Off-Campus Study

Off-Campus Study

Guidelines

Other Information

Application to a Program or University

Off-Campus Study Application

The application to your chosen off-campus study program or university is your responsibility, although the OCS Office is always ready to assist you with the process. Typical elements required to complete an application include the following:

a personal statement
a Bowdoin transcript
a letter or form on which the OCS Office confirms that Bowdoin has approved your plans and that you are in good standing
one or two letters of recommendation from faculty
a physical examination (which Bowdoin's Health Services can perform)

Make sure that you have not overlooked any of the application requirements; applications for many programs and universities, however, do not include all the above. You will need to assemble and mail the materials yourself, except for IES, DIS, and Twelve College Exchange applications, which you should send or have sent to the OCS Office, including your official Bowdoin transcript. (You may submit an online application for IES, but the authorization form and transcript should still be sent to OCS.)

Personal statement. Programs and universities alike generally expect an unelaborate description of your academic grounding and plans, rather than the more personal essay that is typical of US college admission applications.

Bowdoin transcript. Complete a transcript request form at the Student Records counter in M.U. Student Records will not release your transcript to anyone, including the OCS Office, without your written request. You can pick up the transcript yourself, or if necessary have it mailed in a sealed envelope to OCS or directly to your program.

Institutional approval form. If the program has a form called "Institutional Approval" or "Dean's Report" or something similar, bring or send it to the OCS Office for completion; you do not need to go to Student Affairs. Most such forms ask if you have ever been on academic or disciplinary probation; we will need a day or so to check your file. We cannot complete the form until you have submitted an application to Bowdoin; if you have applied, but have not yet received formal approval from Bowdoin, we can in most cases say on the form that you have the College's provisional approval, which is usually adequate for the program's needs. Make sure that you have filled out all parts of the form that you need to, and signed the release if there is one. Because of the confidential nature of the information requested, it is generally easier for us to complete the form and send it directly to the program (you do not need to provide us with a stamp or envelope, but make sure that we know where and by when we need to send it), but we can if necessary give you the completed form in a sealed envelope.

Faculty recommendation. This is often a simple form; sometimes a separate letter is required. Choose a Bowdoin faculty member who has taught you for at least a semester; but do not worry if you do not feel that the professor does not have a close familiarity with your work, as the letter does not need to go into great detail. Please give the professor at least a week's notice, make quite clear when the letter is needed, and whether you will pick it up in a sealed envelope or it should be mailed directly to the program. Letters should be addressed to the appropriate office of your program, not to Bowdoin's OCS Office. Except for IES and DIS applications, recommendation letters do not usually need to come to OCS.

Application for the Twelve College Exchange (excluding Williams-Mystic and NTI) should be made through OCS. The Twelve College form serves also as a Bowdoin application; you do not have to complete the yellow Bowdoin form as well. Application for American University's Washington Semester should be made through the program's institutional representative in Bowdoin's Government Department, Professor Janet Martin; in this case, the regular Bowdoin application is also needed.

Application to a single program is usually sufficient, as long as all parts of the application are submitted in good time and you meet the program's requirements. If you are applying to a selective university in a popular location and academic field (like English or History), a backup may be worth the extra time and money. But you should make a clear decision as to which is your first choice; submit no more than one application to the OCS Office. It is also important to give the courtesy of prompt notification to any institution whose offer you have decided not to take up.

Direct application to most English-speaking universities is straightforward. Alternatively, you may apply through a third-party organization such as the Institute for Study Abroad at Butler University or the Center for Education Abroad at Arcadia University; you will be enrolled in the foreign university just as if you had applied directly. Application through a third-party provider is usually significantly more expensive, and the additional expense is not covered in financial aid calculations; but third-party program offer certain additional services:

Application. The application form is usually easy to complete, and may permit the selection of backup institutions (these should be on Bowdoin's options list)
Housing. In cities where university housing is hard to come by, the third-party organization may have its own housing, or university housing set aside for its own use.
Billing. Billing will come from the third-party organization, with payment accepted in U.S. dollars. In some cases you may be able to use a payment plan as at Bowdoin. Note that in some countries, notably New Zealand, immigration authorities require confirmation of tuition payment from the university before issuing an entry visa; direct applicants have to make the payment arrangements themselves. In addition, third-party providers often offer some need- or merit-based scholarships, for which we would encourage you to apply.
Other logistical assistance. The organization will have a toll-free phone number and staff, both in the U.S. and in the host country, to assist with other practical matters such as orientation, course selection, and credit.
Transcript. A U.S. transcript is issued, along with that of the host institution. This may be useful in a future application to a medical school.

