impact of studying abroad essay

How Study Abroad Can Benefit College Students

Doing some coursework outside the U.S. can help students learn power skills and may provide an employment edge.

College Study Abroad Benefits

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Students can develop various personal, interpersonal and cognitive skills by studying abroad, studies indicate, including adaptability, self-awareness, tolerance for ambiguity, teamwork, leadership, work ethic, and problem-solving and intercultural skills.

International education opportunities expose college students to foreign cultures, language immersion and interaction with diverse communities around the world, which can lead to increased self-awareness, improved critical thinking and even work opportunities, experts say.

Due largely to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of U.S. college students studying abroad plummeted nearly 96% from the all-time high of 347,099 in 2018-2019 to 14,549 in 2020-2021, according to the 2022 "Open Doors U.S. Study Abroad" annual survey by the Institute of International Education, a not-for-profit global organization founded in 1919.

The most recent data is still inconclusive, but the institute reports that 96% of responding college administrators in a different recent survey predict that their international programs will grow or stabilize in 2023-2024. Along those lines, conversations about the many benefits of studying abroad are echoing across U.S. campuses once again, experts say.

“We live and work in a globalized world. We are so interconnected, whether virtually or through physical contact,” says Lindsay Calvert, director of the Center for Access and Equity at IIE. “And it is ever more important for students to have these experiences, so they are able to work with and among different cultures.”

What Students Can Gain From Studying Abroad

Nick Gozik, dean of global education at Elon University in North Carolina, is emphatic about the utility of study abroad.

“It is difficult to imagine that a college graduate will not need the skills gained through study abroad and other global experiences,” he wrote in an email. “Whether it is a doctor who treats patients originating from other countries, a teacher with students from underrepresented backgrounds, or a scientist working in a multinational, it is increasingly necessary for graduates to be able to navigate difference and work with people from other cultures and backgrounds.” 

Cognitive and Relational Skills

In an IIE research study involving 4,500 college alumni who studied abroad between the 1999-2000 and 2016-2017 academic years, about 90% of respondents said their overseas experience cultivated these qualities in them. The benefits generally increased with the length of the study period, from a short term of a few weeks to one semester to a year.

Asked if their study abroad contributed to a job offer at some point, 67.5% of respondents who participated in a full academic year of the experience said yes, compared to 53.4% of those who studied overseas for roughly a semester and 42.5% of those who did so for fewer than eight weeks.

Professional Development

Students in study abroad programs often mix their desire for an adventure with foreign language acquisition, academic pursuits, short-term work opportunities such as internships, career building or a combination.

Sera Park, who is earning an art history degree at Temple University in Pennsylvania, went to the university’s Rome campus in spring 2021, during the pandemic.

“It was my dream to study in Italy,” she says. “My mom is an artist and I grew up around that but didn’t know what I wanted to do with my degree.”

Park worked as an intern on an art preservation project with a local art conservator recommended by her professor.

“As I continued my internship,” she says, “I realized this field (art conservation) was what I wanted to pursue in my future.”

Upon learning that studying chemistry was essential to becoming an art conservator, Park decided to add a chemistry minor to her degree. She plans to go to graduate school to complete her training as a conservator. Knowledge of chemistry is required in some graduate art programs in the U.S.

Study abroad also exposed Park to many opportunities for travel, she says. “As I was traveling, it helped me appreciate cultural heritage and art more, and why it is important to preserve it.”

How Study Abroad Can Enhance Job Prospects 

Among the most tangible ways that students are leveraging their study abroad experiences is in their job searches. Experts and students say that when searching for employment straight out of college and lacking significant employment history, one’s broader life experiences may count more.

Having been in a foreign environment gives job applicants a broader scope for a narrative about how their background and experiences have built their character, experts say.

Moriah Baxevane-Connell, who studied at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom for six months during college, says she highlighted her time abroad in her job resume .

“Looking for my first job out of college, study abroad helped me show that I had the curiosity and the willingness to explore new things and that I was open-minded,” she says.

So, when an interviewer asked, “Can you thrive in this new environment?” she was prepared with a response: “I said, ’Yeah sure, absolutely. I flew 4,000 miles away from everyone that I know and spent six months and I had a great time.’”

Baxevane-Connell worked for a tech firm in the U.S. for several years before going back to the U.K. to earn an MBA at the University of Oxford . She now works as a strategy and operations manager for Google in London.

The pandemic taught additional lessons about the value of studying abroad, says Samantha Brandauer, associate provost and executive director of the Center for Global Study and Engagement at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. Those lessons include “your ability to understand and tolerate ambiguity that comes from cross-cultural experiences and to sit with the ‘I don’t know,’” she says. “That is a valuable skill in your working environment, your ability to sit with the unknown that often comes with significant cross-cultural experiences.”

At Dickinson, about 65% of the 2,200 students study abroad at some point during their time at the college, Brandauer says.

Employers may have more favorable views of young job seekers with international experience, some research suggests. QS Global Employer Survey Report found in 2016 that six out of 10 employers around the world give extra credit for job applicants with study abroad on their resumes, and more than 80% said they actively seek graduates with overseas study experiences. 

What Deters Students From Studying Abroad 

Multiple factors deter U.S. students from studying abroad, such as financial concerns, fear of missing out on something at home, health challenges and being far away from family and friends, experts say.

“It is the combination of the expenses and just not knowing what it is,” says Baxevane-Connell. “And the fear that, 'I really need to finish my degree in four years, so I can get a job and start paying back my loan and so I can start living my life.'”

Female students are more likely to study abroad than male students, says Brandauer. “For decades, it has been 60-40” in favor of women, she says, and that's been the national trend.

Brandauer suspects that male students have "a harder time finding their social niche on a college campus, and once they identify with a group, then it is hard to leave that group,” she says. “There is a lot of comfort being male on campus.”

Students who are historically underrepresented in U.S. colleges, such as students with disabilities and some racial minorities, tend to also be underrepresented in study abroad participation, according to the 2023 IIE study. That study report also notes that many colleges have been making efforts to improve the access and experience for underrepresented students by offering scholarships, boosting advising and providing special information sessions.

In the 2020-2021 academic year, according to data from NAFSA: Association of International Educators, Black students were 13.1% of U.S. postsecondary enrollment but just 4.1% of U.S. students studying abroad, while Hispanic and Latino students were 20.3% of postsecondary enrollment and only 12.3% of U.S. students who studied overseas. At the same time, White, Asian/Pacific Islander and multiracial students were proportionally overrepresented.

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The impact of studying abroad - and of being made to return home again

David mckenzie.

Studying abroad is becoming increasingly common in many countries – with almost 3 million students educated each year at the tertiary level in a country other than their own. For developing countries in particular, studying abroad offers many of the promises and fears of brain drain (both of which I think are overblown). But understanding the causal impact is hard, because people self-select into whether or not to study abroad, and there are no lotteries or other experiments we can turn to for easy answers. Three recent non-experimental papers succeed to varying degrees in providing some convincing causal evidence.

The most convincing of the three studies is a recent paper by Matthias Parey and Fabian Waldinger which has just appeared in the Economic Journal. They consider the impact of studying abroad due to the European Erasmus student exchange program on whether German students live abroad in the first 5 years after graduating. They find studying abroad for a year during undergraduate studies (after which they return to finish their studies) increases the likelihood of working abroad early in the career by 15 percentage points, and provide some suggestive evidence that one of the channels for this might be through meeting a foreign partner, in addition to the more work-related channels.

The Erasmus study uses instrumental variables for identification. They rely on the fact that the Erasmus program was rolled out slowly through German universities and departments within universities. Controlling for a student’s entry cohort, subject, and university, they argue that the fact that, for example, there were scholarships for political science at University X but not for economics, whereas for University Y there were scholarships for economics but not political science, was due to idiosyncratic reasons such as particular faculty connections. What is very nice about the paper is that they take threats to the exclusions restrictions very seriously, and have more than 2 pages carefully discussing possible threats to identification, checks they can do to rule these threats out, and a whole lot of sensitivity analysis. They also note that while IV allows them to only estimate a local average treatment effect (LATE), this LATE is precisely the parameter of policy interest- the effects of studying abroad for those people who only study abroad due to the Erasmus program.

A second approach is used by Oosterbeek and Webbink in a paper just out in Economica . They consider Dutch students who apply to a scholarship program to study for year abroad of graduate study. The selection committee ranks all students, and only those whose rank is above a certain cut-off get a scholarship. This naturally leads to a regression discontinuity approach, which compares outcomes for students just above and just below this threshold. The downside is that the scholarship is pretty exclusive, so even pooling together multiple years of entrants still only gives 25 students just below the cutoff and 51 just above. They find for this group that studying abroad increases the likelihood of living outside of the Netherlands early in their career by 30 percentage points.

The identification idea is sound in this paper, but the small sample size makes it more difficult to do a number of the best practice smoothness checks around the discontinuity with any precision. Moreover, as is well-known, regression discontinuity designs only identify the treatment effect in the neighborhood of the discontinuity. In this case the sample is pretty specialized – talented Dutch students who apply for this particular scholarship, in a context where to apply for the scholarship they already have to have a definite plan of where they will study abroad, that it may be more difficult to generalize these findings.

A further challenge both these studies face is a common one in migration work – of actually being able to track migrants. Both surveys only look at people relatively soon after graduation, and tracking rates seem to still be only 51% in the Dutch survey and 25% in the German surveys. This points to the need for better systems of tracking migrants.

The third, and least convincing paper, is also the one that is likely of most direct interest to developing countries. In a paper appearing in a recent NBER volume, Kahn and MacGarvie try and examine the impacts of the U.S. Foreign Fulbright program on knowledge creation in sciences and engineering. The Fulbright program provides scholarships to enable foreign students to come to U.S. graduate schools, but then requires that these students return to their home countries for 2 years after graduation. [Fun fact: apparently working for the World Bank or other international organizations is a loophole]. The question then is whether and how forcing people to go back to their home countries after graduate study impacts on their careers. The authors find Fulbright recipients in sciences and engineering have significantly fewer high-impact publications and overall citations, with this result strongest for people from the poorest countries – i.e. being made to go back to a poor country is a career killer.

The result seems intuitive enough, but the identification is not very convincing. The authors employ a matching approach , attempting to match each Fulbright recipient to another foreign student in the U.S. on a few basic characteristics such as ranking of PhD institution, field of study, year of Ph.D., gender, and log GDP of the home country. This is not convincing for several reasons. First, it assumes that people who got Fulbrights would have been able to study abroad if they didn’t get them – whereas a regression discontinuity based on comparing those who just miss out on the Fulbright to those who get it might be more compelling. Second, matching is on the basis of variables which themselves might be outcomes of getting the Fulbright, not ex ante determinants. Third, matching is more convincing when there is a rich set of variables to match on, which definitely doesn’t describe this case. And finally, this is a case where I would find it hard to find matching convincing – given how important this Fulbright requirement to return is, I would expect to find people self-selecting into whether they apply or not (and whether they take it up or not) depending on their desire to return home.

The return requirements of the Fulbright and other scholarship programs certainly warrant further study. John Gibson and I have studied emigration from Papua New Guinea, and find many high-skilled individuals there who appear to have returned to PNG after studying in Australia because of a 2-year return requirement, and that few of these then seem to have subsequently left again. So I believe that these requirements may have large effects – but don’t think we know much about what the cost in terms of career prospects are of such requirements.

The impacts of policies to spur or hinder international student mobility are important to learn about, so it is great to see some papers starting to look at these issues – and to see plenty of scope for further work which builds on this. To get a broader view of new research in migration, take a look at the program for the 4 th Migration and Development Conference which was held a week ago at Harvard: lots of interesting new studies were presented.

Lead Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank

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Why Study Abroad

Globalization has changed the way the world works, and it is increasingly critical to have cross-cultural competence and cutting-edge technical skills in the market for today and in the future..

PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts  that by 2050, the E7 (China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey) will be more than 50% larger than the G7 countries (the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan) when measured by GDP at market rates. The National Intelligence Council’s  “Global Trends Report 2030”  projects that China will surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy by 2030. A study by the British Council, entitled  Culture at Work , shows that employers are under strong pressure to find employees who have both technical knowledge and “soft skills” such as critical thinking, problem solving, time management, and communication, deemed necessary for success in a global workforce.

Many employers feel that “graduates are leaving school unequipped with the skills necessary to function successfully in the workplace.” Many reported gaps in technical skills and soft skills like communication, problem-solving, and teamwork – key skills that study abroad develops. IIE’s Gaining an Employment Edge study found that over 70% of students reported that their study abroad experiences significantly helped develop their intercultural skills, flexibility and adaptability, self-awareness, curiosity, and confidence.

Study abroad is one of the best ways to acquire global skills and access personal and professional opportunities.

Study abroad is a life-changing experience for many students, opening their eyes to different ways of life and promoting understanding and tolerance. From elementary through post-graduate education, global engagement and exposure can profoundly change a student’s life. By looking at research on the more directly quantifiable aspects of study abroad impact, studies show students who study abroad have better grades, experience less attrition, and graduate from college at higher rates  than students who do not study abroad.

• An analysis by the Consortium for Analysis of Student Success through International Education (CASSIE) found that those who studied abroad were 6.2% more likely to graduate in 4 years and had an average GPA 0.16 point higher than those who did not study abroad.
• Study abroad can be particularly impactful for first-generation students and underrepresented minorities , with those who study abroad 11.6% more likely to graduate in 4 years and earn a 0.12 higher GPA than similar students who did not study abroad.
• In a study of AIFS Foundation AYA alumni , more than 90% said that participating in a secondary education exchange program developed or improved key skills for post-secondary education and entry to a global workforce.
• A study by SIT of their program alumni found that a 72% reported that their study abroad experience significantly impacted their career choices and helped when applying for jobs.

Employers also recognize the value of study abroad to develop workforce skills.

• According to the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report (2020) , employers rated critical thinking and analysis, problem-solving, and self-management as the most critical skills for the global workforce moving into 2025.
• Employers increasingly see international internships as a key recruitment pipeline and way to identify globally aware and competent employees. In 2018/19, approximately 25,000 U.S. students worked abroad or completed an international internship for credit.
• 85% of study abroad alumni of IIE-administered programs list their international experience on their resume and 73% discussed aspects of their experience during job interviews.
• AIM Overseas  reported “61% of employers agree that an overseas study experience is [positive] on a resume. Additionally, 72% of employers agree that knowing a second language adds to the appeal of a prospective employee. The same study reported 95% of students found the exchange experience as useful with regard to their future career plans.
• Based on responses from 13,0000 hiring managers and CEOs, the 2020 QS Global employer survey  found that 25% of respondents said that international experience was a recruitment priority.
• Study abroad alumni have better job prospects. Based on a survey conducted by  IES Abroad , 67% of study abroad alumni found their first job within six months of graduation.

IIE’s Generation Study Abroad provides resources to students, parents, and international education professionals who are engaging in study abroad and making the case for its significant value. We must ensure that this  generation and future generations of the U.S. workforce possess knowledge of other countries and cultures and are competent in languages other than English . It is more important now than ever for students to gain global competency skills so that they can succeed in the global marketplace.

From IIE’s A Student Guide to Study Abroad

“The ability to work across cultures is no longer a nice-to-have skill set for elite executives; every year it becomes more essential to finding any job at all. A machine operator at a plant in Topeka that exports aircraft parts to Brazil needs to know how to interact effectively when Brazilian customers come to visit. A nurse’s aide at a Houston hospital that serves a large Hispanic community has to communicate with family members in ways that encourage rather than discourage patient compliance.” Stacie Nevadomski Berdan Co-author and international careers expert

“The beauty of studying abroad is gaining a broader understanding of other cultures. Having access to other people and building relationships with those people on their home turf enables one to think more creatively and flexibly, necessary skills in today’s competitive work environment. If a student can bring that understanding and knowledge back to the USA, the sky’s the limit!” Frank Abate Division Manager, JM&A Group

“As a 35-year old, I believe that my generation is the last one to be able to use global experience as a differentiator. Globalization has now become a requirement to compete and succeed.” Adam Michaels Principal, Booz & Co.

Who benefits most from studying abroad? A conceptual and empirical overview

• Open access
• Published: 09 November 2021
• Volume 82 , pages 1049–1069, ( 2021 )

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• Nicolai Netz   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7272-3502 1  

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This editorial to the special issue on heterogeneous effects of studying abroad starts with a review of studies on the determinants and individual-level effects of studying abroad. On that basis, it illustrates the necessity to place more emphasis on effect heterogeneity in research on international student mobility. It then develops a typology of heterogeneous effects of studying abroad, which shall function as an agenda for future research in the field. Thereafter, the editorial introduces the contributions to the special issue. It concludes by summarising major findings and directions for future research.

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Rationale of the special issue

In the last decades, the facilitation of international student mobility (ISM) has been a key action line of European higher education policy (Ferencz & Wächter, 2012 ). Since the 1950s, ISM has been promoted as a means to generate societal benefits through knowledge exchange, social cohesion, and economic prosperity (Baron, 1993 ). Since the 2009 Leuven Conference of the European ministers responsible for higher education, policy-makers have additionally emphasised the individual benefits of studying abroad for the mobile students (Ministerial Conference, 2009 , 2012 ). Footnote 1

Along with this development, both policy-makers and scholars have become increasingly interested in who gets access to the benefits of studying abroad. From a variety of disciplinary perspectives—including psychology, educational sciences, economics, and sociology—it matters which factors influence access to studying abroad, and how studying abroad affects individual life courses. In recent years, research has made great progress in answering these questions.

