catch that, and although my major is Computer Science, I could take options on my year abroad. Once you click on the university, you will be able to see the majors/languages details under the Academic Information dropdown.
Semester Dates
Unfortunately, most universities abroad have different semester dates which can be an issue if you plan to do only one semester abroad, or if you want to have the full 4 months of Spring/Summer at home (e.g. for an internship).
From my research, German universities have an especially long school year 😬:
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| TU Berlin Semester Dates |
Each university has a descriptive "Semester dates" dropdown on the study abroad homepage with this information, and you check more specifically on the university's own website.
It seems that in general, UK universities have the most similar semester dates to Canadian ones (but check all the ones you're interested in!).
University Info
This is a bit of a given, but as you go through the list you may choose to eliminate or favourite universities based on some personal preferences and research, such as:
- Does it teach subjects I'm interested in?
- Is the university reputable (in general, and/or for your program)?
- How many students does it have?
- Have people online had positive experiences studying abroad (or studying in general) at this university?
- Some good resources for this are Reddit, iAgora, and StudyAbroad101
- Of course, make sure you meet (and ideally exceed) the academic requirements
Location
Once you've narrowed down to around a dozen or so universities, you'll want to consider which places you want to live in the most to factor into your ranking.
Some factors that may be important to you are:
- City size
- Transportation connectivity (e.g. airport, trains to other interesting cities)
- Weather
- Nature
- Cost of Living (Numbeo is a good comparison tool)
- Housing Options - many destinations are in a housing crisis
- Culture and Activities
In-Depth Research
Unfortunately, this is the part where we have less information on the Study Abroad webpage or easy Googling. It's time to get specific with the logistics!
Starting from here, you'll want to start taking detailed notes of your research to look back on and share with advisors.
Visas
You're probably going to need a study visa - but this is dependent on the situation, and some are much easier to get than others. The specific information can usually be found on the exchange university's webpage for exchange students, or the country's government website.
Here are some examples of research I've done for my specific situation (this is not a comprehensive list, you should do your own additional research!):
- Dutch Working Holiday Permits (stay for up to 12 months for Canadians 18-30) can be applied for online for €76,00
- Many countries require you to travel to Ottawa, Vancouver, or Toronto to apply for and pick up a visa
- You don't need a visa to study in EU member states if you are an EU citizen
- Canadians can live and study in the UK for up to 6 months without applying for a visa, but for more than 6 months you need to apply for a visa in Edmonton (the visa fees are a whopping £490!)
Courses
Obviously, you want to take courses that go towards your degree while you are abroad. Never count on one of your exchange courses to count directly towards a specific required course. In general, you won't know exactly how they transfer until you've actually started your exchange, so make sure you have a margin of error.
To check what courses you still need to take, open up your academic requirements report and note down your courses left in each category:
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| Where to find Academic Requirements Report |
First, check which specific courses you still need to take to complete your degree. This could affect whether you do a full year or just a semester:
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| I have 3 specific CPSC courses that I haven't taken yet (any sections that are automatically collapsed in the report have been satisfied) |
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| Checking if other specific course requirements have been satisfied |
Now, check how many and which types of options you have left in your degree:
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| In my case, I have 8 CPSC-specific options left (one 500-level, three each of 400 and 300-level or above) |
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| Lastly, I have 7 open options left |
Now, you can cross-reference this information with the courses that your top universities offer.
- In this example, I have a good amount of options left to take, so I don't have much to worry about
- Make sure you check information specifically for exchange students, because there are often restrictions to what courses they are allowed to take (and many universities abroad don't let you take options)
- Check how many courses you have to take. For example, you might have to take 4 courses a semester (and that might transfer to 5 UCalgary courses)
- Always take required courses at UCalgary
Meeting with advisors
Since you've done a good amount of research, you can now take full advantage of meeting with your study abroad and faculty advisors. I suggest first talking to a study abroad advisor to narrow down your choices, and then meeting with your faculty advisor.
Study Abroad Advisor
You can find the study abroad advisor for each university in the "Have Questions?" section of its UCalgary study abroad page.
With your study abroad advisor(s), you should discuss your top choices and the information you've found so far. They will know what past students' experiences were there, how competitive the application is, how students usually get visas, and other insider information. I cannot overemphasize how helpful they are!
Faculty Advisor
With your faculty advisor, you can verify what courses you have left and ask them if you think your study abroad plan is feasible. They can advise you on what types of courses they think you should take (and you'll definitely meet with them again later). Make sure you book an appointment with a study abroad faculty advisor.
Apply!
Now, you should have a good plan for studying abroad and you can apply for your top 3 choices. Stay tuned for more posts about study abroad applications, funding, and more!
Personally, my top choice was Oxford Brookes University because of the matching semester dates, historic city, proximity to London, and computer science courses. Some tradeoffs I had to make are only applying for one semester, no options, and mandatory 4 courses. It definitely wasn't an easy choice :).
The priority applications deadline has passed, but some programs are still open for rolling applications, so get on it quick if you're interested.
Best of luck and hope this guide helps!
Ana
Wow, this is informative. Thank you!
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