Apart from the expense, another negative reported by students who go through a third party is that after orientation with other Americans it can take stronger will power to break away and form new friendships with host-country students, especially if they have separate housing. For two of the English-speaking universities on the approved list, however, Cambridge and Cape Town, enrollment through a third-party provider is still the most practical option.

GPA requirements

Most programs and universities set a minimum GPA for admission. A typical requirement would be an average of 3.0 (a B average), with a few universities looking for 3.3 or even as high as 3.7 in the more popular disciplines such as History and English. Some programs are flexible if a GPA is only slightly below the requirement, especially if it is higher in courses related to the program, or you have strong letters of recommendation from your advisors. But do not count on it, or assume that programs are swayed by assumptions of Bowdoin's high quality; the programs we use are taking most of their students from colleges and universities that are comparable to Bowdoin. If your average is below 2.5 you are unlikely to be successful in applying to any program it is worth attending. Find out your own GPA (printed on your Bowdoin transcript), and be realistic about your chances.

Language requirements

Language programs usually require at least two years of college-level instruction or the equivalent. But if you have no background (or great aptitude) in language, you are by no means restricted to study in English-speaking countries. Some of the best programs (e.g., ISLE, SITA, the Swedish Program, DIS) require no previous knowledge of the language of the country, and have valuable offerings for students in a wide range of fields. Whatever your major, you are strongly encouraged to look into the options in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where you will find good programs for English-speaking students. Once you are in the country, of course, you should take your program's introductory language course; without it you are unlikely to acquire more than a superficial understanding of the culture.

Application deadlines and fees

Your program's application deadline will be printed in its catalogue. Do not leave the application to the last few days, as many institutions start admitting students before the final deadline, and you may have more housing choices if admitted early. Usually, programs allowing entry in both fall and spring have different deadlines for each term. A few programs and universities have deadlines before Bowdoin's 21 February deadline (notably, Oxford and Cambridge, in early January); others have rolling admissions (SIT, for example: check their website under "Apply" to find out if your program is filling fast). But most fall or full-year programs will want to see a transcript with your grades for the previous fall semester. If you have to apply to a program before Bowdoin normally accepts applications at the beginning of February, ask if you may submit your Bowdoin application early. Most spring programs have deadlines in September or October, and expect to see a transcript that includes your grades from the previous spring; a few have much earlier deadlines, and you will need to have the necessary paperwork, including faculty recommendations, ready before you leave Bowdoin for the summer.

It is hard to predict how long a program will take to inform you of an admission decision. At some universities decisions are made by each academic department in which you wish to take courses. Most institutions respond in three or four weeks to applications submitted comfortably before the deadline, but it is not unusual for an offer of admission for the fall to arrive during Bowdoin's summer vacation. Many but not all programs send a copy of the admission letter to the OCS Office. Please get in touch with OCS immediately if you learn that you have not been admitted to your program of first choice, or if you decide that you want to remain at Bowdoin after all.

Many programs charge an application fee. Use of credit cards has nearly done away at last with the need for checks in local currency, but they can be obtained if necessary from your bank, for a fee. IES waives the application fee for Bowdoin students, unless you miss their deadline.

Housing

Many programs offer more than one option, such as homestay (living and eating with a local family), dormitory housing with a meal plan, or self-catered apartments. A separate housing application may have to be submitted after the primary application. Bowdoin's firm recommendation is that you take the option that gives you the closest contact with the host culture and separates you from other U.S. students; sharing an apartment with Bowdoin students is strongly discouraged. Although the homestay option may seem intimidating at first (and it is important to remember that many host families do not fit the stereotypical pattern of mother, father, and young children), many Bowdoin students return saying that the homestay was one of the most valuable aspects of their entire experience.