On the one hand, various studies have enhanced our understanding of the factors that influence study abroad participation. These studies have shown, for instance, that the likelihood of studying abroad depends on students’ personality traits (e.g. Bakalis & Joiner, 2004 ; Zimmermann & Neyer, 2013 ), beliefs, attitudes, norms, and corresponding benefit expectations (e.g. Petzold & Moog, 2018 ; Presley et al., 2010 ; Sánchez et al., 2006 ; Schnusenberg et al., 2012 ), socio-demographic features (for an overview, see Netz et al., 2020 ), such as their gender (e.g. Böttcher et al., 2016 ; Cordua & Netz, 2021 ; Salisbury et al., 2010 ; Van Mol, 2021 ), age (e.g. Messer & Wolter, 2007 ; Netz, 2015 ), ethnicity (e.g. Netz & Sarcletti, 2021 ; Pungas et al., 2015 ; Simon & Ainsworth, 2012 ), and social origin (e.g. Di Pietro, 2020 ; Lingo, 2019 ; Netz & Finger, 2016 ; Waters & Brooks, 2010 ), previous experience with spatial mobility (e.g. Carlson, 2013 ; Lörz et al., 2016 ), academic performance in school and higher education (e.g. Favero & Fucci, 2017 ; Wiers-Jenssen, 2011 ; Wiers-Jenssen & Try, 2005 ), and literacy, numeracy, technical, and foreign language skills (e.g. Di Pietro & Page, 2008 ; Kommers, 2020 ). Furthermore, various contextual factors shape students’ opportunities to study abroad. These factors include the attitudes, expectations, and resources of students’ parents (e.g. Bodycott, 2009 ; Brux & Fry, 2010 ; Hurst, 2019 ; Pimpa, 2003 ) and peers (e.g. Brooks & Waters, 2010 ; Van Mol & Timmerman, 2014 ), the support of faculty members (e.g. Paus & Robinson, 2008 ), students’ field of study (e.g. Iriondo, 2020 ; Schmidt & Pardo, 2017 ; Schnepf & Colagrossi, 2020 ), the design of study programmes (e.g. Perna et al., 2015 ), the availability of institutional or state funding (e.g. Kramer & Wu, 2021 ; Whatley, 2017 ), the economic wealth of countries, and the quality of national higher education systems (e.g. Beine et al., 2014 ; Rodríguez et al., 2011 ; Vögtle & Windzio, 2016 ).

On the other hand, impact evaluations have shown that studying abroad can influence various domains of students’ life courses. For instance, they have illustrated that studying abroad can affect students’ personality development (e.g. Niehoff et al., 2017 ; Richter et al., 2021 ; Zimmermann et al., 2021 ), identity (e.g. King & Ruiz-Gelices, 2003 ; Sigalas, 2010 ; Van Mol, 2013 ), language proficiency (e.g. Brecht et al., 1993 ; Jackson et al., 2020 ; Magnan & Back, 2007 ), multi- or intercultural sensitivity and competences (e.g. Anderson et al., 2006 ; Clarke et al., 2009 ; Williams, 2005 ; Wolff & Borzikowsky, 2018 ), self-efficacy (e.g. Milstein, 2005 ; Nguyen et al., 2018 ; Petersdotter et al., 2017 ), and academic development and achievement (e.g. Cardwell, 2020 ; McKeown et al., 2020 ; Nerlich, 2021 ; Whatley & Canché, 2021 ). In recent years, in particular, various studies have also examined the effects of studying abroad on graduates’ labour market outcomes (for an overview, see Netz & Cordua, 2021 ; Roy et al., 2019 ; Waibel et al., 2017 ; Wiers-Jenssen et al., 2020 ). Among other things, scholars have assessed the effects of studying abroad on the job search duration and the likelihood of employment (e.g. Di Pietro, 2015 ; Liwiński, 2019a ; Petzold, 2017a ), skills mismatch (e.g. Wiers-Jenssen & Try, 2005 ), involvement in international job tasks (e.g. Teichler, 2011 ; Wiers-Jenssen, 2008 ), international labour market migration (e.g. Di Pietro, 2012 ; Parey & Waldinger, 2011 ), the occupational status (e.g. Waibel et al., 2018 ), and wages (e.g. Jacob et al., 2019 ; Kratz & Netz, 2018 ).

This short literature review illustrates that existing research already provides a comprehensive overview of the determinants and individual-level effects of studying abroad. Yet, it has not sufficiently acknowledged a simple possibility: It is unlikely that all individuals benefit from studying abroad to the same extent. While several studies have performed sensitivity analyses to ensure the robustness of their results across groups of students, educational, employment, and living contexts, as well as types of stays abroad, only a few studies have explicitly focused on heterogeneity in the effects of studying abroad. Mostly, existing studies have concentrated on quantifying an average effect for all individuals in their respective population sample (as becomes evident in several literature reviews: Netz & Cordua, 2021 ; Roy et al., 2019 ; Waibel et al., 2017 ).

However, shifting the focus on effect heterogeneity is beneficial for various reasons—which is already widely acknowledged in the broader literature on returns to higher education (for examples, see Bauldry, 2014 ; Brand & Xie, 2010 ; Triventi, 2013 ; Walker, 2020 ). As the next section demonstrates, this focus is often a prerequisite for adequately testing specific theoretical assumptions. For instance, assumptions about group differences in individual behaviour and in the returns to education are at the heart of theoretical models deriving from social stratification research.

Explicitly modelling effect heterogeneity can also be imperative methodologically (Breen et al., 2015 ; Elwert & Winship, 2010 ). Especially when examining diverse samples of students, the proper specification of an effect of studying abroad usually requires scholars to capture differential selection, that is, individual or group-specific patterns of study abroad participation. Additionally, they need to capture the variables or types of stays abroad across which effects are assumed to exhibit the most substantial variation. In cases where the true effects of studying abroad are likely to differ notably across individuals, groups, or types of stays abroad, one may also question the validity of average effects for entire population samples and of broad summary measures of ISM. Hence, it is both theoretically and methodologically useful to address the question of who benefits most from studying abroad.

Last but not least, answering this question is crucial from a policy perspective. Not only does this create the basis for assessing the political promise that studying abroad yields individual benefits. It also helps answer the question of whether—or rather under which circumstances—the often costly ISM policies pay off. More knowledge about group-specific patterns of selection into ISM could help policy-makers reduce crowding-out effects. More knowledge about heterogeneous returns could ease targeted student support and compensatory measures. Such interventions could increase the efficiency of policy interventions and counteract the often-observed generation of social inequalities in the context of ISM.

Heterogeneous effects of studying abroad: a typology for future research

Following the methodological literature in the social sciences (e.g. Breen et al., 2015 ; Carneiro et al., 2011 ; Elwert & Winship, 2010 ; Xie et al., 2012 ), we can conceptually distinguish different types of effect heterogeneity. In a first step, we can differentiate between heterogeneous treatment effects and treatment heterogeneity. A heterogeneous treatment effect arises if the outcome of a specific treatment—that is, an intervention or social phenomenon of interest—varies depending on the values of a third, moderating variable. In contrast, treatment heterogeneity describes the case that different treatments are under examination.

In research on the outcomes of studying abroad, it is difficult to neatly separate these two types of effect heterogeneity. Because two individuals are unlikely to complete the exact same type of stay abroad in practice, examining heterogeneous treatment effects will usually capture some degree of treatment heterogeneity—which is a problem that might generally not be considered enough in research on the outcomes of social phenomena. Still, applying the insights of the mentioned methodological literature and of different disciplinary approaches enables the development of an entire agenda for future research in the field (see Fig. 1 ). Footnote 2

A typology of heterogeneous effects of studying abroad

To begin with, the effect of studying abroad may be heterogeneous across individuals and groups. First of all, the pre-sojourn values on a dependent variable shape students’ potential to benefit from studying abroad. This perspective is particularly relevant for psychologists and educational scientists, who frequently capture their outcomes of interest using Likert scales. For instance, a very high pre-sojourn conscientiousness naturally limits students to indicate further personality development through studying abroad on a 5-point scale (Niehoff et al., 2017 ). Vice versa, this does not always imply that students with the lowest pre-sojourn values benefit most from studying abroad. With regard to language acquisition, for example, the potential to benefit from studying abroad seems to be limited for students who lack a linguistic basis to build upon (Magnan & Back, 2007 ). Thus, students with intermediate values on the examined dependent variables might in many respects be in a good position to benefit from studying abroad.

Relatedly, individuals’ alternative or complementary skills and signals may govern their potential to benefit from studying abroad. For instance, studying abroad could be less beneficial for students who have previously received similar treatments, such as international experience during school or higher education, or home-country experience with foreign cultures (Nguyen et al., 2018 ). In such cases, the marginal utility of additional international mobility could be decreasing. It is equally possible that sojourns abroad after graduation eclipse the signalling value of study-related stays abroad. Study abroad experience might also substitute other skills or signals. For example, students conveying negative signals, such as poor grades, might compensate their disadvantage through study abroad experience, and thus benefit more from studying abroad than students with good grades. This hypothesis, however, is not supported by initial evidence (Petzold, 2017b ). Theoretically, study abroad experience might also reinforce the signalling value of other personal features, and vice versa.

The effects of studying abroad may also vary depending on the likelihood of studying abroad. As the literature on economic returns to studying (abroad) illustrates, there are conflicting hypotheses in this regard: From a classical economic standpoint, the rationally acting and utility-maximising homo oeconomicus should invest in those educational options that are most likely to increase lifetime earnings. Therefore, those individuals who are most likely to study (abroad) should also benefit most from it (Willis & Rosen, 1979 ). In contrast, the sociological perspective highlights that social norms and opportunity structures influence the likelihood of studying (abroad) as much as rational cost-benefit considerations do (Brand & Xie, 2010 ). Moreover, contrary to individuals with a low likelihood of studying (abroad), individuals with a high likelihood of studying (abroad) might have good job prospects even if they do not study (abroad). In support of the sociological perspective, existing evidence suggests that students with a lower propensity to study abroad are more likely to benefit from it regarding their job prospects (Waibel et al., 2018 , 2020 ).

From a classical sociological standpoint, it is also relevant to explicitly analyse differences in the effect of studying abroad depending on students’ adherence to specific socio-demographic groups, as defined by ascribed characteristics such as their gender, migration background, and social origin. As shall be illustrated regarding social origin, this social stratification perspective also allows for competing scenarios: On the one hand, students from a high social origin could benefit more from studying abroad. They tend to be better equipped with material and cultural resources allowing them to profit from education (Savage & Egerton, 1997 ). Moreover, their habitus and capital endowments may allow them to better valorise their experiences and credentials in the labour market (Laurison & Friedman, 2016 ). On the other hand, students from a low social origin could benefit more. Considering that they are less likely to gain the skills and signals acquirable through studying abroad during their earlier life course, studying abroad could induce a compensatory levelling process (Schafer et al., 2013 ). Furthermore, students from a low social origin may be positively selected in terms of motivation and productivity characteristics, which could positively influence their likelihood of studying abroad and their later potential to capitalise on it. As they usually have to overcome higher financial and social burdens, they might solely decide to study abroad if they are strongly convinced of reaping its benefits (Waibel et al., 2020 ). Footnote 3

The effects of studying abroad are also likely to be context-specific. This means that stays abroad tend to result in different outcomes depending on the surroundings in which individuals live, study, or work. For example, the value of stays abroad will likely vary depending on students’ field of study (Nerlich, 2021 ). Studying abroad may be more relevant for academic development in modern languages and cultural sciences than, for instance, in chemistry. Its value may even vary depending on specific curricula within fields of study.

There is further reason to assume that graduates’ working contexts moderate the effects of studying abroad. The employment sector may moderate the effects of studying abroad in that private companies tend to remunerate study abroad experience more than public authorities (Wiers-Jenssen, 2011 ). Public-sector wage schemes are usually more rigid and can less flexibly reward additional assets such as study abroad experience. Its value may also vary across labour market segments: The value of study abroad experience may be higher in vocationally unspecific segments, in which graduates of fields such as the humanities, social sciences, and economics tend to work, than in vocationally specific segments, in which graduates of fields such as medicine and teaching tend to work (Kratz & Netz, 2018 ; Waibel et al., 2018 ). The reason could be that the rules of career success are more strictly regulated in vocationally specific segments, so that add-on signals are less valuable. Moreover, study abroad experience seems to pay off particularly when graduates work for multinational employers (Petzold, 2017a ; Wiers-Jenssen & Try, 2005 ). Eventually, the value of study abroad experience may largely depend on the working tasks that graduates complete on a daily basis.

The effects of studying abroad may further vary across the country of study, work, and living. To some extent, national differences regarding the already discussed features of study environments and working contexts may explain cross-country variation. Beyond that, there may be differences in the extent to which national higher education systems reward study abroad experience. So far, however, most internationally comparative studies have focused on differences in the labour market effects of studying abroad depending on the structure of national economies. These studies suggest that labour market returns to studying abroad tend to be highest in Southern and Eastern European countries, moderate in Central European countries, and smallest or even non-existent in Northern European countries (Humburg & van der Velden, 2015 ; Jacob et al., 2019 ; Rodrigues, 2013 ; Teichler, 2011 ; Van Mol, 2017 ). Adding to country-specific explanations (e.g. Van Mol, 2017 ), Jacob et al. ( 2019 ) suggest that “returns to international study experience in terms of hourly wage and class position [are] larger in countries with poorer university quality, lower international trade volume, higher graduate unemployment, and with relatively few students going abroad” (p. 500). Footnote 4

Besides structural features of higher education systems and economies, national policies may influence the effects of studying abroad, e.g. through programmes trying to attract internationally experienced graduates. Furthermore, various cultural idiosyncrasies—as defined e.g. by the national social system, prevalent religion and gender roles, openness to foreigners, degree of urbanisation, and official language(s)—might moderate the effects of studying abroad. In these respects, internationally comparative research is still in its infancy.

Regarding treatment heterogeneity, various facets of stays abroad are relevant from both theoretical and policy perspectives. The first facet is the duration of the stay abroad. Arguably, effects of studying abroad are—on average—less likely to manifest following very short stays of just a few days or weeks than following longer stays of several months or years (Dwyer, 2004 ). Some authors presume that the effect of studying abroad rises linearly with the time spent abroad. For example, Medina-López-Portillo ( 2004 ) “suggests that the longer the program, the more interculturally sensitive students are likely to become” (p. 185). It is equally possible that the learning curve and thus the marginal utility decrease with the time spent abroad, so that the relationship would follow a logarithmic pattern. Some evidence on the labour market effects of studying abroad is even in line with an inverted U-shape pattern, suggesting that the signalling value of stays abroad may first increase but then decrease again with rising duration. For instance, Rodrigues ( 2013 ) reports that studying abroad for three to 12 months yields a moderate wage premium, while studying abroad for less than three or more than 12 months yields no significant wage returns. Yet other studies report no effect heterogeneity depending on the time spent abroad. For instance, Schmidt and Pardo ( 2017 ) find no significant differences in the wage effects of 3-to-4 weeks as opposed to full-terms abroad.

The duration closely relates to the purpose of a stay abroad, which emphasises its function for competence development. For example, entire degrees and study periods abroad are likely to foster academic and generic intercultural skills, internships should help students acquire human capital that is particularly relevant professionally, and language courses may be most effective in improving language proficiency. Research comparing the effects of study periods and internships abroad concludes that internships abroad pay off slightly more in the labour market (Kratz & Netz, 2018 ; Van Mol, 2017 ). Footnote 5 A specific discussion revolves around the question of whether studying abroad entirely or partly is most beneficial. Evidence from Norway suggests that wage returns are higher for entire degrees than for study periods completed abroad (Wiers-Jenssen, 2011 ; Wiers-Jenssen & Try, 2005 ). In contrast, evidence from several (other) European countries suggests that employers prefer graduates who partly studied abroad over those who entirely studied abroad (Humburg & van der Velden, 2015 ). Ultimately, the extent to which graduates need general and country-specific human capital for their daily working life will be decisive in this respect.

An even more explicit focus on students’ actual activities is beneficial as well. Not least due to lacking standard criteria for evaluating the quality of stays abroad and of corresponding data, (quantitative) scholars have so far mostly treated stays abroad as black boxes concerning students’ activities. Logically, the quality of the coursework or work assignments matters. High-quality courses and ambitious assignments will likely influence the development of academic and professional skills more positively than sojourns that largely resemble touristic stays. Besides academic and professional activities, extracurricular activities may have a substantial bearing on the outcomes of studying abroad (Gozik & Oguro, 2020 ). In academic, professional, and extracurricular terms, students’ social contacts and the degree of immersion in their host culture also seem to play a vital role. For instance, establishing new relationships abroad is an essential catalyst for the positive effects of studying abroad on personality development (Zimmermann & Neyer, 2013 ). Similarly, intense interaction with host-country nationals is particularly important for improving oral foreign language proficiency (Engle & Engle, 2004 ; Jackson et al., 2020 ; Magnan & Back, 2007 ).

In this respect, the organisation of stays abroad comes into play. For instance, students’ housing arrangement—that is, whether they live in a host family, student residence, or off-campus apartment either with co-nationals, other non-nationals, host-country nationals, mixed groups, or alone—has received considerable attention in the study abroad literature. Regarding gains in language proficiency and other intercultural skills, however, the housing arrangement alone does not seem to be very predictive (Gozik & Oguro, 2020 ; Jackson et al., 2020 ). Rather, the previously discussed activities seem to matter. Moreover, a solid but not excessive level of student support, including pre-sojourn administrative and academic preparation, organisational support in the host country, post-sojourn follow-up reflection, and credit recognition can help students reap the benefits of studying abroad (Gozik & Oguro, 2020 ; Norris & Dwyer, 2005 ). Participation in specific study abroad programmes, as opposed to self-organised stays, may also influence the outcomes of studying abroad. Different programmes and self-organised stays abroad could either reflect the previously discussed types of treatment heterogeneity or have an unequal signalling value due to more or less restrictive or non-existent eligibility criteria. Footnote 6

The effects of studying abroad will arguably also depend on the host institution. Host universities and employers offering high-quality education, support, or working conditions should bring about better outcomes than institutions offering poor opportunity structures. In line with this view, there is evidence that European employers regard the prestige of graduates’ (host) universities during hiring processes as a signal of graduates’ level of skill acquisition (Humburg & van der Velden, 2015 ).

If employers cannot appraise the quality of graduates’ host institution, they may also draw on their own assumptions or factual information about the host country. For instance, stays in countries with effective higher education systems may signal high-quality learning experiences. Stays in countries with prosperous economies may signal the acquisition of professionally relevant skills. And stays in culturally exclusive countries may enable social distinction. Although only loosely linked to these theoretical thoughts, there is initial evidence on the labour market effects of sojourning in specific host countries: Examining graduates from institutions in Spain, Iriondo ( 2020 ) reports that wage returns to participation in the Erasmus programme are highest for stays in Germany, followed by stays in France, the Nordic countries, and the UK. Stays in countries such as Italy and Portugal do not seem to yield significant wage returns. Concentrating on returns to language acquisition rather than stays in specific host countries, Sorrenti ( 2017 ) reports that proficiency in German yields the highest wage returns for graduates from Italy, followed by proficiency in English, French, and Spanish. While there is some overlap between these findings, they also suggest that the value of stays in specific countries varies depending on graduates’ home country—and arguably also depending on various other factors, including the specific career that graduates intend to pursue.

