After Approval

After Approval

Predeparture Planning

Terms of approval and enrollment status at Bowdoin

If Bowdoin approves your off-campus study application, you will receive a letter from the OCS Office setting out the terms of your approval and asking you to sign and return an enclosed participation agreement. You will also receive some preliminary planning tips, which you should read immediately.

You will not receive general approval from Bowdoin for off-campus study, but approval to study on a particular program for a particular period. Changes of program or period will be permitted only in exceptional circumstances beyond your control, such as cancellation of a program or rejection by a program that you had good reason to believe would accept you; completion of a new application, with departmental approval, will then be required.

Bowdoin keeps track of leaves, course registration, and study away by assigning its students a status. If your OCS application is approved, your status will change for the period that you will be away, and you will not be eligible to register for classes or apply for College housing for that period.

If your plans change and you do not wish to study off campus after all, you should inform the OCS Office, in writing, as soon as you are absolutely sure of your decision. There is a convenient PDF form available here; or an email message with the necessary details is also fine. Make clear that you wish to return to Bowdoin rather than take a leave, and to which semester the change of status applies. This simple step must be taken whether or not you have returned your participation agreement; your changed status will allow you to register for classes and make you eligible for housing at Bowdoin for the semester when you would have been away. Please note that the timing of your decision will affect your ability to register for courses and the availability of College housing. If you request the change after Bowdoin course registration, you will have to wait to register for courses at the start of the semester.

Your decision to return to Bowdoin is final; once your status has been changed you will not be able to reactivate your approval to study off campus.

Please remember that it is rarely possible to extend a period of off-campus study (under much the same principle by which, in fairness to all applicants, Bowdoin is unable to accept late applications). You are expected to adhere to the plans that you developed with your advisors and were approved by Bowdoin. As a small college in which over half its students study off campus, Bowdoin is unusually affected by fluctuations in study away numbers, especially between the fall and the spring, and has to maintain a reasonable balance between the semesters in order to manage its on-campus enrollment.

Forms to complete

If, as we hope, you are able to study away, you will need to complete the following simple forms if you are to receive proper help and full academic credit for your off-campus study. The first four listed, for all students, are included in the packet that you will receive at the predeparture meeting held in the semester before you leave.

All students:

  • Mail Forwarding Card. Return to Bowdoin Mailroom (S.U.), before you leave campus, to redirect mail that arrives at Bowdoin while you are away. It is best to give your home or US address, as the USPS will forward overseas only first-class mail (not parcels or magazines). Consult the mailroom if you have a non-US home address.
  • Housing Application (separate forms for return in the spring or return in the fall). Return to Residential Life (Moulton Union), before you leave campus, whether or not you want Bowdoin housing, to ensure that Bowdoin is clear about your housing needs and billing.
  • Notification of Address and Courses. Please use our online form to notify Bowdoin of your study-away address and courses, as soon as you have full and reliable information.

Recipients of financial aid or loans:

If you are applying for financial aid or loans, you should download the Off-Campus Study Budget form from the Student Aid personal web portal. If you are filing for financial aid for the first time, request the forms directly from the SAO. Email the form to your program; if at all possible the program should return it to Student Aid by 15 April for full-year or fall programs and by 15 December for spring programs.

International students:

International students need to have their I-20 form signed before they leave the US for their off-campus study. The signature by Bowdoin's designated school official (Laura Lee) is valid for one year. If you will be out of the country for longer than five months, you should email Laura Lee to request that a new I-20 be mailed to you. Please allow a month for processing and mail delivery.

An international student attending a college or university in the US will not be able to work on that institution's campus without getting INS employment authorization. If you are applying for summer off-campus work in the US, you must be in the US during February or March, and may not apply for employment authorization from overseas. INS employment authorization is not needed for work at Bowdoin during the summer following off-campus study.