Guidelines
- Office Resources
- Requirements
- When to Study Off Campus
- Choosing a Program
- Costs & Financial Aid
- Off-Campus Study Application
- Academic Credit
- Predeparture Planning
Other Information
Announcements and Events
Office hours. Appointments (M-Th, 10-12 and 2-4) begin after the introductory meeting in September. All students who wish to study away should make a thirty-minute appointment in the fall semester to discuss their plans. (Please give your availability when emailing for an appointment.) In the February pre-deadline rush, we are booking appointments a week or more in advance. For follow-up and simple questions, walk-in hours are held from 10:00 to 12:00 and 2:00 to 4:00 on Friday.
Applications. Applications to Bowdoin for permission to study off campus in the 2010-11 academic year (fall semester, spring semester, or full year) should be dropped off in the OCS office no later than 22 February 2010, 5:00 PM. Applicants should normally have declared their major before submitting an OCS application; please consult OCS in the case of a program with an early deadline or that fills early. Note that an application must be for a program on Bowdoin's Program Options List, and applications that do not meet that criterion will be rejected. Application forms are available here as a PDF or in the OCS office.
Petitions. Any student wishing to participate in a program that is not on the options list should have had an interview in OCS to receive the petition form by 8 February 2010. Completed petitions are due by the regular application deadline on 22 February.
Summer programs abroad. Transfer of credit applications for summer programs abroad should be made to the OCS office by 15 April 2010. Most programs will have their own deadlines before that date; you are advised to check well in advance.
Blogs from abroad. Keep up with Bowdoin students currently studying away by reading their blogs.
Returning students. Submit your program evaluation form on-line. (Log in with your Bowdoin user name and password.)
Executive Assistance Program
Executive Assistance Program for Bowdoin Students and Faculty Traveling Abroad (PDF)
Off-Campus Study is a Bowdoin academic program that assists students to broaden and enrich their education at the College through study at other institutions and programs around the world. Annually about 230 Bowdoin students participate in off-campus study, for a semester or full academic year; over half of the College's students have studied away by the time of graduation. The program is administered by the Office of Off-Campus Study (OCS), under the Office of the Dean for Academic Affairs.
Off-Campus Study derives from and supports Bowdoin's mission to provide a liberal arts education through which students deepen intellectual capacities and qualities of maturity that can serve the common good. It entails courses that enrich and bring fresh perspectives to the understanding of an academic field characteristic of the liberal arts, and that are integrated with and comparable in intellectual challenge to the course of study at Bowdoin. Depending on the program and the location, it also strengthens foreign language skills; gives the competence to operate in a foreign culture; makes available new field experiences; exposes students to new methods of instruction and learning; furthers their understanding of the complexity and diversity of world affairs; helps them reexamine their values and their culture as others view them; and develops resourcefulness and adaptability. Off-campus study demands that students be actively engaged in their own education as at Bowdoin, and that after return to Bowdoin they continue to explore how the experience can shape their individual courses of study.
Students who wish to study away should thoroughly read all sections of the on-line Guidelines for Off-Campus Study (see menu), and visit the OCS Office to discuss their options as early as possible after September's general introductory meeting in the preceding academic year.
Office Contact Information
Director: Stephen Hall
Assistant Director: Christine Wintersteen
Student Assistants: Copley Huston (M W Th, 2-5)
E-mail: offcamp@bowdoin.edu
Phone: (+1) 207 725 3473
Fax: (+1) 207 725 3988
Office location: Dudley Coe 301
Mailing address: Off-Campus Study, 4800 College Station, Bowdoin College, Brunswick ME 04011-8439
Advising hours (when classes are in session): appointments at 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, 11:30, 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 3:30, Monday to Thursday; walk-in hours 10:00-12:00 and 2:00-4:00 on Friday.
Important Dates
16 September 2009: An Introduction to Off-Campus Study (Kresge Auditorium, 7:00 PM)
5 October 2009: Off-Campus Study Fair (Smith Union, 3:00-5:30 PM)
2 November 2009: Preliminary OCS application deadline (to register preference of study away semester)
22 February 2010: Bowdoin's OCS application deadline (for fall 2010, spring 2011, and 2010-11 academic year)
15 April 2010: Bowdoin's summer study abroad application deadline (for summer 2010)