Finally, temporality matters for analysing the outcomes of studying abroad. Methodologically, it is useful to differentiate age, period, and cohort effects (Winship & Harding, 2008 ). Age effects could result from the timing at which a stay abroad is completed. For instance, a stay abroad close to graduation might have stronger effects on the likelihood of employment than a stay abroad shortly after entering higher education. The former could help students broaden their professional networks and gain valuable information for their upcoming job search. In turn, an early stay abroad might have more substantial effects on academic development. Moreover, what matters is the point in graduates’ careers when we measure the outcomes of studying abroad. Existing evidence suggests that specific labour market effects of studying abroad may take several years to unfold (Netz & Cordua, 2021 ). A reason could be that the competences acquired through studying abroad cannot be applied immediately in many labour market entry positions.

Period effects would find their expression in a changing value of study abroad experience over time. Teichler and Janson ( 2007 ) suggest that the self-perceived professional value of Erasmus study abroad experience may have decreased between the late 1980s and 2005 with the increasing share of students studying abroad. While the scarcity value of study abroad experience has certainly decreased, it is equally possible that the skills acquired through studying abroad have become more relevant in continuously globalising labour markets.

Cohort effects are characterised by common events experienced by specific groups. For instance, the 2020 and 2021 graduation cohorts may not have been able to readily capitalise on possible study abroad experience because of hiring freezes and limited international cooperation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This may translate to long-term disadvantages (scarring effects) for these cohorts.

As already indicated, different types of effect heterogeneity may interact—or rather define an outcome in conjunction. For instance, we might observe different effects of studying abroad across social groups partly because different groups are more or less likely to work in specific labour market segments, where study abroad experience is either more or less remunerated. This pattern could also result from different social groups completing different stays abroad. Whether different study abroad treatments produce divergent effects may depend on the country of work/living. Finally, as time and space features are not separable, the discussed age, period, and cohort effects will always be defined by individual or group-specific effects, context-specific effects, and treatment heterogeneity. Clearly, it is difficult to empirically disentangle different types of effect heterogeneity using currently available data and methods. Still, their conceptual differentiation is vital for appropriate hypothesis testing and for pinpointing effective policy recommendations.

Articles of the special issue

The articles of this special issue engage with the developed research agenda. In doing so, they each contribute a unique analytical perspective by accentuating specific disciplinary angles, corresponding theoretical and methodological approaches, country contexts, outcomes of studying abroad, and types of effect heterogeneity.

The articles have their roots in psychology, economics, and sociology. Relatedly, they use diverse theoretical approaches (theories of personality traits, experiential learning, rational choice, human capital, signalling, statistical discrimination, social capital, and social stratification) and statistical methods (linear and multinomial logistic regressions, latent change models, multilevel models, growth curve models, and propensity score matching). They cover Anglo-Saxon, Continental and Southern European, and Scandinavian countries (UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, and Norway). They focus on different outcomes of studying abroad (multicultural self-efficacy, metacognitive intercultural competence, intergroup anxiety, uptake of postgraduate education, job search duration, likelihood of employment, skills mismatch, and labour income). Thereby, they also explore the effects of studying abroad in different life course stages (during studies, the transition from higher education to work, and the early professional career). Finally, they consider a variety of the above-mentioned types of effect heterogeneity. These include individual or group-specific effects (contingent on pre-mobility values of specific dependent variables, alternative skills and signals, the likelihood of studying abroad, and the adherence to specific socio-demographic groups), context-specific effects (as defined by the study environment, working context, and country of work), treatment heterogeneity (depending on the purpose, organisation, and host country of stays abroad), and aspects of temporality (point during studies when a stay abroad was completed, point in career when its effect was measured, and graduation year).

The articles also have commonalities: In response to repeated calls for better approximations of causal effects of studying (e.g. Netz & Cordua, 2021 ; Waibel et al., 2017 ; Wiers-Jenssen et al., 2020 ), all articles employ statistical techniques that can reduce the bias resulting from the selective participation in ISM. Thereby, they also contribute to integrating the still often disconnected research streams on the determinants and on the effects of studying abroad. Moreover, they either use large-scale and mostly nationally representative observational data or experimental data to ensure the validity of the generated results. Some studies examine the same countries, types of stays abroad, outcomes, or types of effect heterogeneity. This allows for rough comparisons of their results.

In the first article, Julia Zimmermann , Henriette Greischel , and Kathrin Jonkmann ( 2020 ) examine the influence of studying abroad on different facets of multicultural effectiveness. Based on psychological theories of personality traits and experiential learning, they reason that studying abroad should increase multicultural self-efficacy as well as metacognitive intercultural competence and decrease intergroup anxiety. They also assume that these effects vary depending on selected socio-demographic characteristics and students’ previous international mobility. They test their hypotheses based on a countrywide purposive sample of students at higher education institutions in Germany, whom they surveyed three times during their studies. Using latent change models, they find evidence supporting their theoretical assumptions: Studying abroad slightly increases self-perceived multicultural self-efficacy and metacognitive intercultural competence. Moreover, it slightly lowers intergroup anxiety. Importantly, these developmental patterns do not vary depending on students’ socio-demographics—as defined by their gender, age, migration background, and parents’ professional qualification. However, students benefit most from studying abroad regarding the development of multicultural effectiveness when they are internationally mobile for the first time.

In the second article, Knut Petzold ( 2020 ) addresses the relevance of study abroad experience during hiring processes. Following economic theories of human capital, job market signalling, and statistical discrimination, he examines how the importance that human resource managers attach to studying abroad varies depending on the purpose and timing of stays abroad, graduates’ socio-demographic features, their other human capital characteristics, and the (inter)national orientation of employers. He bases his analysis on a factorial survey experiment administered to a purposive sample of German employers. Estimating multilevel models, he finds suggestive evidence that employers consider internships the most valuable (arguably because they generate the most specific human capital), followed by study periods and non-educational private stays abroad. Graduates with a migration background benefit less from study periods and private stays abroad than graduates without such a background, possibly because a migration background already signals transnational human capital. Also, Master graduates benefit less from study periods and internships abroad because they may already have more general and specific human capital than Bachelor graduates. Finally, employers value study abroad experience (insignificantly) more if they have a foreign branch, which could indicate a relatively higher value of transnational human capital for multinational employers.

In the third article, Jannecke Wiers-Jenssen and Liv Anne Støren ( 2020 ) explore whether studying abroad affects the risk of unemployment and skills mismatch about six months after graduation. Following theories of human capital and signalling, they hypothesise that this risk differs depending on graduates’ socio-demographics and working context. They test their hypotheses based on data from the Norwegian graduate survey. These data cover six graduation cohorts, who completed their studies between 2007 and 2017. Their multinomial logistic regressions show that most differentiated graduate groups do not differ significantly in their risk of unemployment and skills mismatch depending on whether they have studied abroad. However, they find that studying abroad reduces this risk among graduates of business and administration, who tend to work in the private sector. They conclude that their results contradict the hypothesis that study abroad experience pays off mainly among graduates of vocationally unspecific fields. Furthermore, they find that studying abroad reduces the risk of unemployment and skills mismatch particularly among graduates with high intake grades. They do not observe effect heterogeneity depending on the social origin or migration background. Therefore, they conclude that their results also contradict the hypothesis that those less likely to study abroad profit more from it.

In the fourth article, Christof Van Mol , Kim Caarls , and Manuel Souto-Otero ( 2020 ) assess the effect of studying abroad on the duration of the transition from higher education to work and on the monthly wage at 1.5 years after graduation. Starting from theoretical thoughts on human capital, signalling, and international prestige hierarchies of higher education systems and labour markets, they look at effect heterogeneity depending on the study level (Bachelor vs. Master), purpose of a stay abroad (study period vs. internship vs. both), and educational and economic features of students’ host countries. They test their hypotheses based on nationally representative graduate survey data from the Netherlands. Using linear regressions, they observe that the examined labour market effects of studying abroad vary slightly across study levels, purposes of stays abroad, and host countries. Against expectations, however, the observed effects and corresponding heterogeneity largely disappear after stricter controls for selection effects through propensity score matching. Also contrary to expectations, sojourns in countries with well-performing higher education systems come along with a longer duration of job search, possibly because students staying in such countries take more time to find jobs matching their high aspirations. Overall, the authors conclude that the well-performing higher education system and labour market in the Netherlands restrict graduates’ potential to further improve their labour market prospects through studying abroad.

In the fifth article, Béatrice d’Hombres and Sylke Schnepf ( 2021 ) examine the effect of studying abroad on the likelihood of postgraduate education and of employment in the first years after graduation. Referring to human capital, signalling, and social capital theories, they compare these labour market effects of studying abroad across countries and socio-economic groups. They draw on large-scale graduate survey data from Italy and the UK to test their hypotheses. In line with theory, their matching analyses indicate that studying abroad correlates with a greater likelihood of postgraduate education among graduates in Italy. They do not observe this link among graduates in the UK. The effect of studying abroad on the likelihood of employment is significantly positive both one and four years after graduation in Italy. In the UK, it is significantly positive six months after graduation and insignificant three years after graduation. Thus, the examined labour market returns to studying abroad are higher in Italy than in the UK. Against expectations, the effects of studying abroad on the likelihood of employment do not differ significantly across socio-economic groups. However, the effect of studying abroad on the likelihood of postgraduate education is larger among graduates from a low socio-economic background than among those with a high socio-economic background in Italy.

In the last article, Nicolai Netz and Michael Grüttner ( 2020 ) provide a sociological analysis of the relationship between studying abroad and the generation of social inequality. Drawing on social stratification theory, they argue that a scenario in which ISM increases social inequality (because graduates from an academic background benefit from cumulative advantages) is as plausible as a scenario in which ISM decreases social inequality (because graduates from a non-academic background benefit from compensatory levelling). Following these thoughts, they test whether the effect of studying abroad on labour income varies across social groups in the German labour market. Their study is based on nationally representative survey data capturing the first ten years of graduates’ careers, which they analyse using propensity score matching and random effects growth curve models. In line with the scenario of cumulative advantage, their results suggest that graduates from an academic background benefit more from studying abroad than graduates from a non-academic background. Considering that students from an academic background are also more likely to study abroad in the first place, they conclude that ISM fosters the reproduction of social inequality. They also find that the estimated returns to studying abroad are highest among those with the lowest propensity to study abroad. However, this pattern seems to be driven by the results for graduates from an academic background.

Taken together, the articles of the special issue provide a comprehensive answer to the question of who benefits most from studying abroad. At the same time, they clearly indicate a need for further research. Some major findings and directions for future research are highlighted in the concluding section.

Summary and conclusions

It is beyond the scope of this editorial to comprehensively summarise the wealth of empirical evidence that the articles of the special issue provide. However, the following lines highlight a few overarching themes.

To begin with, all contributions to the special issue illustrate that studying abroad has only moderate effects on the examined outcomes—if compared to other critical life events, skills, and signals. They equally demonstrate that the benefits of studying abroad are often confined to specific groups of students and graduates, contexts, and types of stays abroad. Consequently, they justify the initial claim that research on ISM should devote more attention to effect heterogeneity.

Additionally, the articles highlight the importance of adopting a life course perspective. This perspective does not only help scholars trace group-specific patterns of selection into study abroad experience. It also emphasises that specific groups of students may build up cumulative advantages or disadvantages over their life course due to (even minor) heterogeneous effects of studying abroad (Zimmermann et al., 2020 ). The life course perspective also stresses the importance of other aspects of temporality: Although further research is needed in this respect, there is evidence that the timing of a stay abroad matters (Petzold, 2020 ; Van Mol et al., 2020 ). Moreover, the effect of studying abroad seems to vary over graduates’ careers: Country differences notwithstanding, the labour market effects of studying abroad—especially with regard to labour income—seem to be more pronounced a few years after graduation than shortly thereafter (d’Hombres & Schnepf, 2021 ; Netz & Grüttner, 2020 ; Van Mol et al., 2020 ; Wiers-Jenssen & Støren, 2020 ).

Furthermore, the contributions to the special issue have produced evidence of diminishing marginal returns of gaining additional international experience. For instance, gains in multicultural effectiveness are particularly notable among students without previous sojourns abroad (Zimmermann et al., 2020 ). Also, graduates who can signal transnational human capital in other ways are less likely to benefit from studying abroad in terms of their probability of being hired (Petzold, 2020 ).

To further advance our knowledge on (heterogeneous) effects of studying abroad, we need panel data covering longer time frames. These data should ideally describe individuals’ life courses starting at early ages and throughout their entire educational and professional career. Such data would not only allow us to answer questions that are inherently longitudinal in nature, but also to integrate ISM research rooted in different disciplines and research communities. This would enable a shift from multidisciplinary to interdisciplinary research on the effects of studying abroad. For instance, it would be relevant to examine how differential changes in personality traits and intercultural competences due to study abroad experience translate into group-specific labour market outcomes. Answering such questions would also provide more knowledge about the mechanisms that can explain the observed heterogeneity in the effects of studying abroad.

Additionally, long-running panel data would bring about methodological advances: They would enable the application of statistical techniques allowing for better approximations of causal effects of studying abroad. At present, many surveys limit analyses of heterogeneous outcomes of studying abroad because they address individuals only after graduation. This limitation of graduate surveys explains the relative popularity of matching approaches, which cannot capture selection into study abroad experience based on unobserved characteristics. A fruitful complement to the extension of survey data would be the more frequent use of experimental designs in research on ISM.

Besides age effects, period effects and cohort effects warrant further attention in research on ISM. Once the required panel data are available for multiple student and graduate cohorts, scholars could examine whether the effects of studying abroad have changed over time. For instance, we still lack robust analyses testing the hypothesis that the labour market returns to studying abroad have declined over the past decades as a result of ISM becoming less exclusive (see also Waibel et al., 2017 ). Footnote 7

In line with previous evidence on occupational status benefits of studying abroad (Waibel et al., 2018 , 2020 ), evidence on the wage effects of studying abroad presented in this special issue confirms the tendency that those with a low propensity to study abroad benefit more from studying abroad than those with a high propensity to study abroad (Netz & Grüttner, 2020 ). However, it is noteworthy that all existing studies refer to graduates in the German labour market. Thus, further evidence is needed from other countries.

The findings are far less straightforward concerning effect heterogeneity depending on the social origin. In Italy, students from lower socio-economic backgrounds benefit more from studying abroad in terms of foreign language acquisition (Sorrenti, 2017 ) and the likelihood of postgraduate education (d’Hombres & Schnepf, 2021 ). Regarding the employment likelihood a few years after graduation, analyses of the returns to studying abroad report either no significant group differences (d’Hombres & Schnepf, 2021 ) or comparatively high returns for graduates from intermediate social backgrounds (Di Pietro, 2015 ). In Norway, the influence of studying abroad on graduates’ early-career risk of unemployment and skills mismatch does not vary significantly depending on parents’ educational attainment (Wiers-Jenssen & Støren, 2020 ). Similarly, Zimmermann et al. ( 2020 ) do not find significant differences by parents’ professional qualifications in the effect of studying abroad on multicultural effectiveness among students in Germany. However, wage returns to studying abroad are higher among graduates from an academic background in the German labour market (Netz & Grüttner, 2020 ). In Poland, too, graduates from an academic background benefit most from studying abroad in terms of the employment probability (Liwiński, 2019a ).

Concerning the migration background, the effect of studying abroad on multicultural effectiveness does not vary significantly in Germany (Zimmermann et al., 2020 ). Similarly, the effect of studying abroad on the risk of unemployment and skills mismatch does not vary significantly depending on whether graduates have a migration background in Norway. However, graduates with a migration background seem to benefit slightly less from study periods and private stays abroad regarding the propensity of being hired in Germany (Petzold, 2020 ). In summary, existing evidence on heterogeneous effects of studying abroad depending on socio-demographics is thus mixed. Footnote 8

Furthermore, there is conflicting evidence regarding the hypothesis that study abroad experience pays off more in vocationally unspecific than in vocationally specific labour market segments. Evidence from Germany concerning the influence of studying abroad on occupational status (Waibel et al., 2018 ) and on labour income (Kratz & Netz, 2018 ; Netz & Grüttner, 2020 ) supports this hypothesis. However, Wiers-Jenssen and Støren ( 2020 ) find no evidence of this pattern regarding the risk of unemployment and skills mismatch in Norway.

Further research should address the reasons for the highlighted inconsistencies. One reason could be that studies use different variables to capture ISM, the social and migration backgrounds, the specificity of labour market segments, and the respective outcome variables. Another possible reason is the use of different analytical samples and methods. It is also conceivable that students from specific backgrounds benefit more from studying abroad regarding skill acquisition, but are not able to translate such relative advantages to tangible labour market benefits. Finally, the highlighted inconsistencies could also reflect country differences in how national higher education systems and labour markets moderate the effects of studying abroad.

Analyses of effect heterogeneity depending on the likelihood of studying abroad, socio-demographics, and the fields of study and work are just some examples where high-quality, large-scale, internationally comparable data are dearly needed. To date, research on country differences in the effect of studying abroad is confined to European countries (Humburg & van der Velden, 2015 ; Jacob et al., 2019 ; Rodrigues, 2013 ; Teichler, 2011 ; Van Mol, 2017 ). While the contributions to the special issue are not always in line with the pattern that labour market effects of studying abroad are “larger in countries with poorer university quality, lower international trade volume, higher graduate unemployment, and with relatively few students going abroad” (Jacob et al., 2019 , p. 500), they align with the geographic pattern that returns tend to be larger in Southern than in Central European countries and smallest in Northern European countries: The contributions report notably positive labour market effects of studying abroad in Italy, moderately positive effects in the UK (d’Hombres & Schnepf, 2021 ) and Germany (Netz & Grüttner, 2020 ; Petzold, 2020 ), and slightly positive or insignificant effects in Norway (Wiers-Jenssen & Støren, 2020 ) and the Netherlands (Van Mol et al., 2020 ).

Regarding treatment heterogeneity, the results presented in the special issue (Petzold, 2020 ) are in line with previous research suggesting that employers place more value on internships abroad than on study periods abroad (Van Mol, 2017 ). In Germany, this also seems to translate to slightly higher wage effects of internships than of study periods abroad (Kratz & Netz, 2018 ). In the Netherlands, however, analyses of graduate survey data do not reveal significant differences in this regard (Van Mol et al., 2020 ). Considering that only a few studies explore this treatment heterogeneity, further research is needed. This claim also applies to heterogeneity depending on the organisation and host country of stays abroad. In this respect, it is important to keep in mind—and certainly also difficult to model with the available sample sizes—that students’ and graduates’ potential to benefit from studying abroad will likely depend on the specific pairing of their home and host countries.

The findings on treatment heterogeneity are probably also highly contingent on the examined dependent variables. Studies differentiating the effects of study periods and internships abroad have focused on labour market effects. Considering that internships are more likely to generate specific, labour market relevant human capital than study periods abroad, it is understandable that employers favour internships over study periods. The picture might look different, for instance, in the expanding line of research examining the effects of studying abroad on academic development and achievement.

Besides this outcome, ISM scholarship could also devote more attention to further dependent variables that have received little attention—in research on studying abroad in general and in research on corresponding effect heterogeneity in particular. For instance, it would be relevant to examine (heterogeneous) effects of studying abroad on relationship stability, health-related quality of life, and life satisfaction.

In summary, this special issue has compiled manifold conceptual angles and empirical findings on heterogeneous effects of studying abroad. It has equally illustrated the ample opportunities to further expand research on ISM through a more explicit focus on effect heterogeneity. Footnote 9 Clearly, the proposed typology of heterogeneous effects of studying abroad has not yet been fully explored empirically. In that sense, we have only just begun to answer the question of who benefits most from studying abroad.

In this special issue, study(ing) abroad denotes study-related stays outside the country where students obtained their higher education entrance qualification or where they first enrolled in higher education. Study(ing) abroad may take the form of entire degrees completed abroad (often called degree mobility or diploma mobility) or of study periods, internships, language courses, and other study-related stays abroad (also referred to as short-term mobility, or as credit mobility if yields study credits). The term study(ing) abroad is often used synonymously to the notion of international student mobility (ISM). Strictly speaking, however, study(ing) abroad accentuates individual action on a micro level, while ISM rather describes cross-border flows of students from a macro perspective.

The developed typology does not present a complete list of conceivable types of heterogeneity in the individual-level effects of studying abroad. Rather, it collates the major types that have so far been discussed in the ISM literature. It also intends to inspire thoughts about other types of heterogeneity in the effects of studying abroad. Ultimately, it aims at broadening the ISM research agenda.

Clearly, approaches examining effect heterogeneity depending on latent constructs or composite measures, such as the propensity to study abroad, are related to approaches using manifest constructs, such as the social origin being measured by the educational attainment of students' parents. In turn, both analytical perspectives are related to analyses of effect heterogeneity focussing on pre-sojourn values on dependent variables or on other skills and signals. In fact, students with differing propensity to study abroad and social origin will also differ regarding these latter two aspects. However, as has been illustrated, it is legitimate to conceptually differentiate all four perspectives because they accentuate different theoretical assumptions. Moreover, as the contributions to the special issue demonstrate, they require different methodological strategies and may produce different results.

From a country-of-origin perspective, the returns to studying abroad can also vary depending on the country where national graduates find work. Among graduates from Poland, for instance, wage returns to studying abroad seem to manifest only among graduates working abroad after graduation, and not among graduates remaining in Poland (Liwiński, 2019b ).

From a policy perspective, it would also be interesting to examine the outcomes of hybrid types of stays abroad. For instance, do combinations of study periods and internships abroad produce particularly beneficial results?

Cammelli et al. ( 2008 ) provide descriptive evidence that the early-career wages of Erasmus alumni exceed the wages of graduates who organised their stays abroad differently. In future research, experimental designs—such as vignette studies or field experiments—would offer ample opportunities to provide more robust tests of differences in the signalling value of specific study abroad programmes and of self-organised stays abroad.

Combinations of different data sources could also advance research. Examples are the inclusion of survey experiments into student and graduates surveys, and the linkage of survey data with administrative data from higher education institutions, social security offices, and tax bureaus. Such integrated data would provide very robust measures of students’ and graduates’ spatial, educational, and labour market trajectories.

Regarding students’ and graduates’ socio-demographics, in particular, further research should better examine the role of policy interventions for the generation of inequalities. With few exceptions (e.g. Kramer & Wu, 2021 ; Netz & Finger, 2016 ), it has hardly been examined how policy interventions influence socio-demographic inequalities in study abroad participation. We know even less about how policies may inadvertently promote unequal outcomes of studying abroad, or about effective policies to maximise the benefits of studying abroad for disadvantaged student groups.

By drawing on respectively relevant theoretical models, such a focus could certainly also help advance research in other realms of the social sciences.

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I thank all contributors to the special issue for their great work and excellent collaboration. Moreover, I thankfully acknowledge the valuable feedback of our anonymous reviewers. I am grateful to Simon Marginson for his continuous support throughout our initiative and to the editorial team of Higher Education for their assistance during the publishing process. Finally, I thank Michael Grüttner, Katharina Reitsamer, and Ulrike Schwabe for helpful comments on previous versions of this article.

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Netz, N. Who benefits most from studying abroad? A conceptual and empirical overview. High Educ 82 , 1049–1069 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00760-1

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The Pros  of Study Abroad

Studying abroad opens the door to a world of new possibilities. We couldn't be more passionate about that. The benefits of living and learning in a new culture will impact all parts of your life, from the day you enroll to every day thereafter.  

You will be surprised at the impact this one experience will have on you. And you will be so glad you took that leap of faith, after all. 

The Top 6 Advantages of Studying Abroad  

As you weigh the pros of studying abroad , add these to your list:  

1. You will learn to think more broadly.    

By immersing yourself in a new culture, you will be exposed to a new language, new perspectives, foreign foods, and life-changing experiences. All of this will change the way you see the world and your role in it. 

2. You will make lifelong connections.    

By sharing new experiences, you can’t help but connect deeply with other students in your cohort and at your partner institutions. And trust us, you will share many new experiences while studying abroad. These are the kind of friendships that last a lifetime. 

3. You will gain a competitive edge.    

Ninety-seven percent of students who study abroad find employment within 12 months of graduation and 25 percent earn higher salaries than their peers. How’s that for standing out in today’s competitive job market?  

Bonus : You can even boost your resume by gaining real-world experience through a global internship ! We offer full- and part-time international internship opportunities across a wide variety of industries. So, if it’s a competitive edge you want, then a competitive edge is exactly what you’ll get. 

Read more: How to Put Study Abroad on Your Resume: 4 Steps

4. You will build your language skills.    

Whether your goal is to master a new language or just get by with a conversational understanding of the local language, studying abroad will help you do it. There is nothing quite like cultural immersion for optimal language learning.  

Do note , however, that most CIEE programs are delivered in English unless you’re in a language class or program for advanced speakers, like our Summer Intensive Spanish Language program in Alicante or our Advanced Arabic Language program in Amman.   

5. You will step out of your comfort zone.    

Trying new things helps you learn how to adapt to new situations. A key life skill for our rapidly changing world.  

Just think, you will be working with new professors, new peers, a new currency, a new language, a new transit system, new food, and more – you get the idea. And just know, CIEE will be there to support you every step of the way, 24/7. Our program is a truly great way to safely take that leap of faith. 

6. You will be better for it.    

We hear it all the time : “study abroad changed my life.” And it’s so true. Studying abroad teaches you leadership, cross-cultural communication, adaptability, and so much more. Mark this down as a key advantage to studying abroad.  

The Cons  of Study Abroad

Charting new territory is not in everyone’s comfort zone. And studying abroad, for many students, is definitely classified as uncharted territory. We know the unknown can be intimidating, and we also know studying abroad comes with a bit of sacrifice.  

This is why we’re sharing some of the disadvantages of studying abroad so you can make the most informed decision possible.  

The Top 5 Disadvantages of Studying Abroad  

Here are the cons of studying abroad you should address when weighing your decision:  

1. Studying abroad can be expensive.    

It can be . But there are scholarships and grants available to help you make studying abroad a reality . Your college or university may offer their own scholarship and grant options. Others you can apply for at CIEE directly in your CIEE Study Abroad application . We offer millions each year for students with demonstrated financial need, proven academic merit, or who’ve enrolled in specific programs as well.  

On average, a semester with CIEE costs $18,861 . A little less when studying abroad in Latin America ($17,291) . A little more when heading to Europe ($19,968) .   

Our Open Campus Block program option, in which you can choose one, two, or three consecutive six-week study abroad sessions, costs about $18,750 but drops significantly to a little over $6,000 for students who choose to pursue only one block (6 weeks) or about $12,000 for two blocks (12 weeks).  

Bear in mind, too, that CIEE tuition provides a high level of student support. Not every program can say the same. Our program fee covers most of the essentials, outside of airfare and meals, and typically includes: 

• Tuition  
• Housing  
• Pre-departure advising  
• Orientation  
• On-site staff + 24/7 emergency on-site support  
• Cultural + co-curricular activities  
• Travel protection  

Read More: How Much Does it Cost to Study Abroad in 2024?  

2. There will be language barriers.   

Even for the most advanced speakers, immersion into a new culture will stretch your language capabilities. We see that as a really good thing. And we believe that if you go abroad with us, you will, too.  

But there’s no getting around the fact that there will be a steep language learning curve as you make your way through the program. We bet you’re up for the challenge. Plus, most of our classes are taught in English, so you will still make big gains academically. 

3. You may experience culture shock.   

The food will be different. The language will be different. The architecture will be different. The style of communication will be different. The local customs and social norms will be different, too. You will have to adjust. But isn’t that at least some of the point? You will return home with a new perspective! 

Read more: What is Culture Shock? 4 Examples and Tips to Adjust

4. You might get homesick.  

Most of our students are traveling for the first time without their family or friends. And that’s a huge step that may cause homesickness . 

Just know that CIEE offers a ton of support, including around-the-clock on-site staff. So, we’re always available. Plus, you’ll have a cohort of new friends to keep you company when those homesick feeling begin creeping up.  

And remember , you can always call home when you need to hear a familiar voice. Our students love to FaceTime, Skype, Zoom, and so on to virtually connect with their loved ones whenever they want. 

5. Re-integration can be hard.    

This is an adjustment most students don’t anticipate.   

Often, when the study abroad experience is really great and there’s a ton of personal growth, students have a hard time adjusting back into their typical routine back home. You may experience this, too. It’s a sort of homesickness for the study abroad culture.  

Just know it will get better once you’ve had time to adjust to your routine again. And, for those who just can’t shake the feeling, there’s the opportunity to apply to join CIEE’s Student Ambassador Program to get paid to talk about your study abroad experience! 

Learn More: Become a CIEE Student Ambassador  

The Choice is Yours  

Thinking through the advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad is an important first step in your study abroad experience. If you have any questions or want to talk through your personal list of studying abroad pros and cons, we ’re happy to connect .   

In the meantime, check out t he 170+ incredible programs we have to offer to begin planning your perfect study abroad experience! 

GET STARTED  

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How Living Abroad Helps You Develop a Clearer Sense of Self

• Otilia Obodaru,
• Jackson G. Lu,
• William Maddux,
• Adam D. Galinsky

Research finds it’s driven by how long you’ve lived abroad, not where.

In today’s increasingly globalized world, more and more people are choosing to live, work and study abroad — and this trend appears to be a good thing: Social science studies have shown that international experiences can enhance creativity, reduce intergroup bias, and promote career success. Researchers set out to examine whether and how international experiences can transform a person’s sense of self. Specifically, they focused on “self-concept clarity,” the extent to which someone’s understanding of himself or herself is “clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable” — a trait that has been linked to increased well-being and job performance. In six studies with 1,874 participants, they found that living abroad leads to greater self-concept clarity — which can lead to clearer career decisions — and what matters is depth rather than breadth of living abroad experiences.

In today’s increasingly globalized world, more and more people are choosing to live, work and study abroad —and this trend appears to be a good thing: social science studies have shown that international experiences can enhance creativity , reduce intergroup bias , and promote career success .

• HA Hajo Adam is an assistant professor of management at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business.
• OO Otilia Obodaru is an assistant professor of management at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business.
• JL Jackson G. Lu is an assistant professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
• WM William Maddux is a professor of organizational behavior at the Kenan-Flagler School of Business, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Adam D. Galinsky is the chair of the Management Division at the Columbia Business School. He co-authored the critically acclaimed and best-selling book,  Friend & Foe  (Penguin Random House, 2015), and delivered a popular TED talk,  How to Speak Up for Yourself .

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• Study Abroad Guide

10 Benefits to Studying Abroad

Studying abroad may be one of the most beneficial experiences for a college student. By studying abroad, students have the opportunity to study in a foreign nation and take in the allure and culture of a new land. Here is a list of the top 10 reasons to study abroad!

1. See the World

The biggest reason you should consider a study abroad program is the opportunity to see the world . By studying abroad, you will experience a brand-new country with incredible new outlooks, customs and activities. The benefits of studying abroad include the opportunity to see new terrains, natural wonders, museums and landmarks of your host nation.

In addition, when you’re abroad, you won’t be limited to traveling in just the nation in which you are studying – you can see neighboring countries as well! For example, if you study in France, you’ll have the option to travel through various parts of Europe including London , Barcelona , and Rome.

2. Education

Another reason you might consider studying abroad is for the chance to experience different styles of education . By enrolling in a study abroad program, you’ll have the chance to see a side of your major that you may not have been exposed to at home.

You’ll find that completely immersing yourself in the education system of your host country is a great way to really experience and understand the people, its traditions, and its culture. Education is the centerpiece of any study abroad trip—it is, after all, a study abroad program—and choosing the right school is a very important factor.

3. Take in a New Culture

Many students who choose to study abroad are leaving their home for the first time. When they arrive in their new host country, they are fascinated by the distinct cultural perspectives. When you study abroad you will find incredible new foods, customs, traditions, and social atmospheres.

You will find that you have a better understanding and appreciation for the nation’s people and history. You will have the opportunity to witness a completely new way of life.

4. Hone Your Language Skills

Chances are if you’re planning on studying abroad, one of the major draws is the opportunity to study a foreign language. Studying abroad grants you the opportunity to completely immerse yourself in a new language, and there is no better way to learn than to dive right in.

In addition to the considerable language practice you will get just in day to day life, your host university will likely offer language courses to provide you with a more formal education. Immerse yourself in a new culture and go beyond a purely academic experience

5. Career Opportunities

When you finish your study abroad program and return home, you will return with a new perspective on culture, language skills, a great education, and a willingness to learn. Needless to say, all of these are very attractive to future employers.

Many students find that they love their host country so much that they decide to seek work there. If you can relate, you will find that a local education will be very valuable when searching for a potential job in that country.

6. Find New Interests

If you are still questioning why to study abroad, you should know that studying in a different country offers many new activities and interests that you may never have discovered if you’d stayed at home. You might find that you have an as-yet undiscovered talent for hiking, water sports, snow skiing, golf, or various other new sports you may never have tried back home.

You’ll also have the chance to discover other new and exciting forms of entertainment. Plays, movies, dancing, nightclubs, and concerts are just a few activities that you can enjoy.

7. Make Lifelong Friends

One of the biggest benefits of studying abroad is the opportunity to meet new lifelong friends from different backgrounds. While studying abroad, you will attend school and live with students from your host country. This gives you the opportunity to really get to know and create lasting relationships with your fellow students.

After the study abroad program ends, make an effort stay in contact with your international friends. In addition to rewarding personal relationships, these friends can also be important networking tools later down the road.

8. Personal Development

There is nothing quite like being on your own in a foreign country. You might find that studying abroad really brings out your independent nature. Students who study abroad become explorers of their new nation and really discover the curiosity and excitement that they harbor.

A benefit to studying abroad is the opportunity to discover yourself while gaining an understanding of a different culture. Being in a new place by yourself can be overwhelming at times, and it tests your ability to adapt to diverse situations while being able to problem solve.

9. Graduate School Admissions

Like future employers, graduate school admissions boards look very highly on study abroad experiences. Students that study abroad display diversity and show that they aren’t afraid to seek out new challenges or put themselves in difficult situations.

Most importantly, students who have studied abroad show just how committed they are to their education. Graduate schools regularly look for candidates who will bring a unique aspect to their university. Students who have studied abroad have shown that they have the curiosity and educational acumen to be a leader in graduate school.

10. Life Experience

Why study abroad? For most students, this time may be the only opportunity they ever get to travel abroad for a long period of time. Eventually you will find a job and career, and the opportunity to study abroad may turn out to be a once in a life time opportunity.

Take this opportunity to travel the world with no commitments but to study and learn about new cultures. Studying abroad is an experience unlike any other.

These are just some of the advantages of studying abroad. The benefits of this experience really can’t be explained in such a short article. Boost your language skills as you live in another country, get out of your comfort zone and meet people from different places of the world and at the same time get the best education.

Living in another country exposes you to things you cannot experience in your home country and in the future it will help you stand out from the competition as you apply for jobs and your experience of studying abroad is somethig you can share on your resume.

What's Next?

Explore more of our great resources for international students:.

You may also be interested in essay writing tips .

Learn about studying medicine in the US .

Learn about the questions you should expect during your F1 Visa interview .

Related Content:

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63 Study Abroad Essay Examples & Topics

Looking for study abroad topics to write about? Studying in another country is one of the most beneficial experiences for students.

• 🏆 Best Essay Examples
• 📌 Research Titles
• 🗺 Topics to Write about

❓ Questions About Studying Abroad

In your studying abroad essay, you might want to write about advantages and disadvantages of being an international student. Another option is to describe the process of making application for a scholarship. One more idea is to share your personal experience. Whether you’re planning to write an argumentative, descriptive, or persuasive essay, our article will be helpful. Here we’ve collected top studying abroad essay samples and research titles ‍‍‍‍for scholarship papers.

🏆 Best Studying Abroad Essay Examples

• Why Studying Abroad Results in Better Education For most people, especially in developing nations, the only way to gain an education that will satisfy the demands of the international job market is by studying abroad.
• Should Students Study Abroad? Studying abroad offers students an opportunity to travel to new countries and have new experiences that expand their perceptions of the world.
• Education in Australia as a Tool of Promoting Equality of Opportunity The main objective of vocational education and training is to promote the people, the society, and the economy and to upgrade the labor market.
• Specifics of Studying Abroad The purpose of this paper is to discuss the most common benefits and drawbacks, as well as overall outcomes that are related to studying abroad and to recommend the ways to handle the drawbacks.
• Challenges of Studying Abroad A closer look at the information provided by the majority of the companies specializing in student transfer and the related services will reveal that a range of essential data, especially the information concerning the financial […]
• Declining Direct Public Support for Higher Education in USA Partisanship interest in the debate for renewal of the Higher Education Act and a Senate inquiry to validate the governance of the non-profit economic sectors of the United States has demonstrated the complexity of public […]
• The Social Role of Higher Education in UK In addition to this, higher education provides a set of values that changes the students to face the existing and the future problems facing the society and the various sectors of work that they operate […]
• International Education in Australia China is a good market for Australian education and in the year 2010 a sum of 284700 students from China left the country to further their studies most of them on their own expenses.
• The Criteria and Benefits That Allow Students to Work Abroad The most direct experience that a person gets while studying abroad is the understanding of the business world and economics. There is no doubt that the environments and culture of a country are the major […]
• A Benefits of Education Abroad One of the qualitative aspects of the educational reality in today’s world is the fact that, as time goes on, the number of students who decide in favor of studying abroad increases rather exponentially.

📌 Research Titles about Studying Abroad

• Do Study Abroad Programs Enhance the Employability of Graduates
• The Effect Of Study Abroad On Studying Abroad
• Culture and Study Abroad and Some Drawbacks
• How Does Study Abroad Affect A Student ‘s View Of Professional
• Analysis Of Some Of The Benefits Of Study Abroad
• Do People Who Study Abroad Become More Successful
• Increasing Number Of Worldwide People Go Study Abroad
• The Lowering Ages of Students Who Study Abroad
• Colleges Should Make It Mandatory: For Students To Study Abroad For Specific Major’s
• Should Students Spend Lots Of Money For Study Abroad

🗺 Study Abroad Topics to Write about

• The Cultural Shock That Students Face When They Study Abroad
• Advantages and Dis Advantages of Further Study Abroad
• Interlanguage Pragmatic Competence in the Study Abroad
• The Study Abroad Trip On Australia
• History Of Study Abroad And Exchange Programs
• An Analysis of Many Students Wishing to Study Abroad
• Most Study Abroad Program Should Be Rename Party Abroad They Are Waste of Time
• Why College Students Should Study Abroad
• Analysis Of Michelle Obama ‘s Reasons For Study Abroad
• Study Abroad Is Beneficial For All College Students
• The Journey of Traveling and The Study Abroad
• Analysis: Why Student Chose to Study Abroad
• The Benefits of Choosing to Study Abroad
• How Is Studying Abroad Helps Improve Language Skills?
• Which Country Are More Successful for Studying Abroad?
• Is Studying Abroad a Good Idea?
• Does Studying Abroad Induce a Brain Drain?
• Why Is Studying Abroad Beneficial?
• How Is the Studying Abroad Effects Learning About Different Cultures?
• What Are the Cons of Studying Abroad?
• Is Studying Abroad a Waste of Time?
• Does Studying Abroad Enhance Employability?
• What Are the Positive and Negative Influences of Studying Abroad?
• How Capital Accumulation Through Studying Abroad and Return Migration?
• Which Country Is Best for Studying Abroad?
• What Is Culture Shock When Studying Abroad?
• What Is the Impact of Studying Abroad on Global Awareness?
• What Are the Disadvantages of Studying Abroad?
• Which Country Is Cheapest for Studying Abroad?
• Is Studying Abroad Expensive?
• What Are Important Reasons for Studying Abroad?
• Is It Difficult to Studying Abroad?
• What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Studying Abroad?
• Which Country Is Hard for Studying Abroad In?
• What Is the Impact of Studying Abroad?
• What Are the Effects of Studying Abroad on College Students?
• What Are Main Hardships While Studying Abroad?
• Is It Better to Studying Abroad or Locally?
• Does Studying Abroad Help Academic Achievement?
• Does Studying Abroad Cause International Labor Mobility?
• What Are the Differences Between Studying Locally and Studying Abroad?
• Do Students Who Studying Abroad Achieve Tremendous Success?
• What Are the Pros and Cons of Studying Abroad?
• Motivation Research Ideas
• Brain-Based Learning Essay Titles
• Academic Dishonesty Research Ideas
• Machine Learning Ideas
• Listening Skills Essay Ideas
• Problem Solving Essay Ideas
• School Uniforms Topics
• Stress Titles
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Studying Abroad — The Effects And Benefits Of Studying Abroad

The Effects and Benefits of Studying Abroad

• Categories: Studying Abroad

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Published: Jan 28, 2021

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• Study Abroad

How to Write a Personal Statement for Study Abroad

Farryl Last is a poet and international educator from New York. She studied abroad in Paris and B...

• Before You Go
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A spring semester in China . A summer in South Africa . A year abroad in Italy . All these journeys start with one first step:

Learning how to write a personal statement for study abroad. That’s right, before you snag your flights or put together your packing list , you’ll have to apply to study abroad.

A study abroad personal statement is a common component of any abroad program or scholarship application. These brief essays touch on an applicant’s reasons for studying abroad and the experiences and qualities that make them a good fit.

Done right, a study abroad personal statement can set your application apart in the best possible way. You may not need to write one for every application, but it’s never a bad idea to organize your thoughts around how studying abroad will benefit your academic goals and plans for the future as you prepare to go abroad .

Do I need to write a study abroad personal statement?

Knowing how to write a study abroad personal statement is an incredible asset to have!

Before we dive into how to write a study abroad personal statement, you’re probably wondering: “Is this something I really need to do?” Chances are, if you’re applying to study abroad, you’re going to need to whip up a statement as part of your application. That’s especially true if you’re applying for study abroad scholarships .

Your study abroad personal statement lets you show off why you’re the perfect person for a particular program—and why that program will be better off with you in it. You’ll talk up your skills, you’ll show the admissions committee how studying abroad will benefit you academically and in your future career , and you’ll take the first steps on your path to classes in Australia , or Ghana , or Ireland , or whichever study abroad destination has you polishing your writing skills.

How long should my study abroad personal statement be?

A typical study abroad personal statement will come out to about one to two double-spaced pages or around 250 to 500 words. The key here? Read your application instructions thoroughly.

Every program you’re applying to will give you instructions about how to write a study abroad personal statement, including their recommended word count or page limits, questions you should answer in your text, and more. Make sure you stick to each application’s requirements and keep your answers clear and concise.

Along with demonstrating your strengths and goals, a study abroad personal statement can show the admissions committee that you follow directions and pay attention to details, traits that will help you succeed while you’re studying abroad.

Get matched with study abroad programs right now

7 tips for writing your personal statement for study abroad.

You’ve decided where you’re going to study abroad . You know how long you want to spend abroad , and you’ve done your research and found a great study abroad program . Now, it’s time to apply. Here’s how to write a personal statement for study abroad that wows:

1. Give yourself time to write

Writing takes time—make sure to give it the effort it deserves.

Any compelling piece of writing requires a plan and some time, so make note of application deadlines and a lot a timeline that makes sense for you. Neglecting this part of the program application will only lead to rushing the process and leaving more room for error.

Depending on your writing style, you might first want to organize your thoughts in an outline or write a rough draft to let your ideas flow before you polish the statement. As with papers for class and other writing pieces, there’s no one right way, but giving yourself enough time will let your best ideas come to the surface.

2. Structure your statement and follow instructions

Remember, you want to check for specific instructions and requirements given for how to write a study abroad personal statement in the program or scholarship application you’re completing.

If the application asks you to answer any questions or prompts in your statement, make sure you address those. Likewise, if the application has a word count or page limits for the statement, be sure you’re hitting those marks.

Once you know the instructions and length requirements it’s time to structure. Start with a short, one-paragraph introduction to grab your readers’ attention, then write a few paragraphs detailing your highlights—anything from achievements to personal passions (as long as it’s relevant info). Wrap things up with a strong concluding paragraph.

3. Know why you want to study abroad

Let your “why” help you write your personal statement!

Everyone has different reasons for studying abroad, from learning a language to taking classes for your major you can’t find at home to getting up close and personal with a place you’ve always dreamed of visiting. Figuring out why you want to study abroad will help you organize your thoughts and ideas as you write. Pro-tip: It’s also the perfect start to your statement!

Whether you want to immerse yourself in Spanish abroad , take classes for your history major where the events you’re studying happened , see the dynamics of an international market play out as a business student , or get inspiration for your creative writing through the landscapes, foods, and conversations in a new place, your why will power your study abroad personal statement. Be yourself and give the folks reading your application a glimpse into you.

4. Talk up how studying abroad will boost your future

Once you have the reasons you want to study abroad in your chosen program in mind, you can write about how studying abroad will help you figure out your future . That goes for your academic goals and your hoped-for career.

Say you’re interested in getting a new perspective on your sustainable development major. Your study abroad personal statement can discuss why studying abroad in Sweden or Costa Rica is the right move because of the classes you can take abroad and the lived experience you’ll gain in a place that prioritizes sustainability.

By showing how the passions and places you want to explore position you to succeed in the classroom and beyond, you’re making a great case for getting accepted.

5. Focus on strengths and relevant experiences

Sharing achievements and experiences make for a standout statement.

Along with your passions, your study abroad personal statement should cover your strengths and achievements. Show how your past experiences have informed your interest in studying abroad and who you are. Let the people reading your application know what you’ll bring to the program through concrete examples.

You might include classes you’ve taken that prepare you for your time abroad, things you’ve done outside of the classroom (looking at you, volunteer and internship experiences), languages you’ve studied —anything that paints the picture of the full you.

6. Connect your goals to the program

You have so many ways to study abroad , so it’s important to show you know why a specific program is the right one for you. You’ve talked about your passions and how studying abroad will help you incorporate those passions into your plans for the future. Now, pull it all together.

As someone studying Japanese , you know there’s nothing quite like the immersion you’ll get taking classes and talking to the locals in Japan with unique places such as depachika and shrines as your backdrop. Or maybe you’re interested in pursuing a career in archeology and want to study close to ancient wonders in Greece or Peru . Whatever your goals are, articulating how they align with your program of choice will set you apart as a candidate.

7. Get someone to read your statement—and don’t forget to proofread

Make sure you’ve proofread your personal statement before submitting it!

You’ve drafted an impressive statement outlining why you want to go abroad and how your goals line up with the program you’ve chosen. But don’t hit send on your application just yet.

Have a trusted person read it through to double-check that no mistakes are present. Take some time to proofread your writing, too. While a mistake here or there won’t take you out of contention for a spot in the program, you want to present your best work.

Check all of the details again to make sure everything makes sense for each application. Those mistakes are easier to make than you might think!

Explore ALL Study Abroad Programs on GoAbroad.com!

Your study abroad personal statement will make your application shine.

Look at you, ready to submit the statement that’ll get you to your dream destination. A great personal statement goes beyond simply crossing your t’s and dotting your i’s . It’s an important step to studying abroad and your ticket to demonstrating what you already know: that you’re the perfect candidate to study abroad.

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International Programs

7 reasons college students choose to study abroad, and why you should too.

Thousands of students across the country study abroad every year, and for those at the University of Iowa, the experience is often described as transformational. Here are seven reasons why Iowa students choose to study abroad:

1. Immersive cultural learning on a global scale  

Immerse yourself in a new culture while still being part of the university community. These programs allow you to experience global perspectives firsthand, fostering a deeper appreciation for diversity and broadening your understanding of the world no matter whether you choose a faculty-led program or one hosted by our trusted partners abroad.  

" Studying abroad is my way of stepping out of my comfort zone and diving headfirst into the vibrant array of cultures the world has to offer."

“Studying abroad is my way of stepping out of my comfort zone and diving headfirst into the vibrant array of cultures the world has to offer,” said Samantha Hitlan, a second-year student who studied abroad in spring 2024 on the USAC Montevideo program . “I believe that by immersing myself in different traditions, languages, and customs, I'll not only grow academically but also as an individual. This unique opportunity to learn beyond the walls of a classroom will allow me to gain a deeper understanding of the world through connections and real-world interactions.”  

2. Tailored academic experiences abroad  

UI Study Abroad programs empower you to customize your academic journey. Whether you're delving into literature in London, public health in Costa Rica, or engineering in Japan, the chance to blend your academic pursuits with a global setting is an opportunity like no other.  

“My study abroad program really gave me a chance to discover different classroom experiences.”

“My study abroad program really gave me a chance to discover different classroom experiences,” described Anna Horozewski, a UI psychology major who studied abroad while on a Gilman Scholarship at the American College of Thessaloniki in Greece in summer 2023. “The university I studied at valued smaller, more intimate classes, and because of that I was able to really connect with my professors and classmates and have educational conversations throughout classes.”  

3. Building global networks for future success  

In the competitive landscape of today's globalized job market, we recognize the importance of building a diverse professional network. Studying abroad can connect you with people from around the world, fostering relationships that can open doors both personally and professionally. Many Iowa students choose to complete a global internship abroad each year, using the experience to earn academic credit toward their degree while immersing themselves in a new culture, acquiring skills, attaining personal growth, and exploring possible career options.  

" I've built an international network which has been great because my connections have become much more diversified by working in another country."

"My internship abroad has brought me so many unique opportunities that I don't know I would have ever had the chance to work on if I wouldn't have taken the internship in Milan," said Samantha Longo (BBA, marketing/marketing management, ’23) who completed a global internship in Milan, Italy in summer 2022. "I've built an international network which has been great because my connections have become much more diversified by working in another country. The way I see it, there will never be another time in your life when you can do an internship abroad while getting credit for college; so, if you're considering it, this is your sign to do it."  

4. Language proficiency and cultural fluency

While not all study abroad programs offered include full language immersion, students studying language often choose to enhance their language skills. Whether you're perfecting your French in Paris or fine-tuning your Korean in Seoul, our programs can give you your first experience practicing language daily in conversational and academic settings.  

" Being able to make friends and live everyday life in Japan made me realize that I knew more of the language than I thought, and I feel so much more confident with my language learning going forward."

“Before I went to Japan, I had a fair amount of anxiety about speaking Japanese without prior preparation and especially struggled with being put on the spot,” shared Abigail Fowler, who majored in international studies major at Iowa. “Now, thanks to language immersion, it flows out of my mouth as easily as English. Being able to make friends and live everyday life in Japan made me realize that I knew more of the language than I thought, and I feel so much more confident with my language learning going forward.”  

5. Cultivating independence and personal growth  

Studying abroad challenges you to step out of your comfort zone, fostering independence, resilience, adaptability, and personal growth. While abroad, you’ll still find the support you need to navigate this transformative journey from UI staff. Your UI Study Abroad Advisor will support you pre-departure, while in country, and after your return.  

" Studying abroad will challenge you in ways you’ve never experienced before, but you will be undeniably better because of it."

"My study abroad experience gave me so much more confidence in moving throughout the world, increased my intercultural competency, and taught me so much about myself,” shared Connor French, who studied abroad in on a faculty-led program to Greece in 2022 and at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand in spring 2023. “I’ve come out of the experience knowing that I can handle tough and uncertain situations, as well as working with a variety of people from different backgrounds. Studying abroad will challenge you in ways you’ve never experienced before, but you will be undeniably better because of it.”  

6. Strategic advantage on your resume and career path  

Studying abroad is not just an adventure but a strategic move for future success. It's a unique addition to your resume that highlights qualities such as adaptability, cultural sensitivity, and a global perspective – qualities highly valued by employers. The Pomerantz Career Center provides resources for Iowa students to leverage these skills and use them effectively while interviewing for jobs. The career center offers examples of how students who have studied abroad can highlight their experience on their resume too .  

" I believe that going abroad for a semester was very beneficial because I got the opportunity to work on an internship based on entrepreneurship which taught me many things."

“I believe that going abroad for a semester was very beneficial because I got the opportunity to work on an internship based on entrepreneurship which taught me many things,” said Victor Morales who studied abroad in Lisbon on the CIEE Portugal Program in fall 2023. “This will benefit me in the future when I am applying for jobs after graduation because of the experiences I was able to obtain by going abroad. I am now able to put this global internship on my resume and show that I completed an internship in Portugal.”

7. Creating lasting memories and lifelong friendships  

Whether you're creating memories at historical sites, navigating vibrant markets, or forming lifelong friendships with fellow students from around the world, the University of Iowa's Study Abroad programs prioritize a well-rounded experience. These memories and friendships not only enrich your college experience but also contribute to a global support network rooted in shared experiences.  

" I can’t think of another opportunity where students fly thousands of miles from home, experience a new place together for the first time, and go home feeling as connected and appreciative of the trip as studying abroad does."

"Studying abroad was a really unique opportunity to go to a new country and return with new friends from all over the world.” shared Sarah Dickens, who studied abroad on the USAC Studies in Pau program , in summer 2023. “I can’t think of another opportunity where students fly thousands of miles from home, experience a new place together for the first time, and go home feeling as connected and appreciative of the trip as studying abroad does.”

Choosing to study abroad as an Iowa student is not just about expanding your horizons – it's about embracing a global perspective. It's an investment in your personal and academic growth; an opportunity to blend your university identity with an international outlook. So, join your peers in exploring the world through University of Iowa Study Abroad – we bet you won’t regret it.

First Steps to Study Abroad

International Programs  (IP) at the University of Iowa (UI) is committed to enriching the global experience of UI students, faculty, staff, and the general public by leading efforts to promote internationally oriented teaching, research, creative work, and community engagement.  IP provides support for international students and scholars, administers scholarships and assistance for students who study, intern, or do research abroad, and provides funding opportunities and grant-writing assistance for faculty engaged in international research. IP shares their stories through various media, and by hosting multiple public engagement activities each year.

• faculty-led
• international internships
• student funding
• study abroad

International Programs at the University of Iowa supports the right of all individuals to live freely and to live in peace. We condemn all acts of violence based on race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, and perceived national or cultural origin. In affirming its commitment to human dignity, International Programs strongly upholds the values expressed in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights .  

9 Undergraduate Research Projects That Wowed Us This Year

The telegraph. The polio vaccine. The bar code. Light beer. Throughout its history, NYU has been known for innovation, with faculty and alumni in every generation contributing to some of the most notable inventions and scientific breakthroughs of their time. But you don’t wind up in the history books—or peer-reviewed journals—by accident; academic research, like any specialized discipline, takes hard work and lots of practice. 

And at NYU, for students who are interested, that training can start early—including during an undergraduate's first years on campus. Whether through assistantships in faculty labs, summer internships, senior capstones, or independent projects inspired by coursework, undergrad students have many opportunities to take what they’re learning in the classroom and apply it to create original scholarship throughout their time at NYU. Many present their work at research conferences, and some even co-author work with faculty and graduate students that leads to publication. 

As 2023-2024 drew to a close, the NYU News team coordinated with the Office of the Provost to pull together a snapshot of the research efforts that students undertook during this school year. The nine featured here represent just a small fraction of the impressive work we encountered in fields ranging from biology, chemistry, and engineering to the social sciences, humanities, and the arts. 

These projects were presented at NYU research conferences for undergrads, including Migration and Im/Mobility , Pathways for Discovery: Undergraduate Research and Writing Symposium , Social Impact: NYU’s Applied Undergraduate Research Conference , Arts-Based Undergraduate Research Conference , Gallatin Student Research Conference ,  Dreammaker’s Summit , Tandon’s Research Excellence Exhibit , and Global Engagement Symposium . Learn more about these undergrad research opportunities and others.

Jordan Janowski (CAS '24)

Sade Chaffatt (NYU Abu Dhabi '24)

Elsa Nyongesa (GPH, CAS ’24 )

Anthony Offiah (Gallatin ’26)

Kimberly Sinchi (Tandon ’24) and Sarah Moughal (Tandon ’25)

Rohan Bajaj (Stern '24)

Lizette Saucedo (Liberal Studies ’24)

Eva Fuentes (CAS '24)

Andrea Durham (Tandon ’26)

Jordan Janowski (CAS ’24) Major: Biochemistry Thesis title: “Engineering Chirality for Functionality in Crystalline DNA”

Jordan Janowski (CAS '24). Photo by Tracey Friedman

I work in the Structural DNA Nanotechnology Lab, which was founded by the late NYU professor Ned Seeman, who is known as the father of the field. My current projects are manipulating DNA sequences to self-assemble into high order structures.

Essentially, we’re using DNA as a building material, instead of just analyzing it for its biological functions. It constantly amazes me that this is possible.

I came in as a pre-med student, but when I started working in the lab I realized that I was really interested in continuing my research there. I co-wrote a paper with postdoc Dr. Simon Vecchioni who has been a mentor to me and helped me navigate applying to grad school. I’m headed to Scripps Research in the fall. This research experience has led me to explore some of the molecules that make up life and how they could be engineered into truly unnatural curiosities and technologies.

My PI, Prof. Yoel Ohayon , has been super supportive of my place on the  NYU women’s basketball team, which I’m a  member of. He’s been coming to my games since sophomore year, and he’ll text me with the score and “great game!”— it’s been so nice to have that support for my interests beyond the lab.

Anthony Offiah (Gallatin ’26) Concentration: Fashion design and business administration MLK Scholars research project title: “project: DREAMER”

Anthony Offiah (Gallatin '26). Photo by Tracey Friedman

In “project: DREAMER,” I explored how much a person’s sense of fashion is a result of their environment or societal pressures based on their identity. Certain groups are pressured or engineered to present a certain way, and I wanted to see how much of the opposing force—their character, their personality—affected their sense of style. 

This was a summer research project through the MLK Scholars Program . I did ethnographic interviews with a few people, and asked them to co-design their ideal garments with me. They told me who they are, how they identify, and what they like in fashion, and we synthesized that into their dream garments. And then we had a photo shoot where they were empowered to make artistic choices. 

Some people told me they had a hard time conveying their sense of style because they were apprehensive about being the center of attention or of being dissimilar to the people around them. So they chose to conform to protect themselves. And then others spoke about wanting to safeguard the artistic or vulnerable—or one person used the word “feminine”—side of them so they consciously didn’t dress how they ideally would. 

We ended the interviews by stating an objective about how this co-designing process didn’t end with them just getting new clothes—it was about approaching fashion differently than how they started and unlearning how society might put them in a certain box without their approval.  

My concentration in Gallatin is fashion design and business administration. In the industry some clothing is critiqued and some clothing is praised—and navigating that is challenging, because what you like might not be well received. So doing bespoke fashion for just one person is freeing in a sense because you don’t have to worry about all that extra stuff. It’s just the art. And I like being an artist first and thinking about the business second.

Lizette Saucedo (Global Liberal Studies ’24) Major: Politics, rights, and development Thesis title: “Acknowledging and Remembering Deceased Migrants Crossing the U.S.-Mexican Border”

Lizette Saucedo (Global Liberal Studies '24). Photo by Tracey Friedman

My thesis project is on commemorating migrants who are dying on their journey north to cross the U.S.–Mexican border. I look at it through different theoretical lenses, and one of the terms is necropolitics—how politics shapes the way the State governs life and especially death. And then of the main issues aside from the deaths is that a lot of people in the U.S. don’t know about them, due to the government trying to eschew responsibility for migrant suffering. In the final portion of the thesis, I argue for presenting what some researchers call “migrant artifacts”—the personal belongings left behind by people trying to cross over—to the public, so that people can become aware and have more of a human understanding of what’s going on. 

This is my senior thesis for Liberal Studies, but the idea for it started in an International Human Rights course I took with professor Joyce Apsel . We read a book by Jason De León called The Land of the Open Graves , which I kept in the back of my mind. And then when I studied abroad in Germany during my junior year, I noticed all the different memorials and museums, and wondered why we didn’t have the equivalent in the U.S. My family comes from Mexico—my parents migrated—and ultimately all of these interests came together.

I came into NYU through the Liberal Studies program and I loved it. It’s transdisciplinary, which shaped how I view my studies. My major is politics, rights, and development and my minor is social work, but I’ve also studied museum studies, and I’ve always loved the arts. The experience of getting to work one-on-one on this thesis has really fortified my belief that I can combine all those things.

Sade Chaffatt (Abu Dhabi ’24) Major: Biology Thesis title: “The Polycomb repressive component, EED in mouse hepatocytes regulates liver homeostasis and survival following partial hepatectomy.”

Sade Chaffatt (NYU Abu Dhabi '24). Photo courtesy of NYUAD

Imagine your liver as a room. Within the liver there are epigenetic mechanisms that control gene expression. Imagine these epigenetic mechanisms as a dimmer switch, so that you could adjust the light in the room. If we remove a protein that is involved in regulating these mechanisms, there might be dysregulation—as though the light is too bright or too dim. One such protein, EED, plays a crucial role in regulating gene expression. And so my project focuses on investigating whether EED is required in mouse hepatocytes to regulate liver homeostasis and to regulate survival following surgical resection.

Stepping into the field of research is very intimidating when you’re an undergraduate student and know nothing. But my capstone mentor, Dr. Kirsten Sadler , encourages students to present their data at lab meetings and to speak with scientists. Even though this is nerve-wracking, it helps to promote your confidence in communicating science to others in the field.

If you’d asked 16-year-old me, I never would’ve imagined that I’d be doing research at this point. Representation matters a lot, and you often don't see women—especially not Black women—in research. Being at NYUAD has really allowed me to see more women in these spaces. Having had some experience in the medical field through internships, I can now say I’m more interested in research and hope to pursue a PhD in the future.

Kimberly Sinchi (Tandon ’24) Major: Computer Science Sarah Moughal (Tandon ’25) Major: Computer Science Project: Robotic Design Team's TITAN

Sarah Moughal (Tandon '25, left) and Kimberly Sinchi (Tandon '24). Photo by Tracey Friedman

Kimberly: The Robotic Design Team has been active at NYU for at least five years. We’re 60-plus undergrad and grad students majoring in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, and integrated design. We’ve named our current project TITAN because of how huge it is. TITAN stands for “Tandon’s innovation in terraforming and autonomous navigation.”

Sarah: We compete in NASA’s lunatics competition every year, which means we build a robot from scratch to be able to compete in lunar excavation and construction. We make pretty much everything in house in the Tandon MakerSpace, and everyone gets a little experience with machining, even if you're not mechanical. A lot of it is about learning how to work with other people—communicating across majors and disciplines and learning how to explain our needs to someone who may not be as well versed in particular technologies as we are. 

Kimberly: With NYU’s Vertically Integrated Project I’ve been able to take what I was interested in and actually have a real world impact with it. NASA takes notes on every Rover that enters this competition. What worked and what didn’t actually influences their designs for rovers they send to the moon and to Mars.

Eva Fuentes (CAS ’24) Major: Anthropology Thesis title: “Examining the relationship between pelvic shape and numbers of lumbar vertebrae in primates”

Eva Fuentes (CAS '24). Photo by Tracey Friedman

I came into NYU thinking I wanted to be an art history major with maybe an archeology minor. To do the archeology minor, you have to take the core classes in anthropology, and so I had to take an intro to human evolution course. I was like, this is the coolest thing I’ve learned—ever. So I emailed people in the department to see if I could get involved. 

Since my sophomore year, I’ve been working in the Evolutionary Morphology Lab with Scott Williams, who is primarily interested in the vertebral column of primates in the fossil record because of how it can inform the evolution of posture and locomotion in humans.

For my senior thesis, I’m looking at the number of lumbar vertebrae—the vertebrae that are in the lower back specifically—and aspects of pelvic shape to see if it is possible to make inferences about the number of lumbar vertebrae a fossil may have had. The bones of the lower back are important because they tell us about posture and locomotion.

I committed to a PhD program at Washington University in St. Louis a few weeks ago to study biological anthropology. I never anticipated being super immersed in the academic world. I don’t come from an academic family. I had no idea what I was doing when I started, but Scott Williams, and everyone in the lab, is extremely welcoming and easy to talk to. It wasn't intimidating to come into this lab at all.

Elsa Nyongesa (GPH, CAS ’24 ) Major: Global Public Health and Biology Project: “Diversity in Breast Oncological Studies: Impacts on Black Women’s Health Outcomes”

Elsa Nyongesa (GPH, CAS '24). Photo by Tracey Friedman

I interned at Weill Cornell Medicine through their Travelers Summer Research Fellowship Program where I worked with my mentor, Dr. Lisa Newman, who is the head of the International Center for the Study of Breast Cancer Subtypes. I analyzed data on the frequency of different types of breast cancer across racial and ethnic groups in New York. At the same time, I was also working with Dr. Rachel Kowolsky to study minority underrepresentation in clinical research. 

In an experiential learning course taught by Professor Joyce Moon Howard in the GPH department, I created a research question based on my internship experience. I thought about how I could combine my experiences from the program which led to my exploration of the correlation between minority underrepresentation in breast oncological studies, and how it affects the health outcomes of Black women with breast cancer.

In my major, we learn about the large scope of health disparities across different groups. This opportunity allowed me to learn more about these disparities in the context of breast cancer research. As a premedical student, this experience broadened my perspective on health. I learned more about the social, economic, and environmental factors influencing health outcomes. It also encouraged me to examine literature more critically to find gaps in knowledge and to think about potential solutions to health problems. Overall, this experience deepened my philosophy of service, emphasizing the importance of health equity and advocacy at the research and clinical level.

Rohan Bajaj (Stern ’24) Major: Finance and statistics Thesis title: “Measuring Socioeconomic Changes and Investor Attitude in Chicago’s Post-Covid Economic Recovery”

Rohan Bajaj (Stern '24). Photo by Tracey Friedman

My thesis is focused on understanding the effects of community-proposed infrastructure on both the socioeconomic demographics of cities and on fiscal health. I’m originally from Chicago, so it made a lot of sense to pay tribute back to the place that raised me. I’m compiling a list of characteristics of infrastructure that has been developed since 2021 as a part of the Chicago Recovery Plan and then assessing how neighborhoods have changed geographically and economically. 

I’m looking at municipal bond yields in Chicago as a way of evaluating the fiscal health of the city. Turns out a lot of community-proposed infrastructure is focused in lower income areas within Chicago rather than higher income areas. So that makes the research question interesting, to see if there’s a correlation between the proposed and developed infrastructure projects, and if these neighborhoods are being gentrified alongside development.

I kind of stumbled into the impact investing industry accidentally from an internship I had during my time at NYU. I started working at a renewable energies brokerage in midtown, where my main job was collecting a lot of market research trends and delivering insights on how these different energy markets would come into play. I then worked with the New York State Insurance Fund, where I helped construct and execute their sustainable investment strategy from the ground up. 

I also took a class called “Design with Climate Change” with Peter Anker in Gallatin during my junior year, and a lot of that class was focused on how to have climate resilient and publicly developed infrastructure, and understanding the effects it has on society. It made me start thinking about the vital role that physical surroundings play in steering communities.

In the short term I want to continue diving into impact-focused investing and help identify urban planners and city government to develop their communities responsibly and effectively.

Andrea Durham (Tandon, ’26)  Major: Biomolecular science Research essay title: “The Rise and Fall of Aduhelm”

Andrea Durham (Tandon '26). Photo by Tracey Friedman

This is an essay I wrote last year in an advanced college essay writing class with Professor Lorraine Doran on the approval of a drug for Alzheimer’s disease called Aduhelm—a monoclonal antibody therapy developed by Biogen in 2021, which was described as being momentous and groundbreaking. But there were irregularities ranging from the design of its clinical trials to government involvement that led to the resignation of three scientists on an advisory panel, because not everybody in the scientific community agreed that it should be approved.

When I was six years old, my grandmother was diagnosed. Seeing the impact that it had over the years broke my heart and ignited a passion in me to pursue research. 

When I started at NYU, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do in the future, or what opportunities I would go after. This writing class really gave me an opportunity to reflect on the things that were important to me in my life. The September after I wrote this paper, I started volunteering in a lab at Mount Sinai for Alzheimer's disease research, and that’s what I’m doing now—working as a volunteer at the Center for Molecular Integrative Neuroresilience under Dr. Giulio Pasinetti. I have this opportunity to be at the forefront, and because of the work I did in my writing class I feel prepared going into these settings with an understanding of the importance of conducting ethical research and working with integrity.

Fall 2025 UGA Essay Questions

  david graves        may 22nd, 2024 in blog.

For First Year students applying to UGA for Fall 2025, we will keep the same longer personal essay (250-650 words) as before, using the essay prompts from the Common App . The shorter UGA specific essay (200-300 words suggested) topic will also remain the same as last year, with the following essay prompt:

“ The transition from middle to high school is a key time for students as they reach new levels of both academic and personal discovery. Please share a book (novel, non-fiction, etc.) that had a serious impact on you during this time. Please focus more on why this book made an impact on you and less on the plot/theme of the book itself (we are not looking for a book report).”

• FYI – We are not restricting you to the exact years of 8th-9th grades, but rather the general timeframe of the middle to high school transition, which can extend somewhat further than one year on each end. Feel free to use your discretion in your choice of the timeline focused on the shift to your high school years.

As always, we also share an essay from an enrolling First-Year student that we believe shows great writing skills:

As a middle-schooler on the brink of entering high school, I was like lost cattle entering a vast social and academic wilderness. In the center, a winding, sun-soaked desert path stretched far into the horizon, beckoning my gaze with its promise of adventure and discovery. Enter The Alchemist and its magnificent idea of the “Personal Legend”– a life goal so lofty that it made locating my locker on the first day of high school appear easy. Forget about the difficulty of making new hobbies or friends; the content from this novel sure played an essential role in determining my ideology related to pursuing my future.

The protagonist enthusiastically praised the significance of believing in one’s dreams, which led my younger self down the correct path. Generating profits after extensive hours of work through my business, navigating changes in learning after COVID-19, and confronting adversity due to my darker skin color all presented difficult periods where persistence and faith were important in progress. Although self-belief was a crucial aspect of pushing through difficult times, it also motivated me to be more confident. Taking risks, from soloing in my 8th-grade jazz band to giving my crush a cringeworthy love letter, changed my belief in embracing adversity.

Furthermore, the book’s emphasis on interacting with people from different backgrounds, cultures, and belief systems mirrors my journey into the real world. Whether developing a dancing board at a Purdue summer camp or a calculus Halloween graph, collaboration enforces the ability to work with others who may share different ideas. Diverse backgrounds boosted my understanding, tolerance, and empathy while increasing my engineering career readiness. Not only was The Alchemist a great book, but it enforced critical systems that I use until this day to succeed in life. The Alchemist played an essential role in instilling new concepts I needed as an adolescent. “And when you want something, all the universe conspires you to achieve it.” Thank you, Paulo Coelho.  – Josh W, Collins Hill HS.

• This essay gives us insight into the student’s feelings and thoughts, and he shares his ideas through descriptive word choice. This is an excellent essay, but please know that we are not expecting this level of writing from the applicant pool overall. This essay example is meant to show our applicant pool how to express themselves through examples, personal growth and emotion. When we are reviewing essays, we are looking more at the student’s voice coming through and less on technical writing skills.

Tags: admissions , essays , file reading , freshman admission

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Can You Lose Your Native Tongue?

After moving abroad, I found my English slowly eroding. It turns out our first languages aren’t as embedded as we think.

Credit... Artwork by PABLO DELCÁN

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By Madeleine Schwartz

Madeleine Schwartz is a writer and editor who grew up speaking English and French. She has been living in Paris since 2020.

• May 14, 2024

It happened the first time over dinner. I was saying something to my husband, who grew up in Paris where we live, and suddenly couldn’t get the word out. The culprit was the “r.” For the previous few months, I had been trying to perfect the French “r.” My failure to do so was the last marker of my Americanness, and I could only do it if I concentrated, moving the sound backward in my mouth and exhaling at the same time. Now I was saying something in English — “reheat” or “rehash” — and the “r” was refusing to come forward. The word felt like a piece of dough stuck in my throat.

Listen to this article, read by Soneela Nankani

Other changes began to push into my speech. I realized that when my husband spoke to me in English, I would answer him in French. My mother called, and I heard myself speaking with a French accent. Drafts of my articles were returned with an unusual number of comments from editors. Then I told a friend about a spill at the grocery store, which — the words “conveyor belt” vanishing midsentence — took place on a “supermarket treadmill.” Even back home in New York, I found my mouth puckered into the fish lips that allow for the particularly French sounds of “u,” rather than broadened into the long “ay” sounds that punctuate English.

My mother is American, and my father is French; they split up when I was about 3 months old. I grew up speaking one language exclusively with one half of my family in New York and the other language with the other in France. It’s a standard of academic literature on bilingual people that different languages bring out different aspects of the self. But these were not two different personalities but two separate lives. In one version, I was living with my mom on the Upper West Side and walking up Columbus Avenue to get to school. In the other, I was foraging for mushrooms in Alsatian forests or writing plays with my cousins and later three half-siblings, who at the time didn’t understand a word of English. The experience of either language was entirely distinct, as if I had been given two scripts with mirroring supportive casts. In each a parent, grandparents, aunts and uncles; in each, a language, a home, a Madeleine.

I moved to Paris in October 2020, on the heels of my 30th birthday. This was both a rational decision and something of a Covid-spurred dare. I had been working as a journalist and editor for several years, specializing in European politics, and had reported across Germany and Spain in those languages. I had never professionally used French, in which I was technically fluent. It seemed like a good idea to try.

When I arrived in France, however, I realized my fluency had its limitations: I hadn’t spoken French with adults who didn’t share my DNA. The cultural historian Thomas Laqueur, who grew up speaking German at home in West Virginia, had a similar experience, as the linguist Julie Sedivy notes in “Memory Speaks,” her book about language loss and relearning her childhood Czech. Sedivy cites an essay of Laqueur’s in which he describes the first time he learned that German was not, in fact, a secret family language. He and his brother had been arguing over a Popsicle in front of the grocery store near his house:

A lady came up to us and said, in German, that she would give us a nickel so that we could each have a treat of our own. I don’t remember buying a second Popsicle, but I do remember being very excited at finding someone else of our linguistic species. I rushed home with the big news.

My own introduction to speaking French as an adult was less joyous. After reaching out to sources for a different article for this magazine with little success, I showed the unanswered emails to a friend. She gently informed me that I had been yelling at everyone I hoped to interview.

Compared with English, French is slower, more formal, less direct. The language requires a kind of politeness that, translated literally, sounds subservient, even passive-aggressive. I started collecting the stock phrases that I needed to indicate polite interaction. “I would entreat you, dear Madam ...” “Please accept, dear sir, the assurances of my highest esteem.” It had always seemed that French made my face more drawn and serious, as if all my energy were concentrated into the precision of certain vowels. English forced my lips to widen into a smile.

But going back to English wasn’t so easy, either. I worried about the French I learned somehow infecting my English. I edit a magazine, The Dial, which I founded in part to bring more local journalists and writers to an English-speaking audience. But as I worked on texts by Ukrainians or Argentines or Turks, smoothing over syntax and unusual idioms into more fluid English prose, I began to doubt that I even knew what the right English was.

Back in New York on a trip, I thanked the cashier at Duane Reade by calling him “dear sir.” My thoughts themselves seemed twisted in a series of interlocking clauses, as though I was afraid that being direct might make me seem rude. It wasn’t just that my French was getting better: My English was getting worse.

For a long time, a central question in linguistics was how people learn language. But in the past few decades, a new field of study called “language attrition” has emerged. It concerns not learning but forgetting: What causes language to be lost?

People who move to new countries often find themselves forgetting words in their first language, using odd turns of phrase or speaking with a newly foreign accent. This impermanence has led linguists to reconsider much of what was once assumed about language learning. Rather than seeing the process of becoming multilingual as cumulative, with each language complementing the next, some linguists see languages as siblings vying for attention. Add a new one to the mix, and competition emerges. “There is no age at which a language, even a native tongue, is so firmly cemented into the brain that it can’t be dislodged or altered by a new one,” Sedivy writes. “Like a household that welcomes a new child, a single mind can’t admit a new language without some impact on other languages already residing there.”

As my time in France hit the year mark and then the two-year mark, I began to worry about how much French was changing my English — that I might even be losing some basic ability to use the language I considered closest to my core. It wasn’t an idle concern. A few years earlier, when living in Berlin, I found the English of decades-long expats mannered and strange; they spoke more slowly and peppered in bits of German that sounded forced and odd. As an editor, I could see it in translators too: The more time people spent in their new language, the more their English prose took on a kind of Germanic overtone. Would the same thing happen to me?

Even languages that seem firmly rooted in the mind can be subject to attrition. “When you have two languages that live in your brain,” says Monika S. Schmid, a leader in the field of language attrition at the University of York, “every time you say something, every time you take a word, every time you put together a sentence, you have to make a choice. Sometimes one language wins out. And sometimes the other wins.” People who are bilingual, she says, “tend to get very, very good at managing these kinds of things and using the language that they want and not having too much interference between the two.” But even so, there’s often a toll: the accent, the grammar or a word that doesn’t sound quite right.

What determines whether a language sticks or not? Age, Schmid says, is an important factor. “If you look at a child that is 8, 9 or 10 years old, and see what that child could do with the language and how much they know — they’re basically fully fledged native speakers.” But just as they are good language learners, children are good language forgetters. Linguists generally agree that a language acquired in early childhood tends to have greater emotional resonance for its speaker. But a child who stops speaking a language before age 12 can completely lose it. For those who stop speaking a language in childhood, that language can erode — so much so that when they try to relearn it, they seem to have few, if any, advantages, Schmid says, compared with people learning that language from scratch. Even a language with very primal, deep connections can fade into the recesses of memory.

In her book, Sedivy cites a study conducted in France that tested a group of adults who were adopted from Korea between the ages of 3 and 8 . Taken into French homes, they quickly learned French and forgot their first language. The researchers compared these adults with a group of monolingual French speakers. The participants born in Korea could not identify Korean sentences significantly better than the French control group. Intimate moments of childhood can be lost, along with the language in which they took place.

Researchers have stressed that a first language used through later years can be remarkably resilient and often comes back when speakers return home. But even adults who move to a new country can find themselves losing fluency in their first language. Merel Keijzer, a linguist at the University of Groningen who studies bilingualism, surveyed a group of Dutch speakers who emigrated as adults to Australia. A classic theory of linguistic development, she told me, argues that new language skills are superimposed on older ones like layers of an onion. She thus expected that she would find a simple language reversion: The layers that were acquired later would be most likely to go first.

The reality was more complicated. In a paper Keijzer wrote with Schmid, she found that the Dutch speakers in Australia did not regress in the way that she predicted. “You saw more Dutch coming into their English, but you also saw more English coming into their Dutch,” she says. The pattern wasn’t simple reversion so much as commingling. They “tended to just be less able to separate their languages.” As they aged, the immigrants didn’t go back to their original language; they just had difficulty keeping the two vocabularies apart.

In “Alfabet/Alphabet: A Memoir of a First Language,” the poet Sadiqa de Meijer, who was born in Amsterdam, discusses her own experiences speaking Dutch in Canada. She worries that her language has become “amusingly formal” now that she doesn’t speak it regularly. A friend tells her that she now sounds “like a book.” Unless she is in the Netherlands, she writes: “Dutch is primarily a reading language to me now. The skill of casual exchanges is in gradual atrophy.” Her young daughter does not want to speak Dutch. “Stop Dutching me!” she says. For De Meijer, “people who speak a language they learned after early childhood live in chronic abstraction.”

This state of abstraction was one that I feared. On some level, the worry felt trivial: In a world where languages are constantly being lost to English, who would complain about a lack of contact with the language responsible for devouring so many others? The Europeans that I interviewed for work deplored the imperial nature of English; the only way to have their ideas heard was to express them in a language imposed by globalization. But what I missed was not the universal English of academics nor the language of peppy LinkedIn posts but the particular sounds that I grew up with: the near-rudeness of the English spoken in New York and its rushed cadence, the way that the bottoms of words sometimes were swallowed and cut off, as if everyone already knew what was being suggested and didn’t need to actually finish the thought. I missed the variegated vocabulary of New York, where English felt like an international, rather than a globalized language, enriched with the particular words of decades of immigrants. I began to listen to “The Brian Lehrer Show” on WNYC, a public-radio station in New York, with strange fervor, finding myself excited whenever someone called in from Staten Island.

The idea that my facility with English might be weakening brought up complicated feelings, some more flattering than others. When a journalism student wrote to ask if I would be a subject in his dissertation about “the experiences of nonnative English-speaking journalists” in media, I took the email as a personal slight. Were others noticing how much I struggled to find the right word?

A change in language use, whether deliberate or unconscious, often affects our sense of self. Language is inextricably tied up with our emotions; it’s how we express ourselves — our pain, our love, our fear. And that means, as Schmid, the language-attrition expert at the University of York, has pointed out, that the loss of a language can be tied up with emotion too. In her dissertation, Schmid looked at German-speaking Jews who emigrated to England and the United States shortly before World War II and their relationship with their first language. She sent questionnaires asking them how difficult it was for them to speak German now and how they used the language — “in writing in a diary, for example, or while dreaming.”

One woman wrote: “I was physically unable to speak German. ... When I visited Germany for 3 or 4 days in 1949 — I found myself unable to utter one word of German although the frontier guard was a dear old man. I had to speak French in order to answer his questions.”

Her husband concurred: “My wife in her reply to you will have told you that she could and did not want to speak German because they killed her parents. So we never spoke German to each other, not even intimately.”

Another wrote: “I feel that my family did a lot for Germany and for Düsseldorf, and therefore I feel that Germany betrayed me. America is my country, and English is my language.”

Schmid divided the émigrés into three groups, tying each of them to a point in Germany’s history. The first group left before September 1935, that is, before the Nuremberg race laws. The second group left between the enactment of those laws and Kristallnacht, in November 1938. The last group comprised those who left between Kristallnacht and August 1939, just before Germany invaded Poland.

What Schmid found was that of all the possible factors that might affect language attrition, the one that had a clear impact was how much of the Nazi regime they experienced. Emigration date, she wrote, outweighed every other factor; those who left last were the ones who were the least likely to be perceived as “native” speakers by other Germans, and they often had a weaker relationship to that language:

It appears that what is at the heart of language attrition is not so much the opportunity to use the language, nor the age at the time of emigration. What matters is the speaker’s identity and self-perception. ... Someone who wants to belong to a speech community and wants to be recognized as a member is capable of behaving accordingly over an extremely long stretch of time. On the other hand, someone who rejects that language community — or has been rejected and persecuted by it — may adapt his or her linguistic behavior so as not to appear to be a member any longer.

In other words, the closeness we have with a language is not just a product of our ability to use it but of other emotional valences as well. If language is a form of identity, it is one that may be changed by circumstance or even by force of will.

Stories of language loss often mask other, larger losses. Lily Wong Fillmore, a linguist who formerly taught at the University of California, Berkeley, once wrote about a family who emigrated to California several years after leaving China’s Canton province in 1989. One child, Kai-fong, was 5 when he arrived in the United States. At this point in his life, he could speak and understand only Cantonese. While his younger sister learned English almost immediately and made friends easily, Kai-fong, who was shy, did not have the same experience in school. His classmates called him “Chi, chi, chia pet” because his hair stuck out. Boys mocked the polyester pants his grandmother sewed for him. Pretty soon, he and his classmates were throwing rocks at one another.

Once Kai-fong started learning English, he stopped speaking Cantonese, even to members of his own family. As Wong Fillmore writes: “When Grandmother spoke to him, he either ignored her or would mutter a response in English that she did not understand. ... The more the adults scolded, the more sullen and angry Kai-fong became.” By 10, he was known as Ken and no longer understood Cantonese well. The family began to split along linguistic lines. Two children born in the United States never learned Cantonese at all. It is a story, Wong Fillmore writes, “that many immigrant families have experienced firsthand.”

The recognition in linguistics of the ease with which mastery of a language can erode comes as certain fundamentals of the field are being re-examined — in particular, the idea that a single, so-called native language shapes your innermost self. That notion is inextricable from 19th-century nationalism, as Jean-Marc Dewaele, a professor at the University of London, has argued. In a paper written with the linguists Thomas H. Bak and Lourdes Ortega, Dewaele notes that many cultures link the first words you speak to motherhood: In French, your native language is a langue maternelle, in Spanish, lengua materna, in German, Muttersprache. Turkish, which calls your first language ana dili, follows the same practice, as do most of the languages of India. Polish is unusual in linking language to a paternal line. The term for native language is język ojczysty, which is related to ojciec, the Polish word for father.

Regarding a first language as having special value is itself the product of a worldview that places national belonging at the heart of individual life. The phrase “native speaker” was first used by the politician and philologist George Perkins Marsh, who spoke of the importance of “home-born English.” It came with more than a light prejudicial overtone. Among Marsh’s recommendations was the need for “special precautions” to protect English from “becoming debased and vulgarized ... by association with depraved beings and unworthy themes.”

The idea of a single, native language took hold in linguistics in the mid-20th century, a uniquely monolingual time in human history. American culture, with its emphasis on assimilation, was especially hostile to the notion that a single person might inhabit multiple languages. Parents were discouraged from teaching their children languages other than English, even if they expressed themselves best in that other language. The simultaneous acquisition of multiple tongues was thought to cause delays in language development and learning. As Aneta Pavlenko, a linguist at Drexel University and the University of York, has noted, families who spoke more than one language were looked down on by politicians and ignored by linguists through the 1970s. “Early bilinguals,” those who learned two languages in childhood, “were excluded from research as ‘unusual’ or ‘messy’ subjects,” she writes. By contrast, late bilinguals, those who learned a second language in school or adulthood, were treated as “representative speakers of their first language.” The fact that they spoke a second language was disregarded. This focus on the importance of a single language may have obscured the historical record, giving the impression that humans are more monolingual and more rigid in their speech than they are.

Pavlenko has sought to show that far from being the historical standard, speaking just one language may be the exception. Her most recent book, a collection of essays by different scholars, takes on the historical “amnesia” that researchers have about the prevalence of multilingualism across the globe. The book looks at examples where multiple languages were the norm: medieval Sicily, where the administrative state processed paperwork in Latin, Greek and Arabic, or the early Pennsylvania court system, where in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was not unusual to hold hearings in German. Even today, Pavlenko sees a split: American academics working in English, often their only language, regard it as the standard for research. Europeans, obliged to work in English as a second language, are more likely to consider that fluency in only one language may be far rarer than conflict among multiple tongues.

According to Dewaele and his colleagues, “the notion of a single native language, determined entirely by the earliest experiences, is also not supported by neurology and neuroscience.” While there are many stories about patients who find themselves speaking their first language after a stroke or dementia, it’s also common for the recovered patients to use the language they spoke right before the accident occurred.

All of this has led some linguists to push against the idea of the “native” speaker, which, as Dewaele says, “has a dark side.” It can be restrictive, stigmatizing accents seen as impure, or making people feel unwelcome in a new home. Speakers who have studied a language, Dewaele says, often know its grammar better than those who picked it up with their family. He himself prefers the term “first-language user” — a slightly clunky solution that definitively decouples the language you speak from the person you are.

Around the time I realized that I had most likely become the No. 1 WNYC listener outside the tristate area, I started to seek out writers who purposefully looked away from their “native” language. Despite the once commonly held belief that a writer could produce original works only in a “mother tongue,” wonderful books have been written in acquired, rather than maternal, languages. Vladimir Nabokov began to write in English shortly before he moved to the United States. French was a vehicle for Samuel Beckett to push his most innovative ideas. “It’s only in Italian that I feel I’m at the center of myself,” Jhumpa Lahiri, who started writing in Italian in her 40s, said in a recent Paris Review interview. “It’s only when I’m writing in Italian that I manage to turn off all those other, judgmental voices, except perhaps my own.”

Could I begin to think about different languages not as two personas I had to choose between but as different moods that might shift depending on circumstance? Aspects of French that I used to find cold began to reveal advantages. The stiff way of addressing strangers offered its own benefits, new ways in which I could conserve personal privacy in a world that constantly demanded oversharing. My conversations in French changed, too: I was finally talking to others not as a child but as an adult.

The author Yoko Tawada, who moved to Germany from Japan in her early 20s, works on books in both Japanese and German; she writes fluidly in both languages. Tawada’s most recent novel to be translated into English, “Scattered All Over the Earth,” explores a future in which Japan is sunken underwater, lost to climate change. A Japanese speaker, possibly the last on earth, looks for a man who she hopes shares her language, only to find that he has been pretending to be Japanese while working at a sushi restaurant.

Using new languages, or even staying within the state of multilingualism, can provide distinct creative advantages. Tawada plays with homonyms and the awkwardness that comes from literal translation. What emerges in her work is not a single language but a betweenness, a tool for the author to invent as she is using it, the scholar Yasemin Yildiz has noted. Yildiz quotes an essay by Tawada called “From the Mother Language to the Language Mother,” in which a narrator describes the ways that learning German taught her to see language differently: Writing in the second language was not a constraint, but a new form of invention. Tawada calls her typewriter a Sprachmutter, or “language mother” — an inversion of the German word for mother tongue. In a first language, we can rarely experience “playful joy,” she writes. “Thoughts cling so closely to words that neither the former nor the latter can fly freely.” But a new language is like a staple remover, which gets rid of everything that sticks and clings.

If the scholarly linguistic consensus once pushed people toward monolingualism, current research suggesting that language acquisition may shift with our circumstances may allow speakers of multiple languages to reclaim self-understanding. In Mirene Arsanios’s chapbook “Notes on Mother Tongues: Colonialism, Class and Giving What You Don’t Have,” Arsanios describes being unsure which language to speak with her son. Her mother, from Venezuela, spoke Spanish, her father, from Lebanon, spoke French; neither feels appropriate to pass on. “Like other languages originating in histories of colonization, my language always had a language problem, something akin to the evacuation of a ‘first’ or ‘native’ tongue — a syntax endemic to the brain and to the heart.”

Is the answer a multitude of languages or a renunciation of one? “Having many languages is my language’s dominant language,” she writes. She must become comfortable with the idea that what she is transmitting to her son is not a single language but questions and identities that are never quite resolved. At the end of the text, she describes speaking with her son “in a tongue reciprocal, abundant and motherless.”

The scholars I talked to stressed that each bilingual speaker is unique: Behind the general categories is a human life, with all its complications. Language acquisition and use may be messier than was envisioned by rigid distinctions of native and nonnative and, at the same time, more individual.

My own grandmother, my mother’s mother, grew up speaking German in Vienna in what was itself a multilingual household. Her mother was Austrian and her father, born in what is now Serbia, spoke German with a thick Hungarian accent. She and her family moved throughout Europe during World War II; to Budapest, Trieste, Lille and eventually escaped through Portugal on a boat carrying cork to New York.

When they arrived in the United States, her mother did not want her to speak German in public. “She felt the animosity to it,” my grandmother recently told me. But my grandmother still wished to. German was also the language of Schiller, she would say. She didn’t go out of her way to speak German, but she didn’t forget it either. She loved German poetry, much of which she still recites, often unprompted, at 95.

When I mentioned Schmid’s research to her, she was slightly dismissive of the idea that her own language use might be shaped by trauma. She said that she found the notion of not speaking German after World War II somewhat absurd, mostly because, to her ear, Hitler spoke very bad German. She berated me instead for not asking about her emotional relationship to French, which she spoke as a schoolgirl in Lille, or Italian, which she spoke in Trieste. Each was the source of memories that might wax and wane as she recalled the foreign words.

Recently, she reconnected with an old classmate from her childhood in Vienna, who also fled Europe during the war, after she recognized her friend’s picture in The New York Post. They speak together in English. Her friend Ruth, she notes, speaks English with a German accent, but does not speak German anymore.

Madeleine Schwartz lives in Paris, where she is founder and editor in chief of The Dial, a magazine of international reporting and writing. She was a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2023 and teaches journalism at Sciences Po Paris.

Read by Soneela Nankani

Narration produced by Tanya Pérez

Engineered by Brian St. Pierre

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History Awards Over $440,000 in Scholarships and Prizes

The Department of History is delighted to announce this year’s scholarship and prize recipients. Thanks to our dedicated and generous alumni and friends, we were able to award an impressive $440,000 to 41 undergraduate and 4 graduate students in recognition of their academic excellence and service. In addition to the student awards, members from our faculty and staff, as well as one Washington educator, were given special recognition for their outstanding service.

Undergraduate Awards

Maurice d. and lois m. schwartz scholarship.

Created in 1977 as one of the first endowed scholarships at the University of Washington, the Maurice D. and Lois M. Schwartz Scholarship is awarded on the basis of academic excellence and a commitment to the study of non-Western history. While a student at the University, Mr. Schwartz became fascinated with the Middle and Near East. In 1934, Professor Pollard, head of the Department of Oriental Studies, secured funds to support a promising undergraduate who would serve as a reader to him as well as attend to clerical tasks within the department. That student was Maurice Schwartz, and nobody could have imagined just how big that little investment would one day pay out. The Schwartz Fund has been a vital source of tuition support to the students of this department for many decades. Now, due to a final bequest from their estate, the impact of their generosity will be even stronger. This year, and going forward, we are able to give out the equivalent of 63 quarters of resident tuition, or essentially award an entire year of tuition to 21 resident students! We will forever be grateful for the generosity of Maurice and Lois, and it is an honor to present these awards in their name. Alec Benson, Kyle Clark, Brionna Dulay, Aidan Dveirin, Saul Gonzalez, Eleanor Hoffman, Katherine Hoffman, Clara Kehoe, Sophie Knight, Ellen Koselka, Heidi Longwell, Lauren McClintock, Sarah Newman, Tam Nguyen, Vee Nguyen, Moniva Pal, Tate Parker, Amber Pilgreen, Dakota Riley, Laurel Rovetta, Samuel Shepard, Harjot Singh, and  Maia Sullivan

James Bicknell Fund for Academic Travel

Established by Professor Emeritus Daniel C. Waugh in memory of his maternal great-grandfather, this fund provides travel aid for students studying the languages and cultures of Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Near and Middle East, and North Africa. Isaac Bronfine (Germany), Eleanor Hoffman (Poland), Olivia Tinettie (Slovenia)

Burke-Erickson Fund for Foreign Language Study

This award supports students in their study of the languages and cultures of the Middle East. Zinnia Hansen

Dale Roger Corkery Scholarship in History

Established in memory of UW alum Dale Roger Corkery, this fund honors his love of history by offering support to undergraduate history majors studying ancient history. Zinnia Hansen

Denison-Kernaghan Scholarship

Established in recognition of a friendship spanning over twenty years, it is the hope of this donor that the support provided by this fund will help students as they gain rich experiences through their education. 

Lauren McClintock

Faye Wilson Scholarship

This scholarship is made possible through the generosity of Faye Wilson, who directed that a portion of her estate be used by the UW Department of History to assist outstanding undergraduates with tuition costs. Tessa Chittendon , Selma Sukkary , and Katarina Vena

Freedman Remak Family Scholarship in History

Nancy (Freedman) and Ben Remak began this scholarship to assist history majors who face the high cost of non-resident tuition. Nancy herself had come to the UW from out of state and recognizes the financial burden such students face.   Emma Inwalson

Meder-Montgomery Family Student Support Fund in History

UW History alumna Marilyn Montgomery began this award to support undergraduate history majors in their studies.

Harjot Singh

Otis Pease Scholarship

Otis Pease was a professor and department chair of UW History. This scholarship honors his memory and provides tuition support to undergraduates pursing a major in history. Jacob Krell

Larry Lee Sleizer Scholarship

Herman and Rose Sleizer endowed this scholarship in memory of their son, Larry Lee Sleizer, with the hope that supporting many future generations of students would serve as a fitting memorial in his name.

Charlotte Bergevin, Brionna Dulay, Saul Gonzalez, Eleanor Hoffman, Cheyenne Jenkins, Jacob Krell, Heidi Longwell, Lauren McClintock, Natalie McLaughlin, Elliot Miller, Vee Nguyen, Moniva Pal, Tate Parker, Laurel Rovetta, and Harjot Singh

History Scholarship Fund Award

These funds are made possible through generous donations from our alumni and friends.

Maia Sullivan

John and Linda Ravage Prize 

This prize is given for an outstanding paper or project written on the history of African Americans, with a preference for African Americans in the American West. Nolan DeGarlais “Multiracial Labor Organizing and Community Building in Roslyn, Washington, 1888-1907” In this extensively researched, well-written, and tightly argued essay, DeGarlais presents a comparative study of two strikes in the coal-mining town of Roslyn, Washington: a failed 1888 strike by the Knights of Labor, a union comprising immigrant white workers, and a successful one by the United Mine Workers in 1904. As DeGarlais shows, the mine workers by 1904 were an integrated union, and in significant ways Roslyn had become culturally integrated as well. While Black miners were brought to Roslyn as strike breakers in 1888, they remained to guide the newly arrived Americans into the institutions of American life. Thus, in a period that saw the entrenchment of Jim Crow laws and the renewed rise of the Klan, Roslyn saw a diverse community make common cause. When better prospects led most Black workers to leave Roslyn, they were for the most part remembered by history only as strike breakers. DeGarlais has done the crucial work of history in uncovering and explaining a more complicated story. His work represents the best of our undergraduates’ scholarship, and the Department’s commitment to the careful study of race and labor in historical contexts. 

Thomas M. Power Prize for Excellence in History - Undergraduate Paper Prize

Established in memory of UW alumnus Thomas M. Power, the Excellence in History awards recognize exemplary scholarship in history and encourage study in the discipline. This award acknowledges undergraduates who have produced outstanding research papers within a UW history course. Nicole Grabiel “’Nadie Ganaba’/ ‘Nobody Won’: El Salvador, Argentina, and the Transnational Roots of State Terror” Using primary and secondary sources in both Spanish and English, in this essay Grabiel argues for the influence of Argentina on El Salvador in the embrace of a policy of violent repression of political dissent in the late 1970s. Pointing to a moment of contingency when it was still possible for El Salvador’s ruling powers to engage with their left-wing opponents, the essay shows how a panoply of influences, from the advice of Argentine military attaches, offers of financial and technical support, and the promotion of Argentine policy as exemplary of political stability tipped the balance towards state terror and ultimately the deaths of more than 40,000 of El Salvador’s population of about four and a half million people. The essay draws extensively on newly-declassified Argentine chancery records as well as a mastery of primary and secondary sources. It draws on, and contributes to, a new Cold War historiography of Latin America, one which decenters the influence and demands of the United States to look for continental contributors. The paper exemplifies excellence in historical research and writing.  Selma Sukkary   honorable mention “One Strange Brew: a Look Back on San Francisco’s Psychedelic Art Movement” This essay exemplifies one of the most important attributes of good history: the ability to rediscover and explain the network of mutually-defining elements that constituted a relevant context at some time and place in the past. Here, the time is the mid-1960s and the place is San Francisco, home to a graphic tradition of posters celebrating the contemporary music scene. Sukkary appeals to histories of psychedelic substances, counterculture politics, art history, and abstract impressionism, literature, computing history and the San Francisco cultural scene, all flourishing briefly before the construction of a counter-counter-culture in the name of Cold War efficacy and conventional economic progress. Nicely balancing the cold rationality of historical argument and the evocation of alternate realities, this essay is fully deserving of recognition.

Thomas M. Power Prize for Excellence in History - Outstanding Graduating Senior

Established in memory of UW alumnus Thomas M. Power, the Excellence in History awards recognize exemplary scholarship in history and encourage study in the discipline. This award acknowledges the superb work of graduating seniors within the history major. Nicole Grabiel   Nicole is an exceptional student, graduating with a 3.99 history GPA, 4.00 global and regional studies GPA, and 3.92 UW cumulative GPA.  Along with her sophisticated research abilities, Nicole has exhibited remarkable leadership, commitment to social justice, and language fluency in her extracurricular activities. Specifically, her advanced Spanish skills that led to her position at the UW’s Center for Human Rights. Nicole’s thesis adviser, Dr. Ileana Rodríguez-Silva, states, “The center regularly assists civil groups in Central America, especially El Salvador, in their judicial claims against state terror. Nicole is the only one at the center exclusively dedicated to Central American research tasks, labor central to rural communities’ claims for reparations and restitutions from the government.” 

History Department lecturer, Dr. Kyle Haddad-Fonda, has provided this stunning assessment of Nicole’s academic skills and achievements: “Nicole is the best student I’ve ever taught, at the UW or anywhere else. She is a force both inside the classroom and beyond it—a person who combines an impressive intellect with a remarkable ability to communicate and a sincere desire for her scholarship to promote justice, dignity, and respect. She’s also a kind and caring person who exemplifies the best of what this university has to offer.” Nicole has a grant to conduct research this year through the Hoover Institute at Stanford University.

Thomas M. Power Prize for Excellence in History - Outstanding Student Leader

Established in memory of UW alumnus Thomas M. Power, the Excellence in History awards recognize exemplary scholarship in history and encourage study in the discipline. This award acknowledges a graduating history major or a history graduate student, for integrating the study of history with community and public engagement. It builds on the sense that many of our students are drawing on their studies to do important work beyond the classroom. Makenna Page Makenna serves as editor-in-chief of UW’s The Historical Review , our student-run undergraduate journal featuring writing and research in history. This journal was started several years ago, and Makenna has helped introduce new elements to The Historical Review . As Dr. Ileana Rodriguez- Silva wrote, “I have been impressed with their work with the history journal and the ways in which they are ushering in some changes and collaborating with students outside the department to bring other dimensions to historical thinking.” Some examples of these collaborations and changes include hosting writing workshops that encouraged students to hone their writing through feedback on pieces they were writing for submission to the journal; holding social events; pairing with UW Poetry Club to incorporate poetry into the journal; and this year’s Historical Review board is largest since its founding. Beyond Makenna’s work with The Historical Review , as an honors in history student, Makenna completed a thesis entitled, “Scotland’s Outer Hebrides: A Colonial Oxymoron.” As part of their research, Makenna was able to visit the archives in Scotland. During this archival visit, they found an incredible primary source, a letter, in an unexpected book while visiting the archives.

Dean’s Medalist Nominee

Each year, the College of Arts & Sciences chooses Dean’s Medalists to represent the College. These students are the top graduating seniors in each division and are nominated by their departments. Nicole Grabiel

Graduate Awards

Thomas m. power prize for excellence in history - graduate paper prize.

Established in memory of UW alumnus Thomas M. Power, the Excellence in History awards recognize exemplary scholarship in history and encourage study in the discipline. This prize is given to a graduate student who had produced a masterful research paper in a University of Washington history course.

Sierra Mondragón  “Belonging Possibilities: Santa Clara Pueblo Women Confronting Colonialism and Rethinking Sovereignty” This ambitious essay looks at the tensions between tribal sovereignty and Native identity among the Santa Clara Pueblo. Part of the essay studies the policy, established in 1939, by which tribal membership could descend through the patriarchal line but not through the matriarchal line, if only one parent was a member of the Santa Clara Pueblo. When this policy was challenged in federal court in 1978 on the grounds that it discriminated against women, it was upheld by the Supreme Court on the grounds of tribal sovereignty. The second part of the essay draws on a program of oral history interviews to establish what Mondragón refers to as “Belonging Possibilities,” that is, strategies for female empowerment and identity worked out within the community in order to make places for women within the community. This essay works on every level, thoroughly and creatively researched, imaginatively interpreted, sensitive to place and space, and respectfully engaged with the informants who emerge as partners in the process of collecting oral histories. Mondragón represents the best of what we hope for our graduate students in the Department of History. Ari Forsyth honorable mention “Problem Students at the New York School of Social Work” In this paper, Forsyth shows how various categories of “problem students” came to be defined at the beginning of the 1920s, and to be applied to trainee social workers who operated in the field as student-workers. Engaged in the business of establishing social work as a middle-class profession predominately for white women, setting those manifesting what were regarded as problems, such as other racial identities, physical characteristics and capabilities, language facility, or relative intelligence, outside the professional boundary undergoing construction. The essay cannily makes use of administrative records, rather than students’ personal files, and pays close attention to the minutiae of such office work. Here the differences between annotated drafts and final copies, and between handwritten and typed reports, or the peculiar status of informal minutes of informal conferences all bear weight in the argument. 

Thomas M. Power Prize for Excellence in History - Outstanding Teaching Assistant

Anandi Bandyopadhyay

Anandi Bandyopadhyay is a veteran teaching assistant in the department with experience teaching a variety of courses both in South Asian history (her own area of specialization) as well as U.S. and European history. One of Anandi’s recent faculty supervisors considered it her “good fortune” to have had Anandi as a TA and noted that she “greatly contributed much to the overall success of the course….I could not have asked for a better teaching partner.”  The faculty praised Anandi’s “superior skills” as a discussion leader, classroom manager and teacher, “Anandi does a fantastic job! She’s excellent at interacting with the undergrads. She works super hard. I am very grateful to have had her working with me!” 

Burke Prize in History

Named for former University of Washington Department of History faculty member and Pacific Northwest historian, Robert Burke, this prize is given to the graduate student deemed to have amassed the most meritorious record during the year in which they complete their MA in U.S. history.  Sierra Mondragón Sierra completed her MA in 2023 under the supervision of Professor Josh Reid. Sierra’s research focuses on the Pueblos and other Southwest peoples. Sierra’s MA seminar paper, “Indigenous Women and Everyday Negotiation and Resistance at Carlisle Indian School,” examined the experiences of Pueblo girls in the Indian boarding school system and how the schools impacted the students and their communities, as well as how these students were able to develop strategies to challenge and succeed within the boarding school system. For her PhD program, Sierra will continue to explore the themes of race and gender in Indigenous history, the legacy of colonial violence, Indigenous resistance and feminist activism, in particular Pueblo women’s efforts to shape, theorize, and historicize what it means to be a Pueblo woman within the overarching theme of Indigenous Belonging.

Department Awards

Thomas and cameron pressly prize for excellence in secondary education.

Named for UW History emeritus professor Thomas Pressly and his wife Cameron, this prize recognizes remarkable teaching of history and social studies at the high school level in the state of Washington. Nominations are made each year from undergraduate and graduate students through short essays describing the talents of their favorite high school history teacher. Mark Tomasetti, Camas High School Mr. Tomasetti has been teaching history at Camas High School for 24 years, even doing his student teaching there, as well. He has been named Camas Teacher of the Year twice and has frequently been chosen by the graduating seniors to speak at their ceremony. He established AP courses in both world and U.S. history, and he serves as the social sciences department chair as well. Mr. Tomasetti’s nomination for this award received enthusiastic endorsement from former students and from the leadership at Camas High School. 

William J. Rorabaugh Departmental Service Award

This award is named in memory of UW professor of history, William J. Rorabaugh, and it honors Bill’s incredible legacy and loyalty to the department. It is given each year to a student along with a staff or faculty member.

Oya Aktas Oya has been a leader since coming to the University in 2018. To name just a few of her accomplishments, she has served on the department’s Graduate Liaison Committee as well as the Diversity Committee, fulfilled the role of lead teaching assistant, and worked as a union representative. Oya is an advocate for fellow students, calling for health insurance and financial support for all. In her role as lead TA, her teaching and professional mentorship have been instrumental in the successful development of other graduate students’ pedagogical skills, and she has contributed to creating a culture of excitement and collaboration surrounding teaching and learning. Beyond her departmental service work, Oya has been a reliable source for institutional knowledge, as well as intellectual and emotional support, all of which has been indispensable to community building among graduate students. She has often attends and leads online meetings when away on research travel.  Bianca Dang Bianca is an amazing faculty member who has quickly made herself an integral part of the department since arriving in 2021. Bianca has served on a wide range of committees, including Diversity, Chair’s Advisory, Undergraduate Studies, and Digital History. Her dedicated and comprehensive labor on behalf of the community as an academic mentor and as a faculty member on the Diversity Committee has made a palpable impression on graduate students, faculty members, and staff. As an academic advisor, she displays excellence that exceeds expectations for faculty-student mentorship and demonstrates her commitment to service. Because of her obvious expertise as a researcher and instructor, her efforts to curate expertise to serve the needs of her students, and her refusal to turn down a student in need of academic mentorship, Bianca currently serves on multiple graduate students’ exam and dissertation committees and on many undergraduates’ thesis project committees. In this role, she goes out of her way to support the unique research interests of graduate and undergraduate students and to provide advice, resources, and encouragement at every stage of her students’ academic careers. Her concern for students goes beyond the formal academic world and demonstrates a commitment to shaping future academics, not only as competent scholars, but as capable community leaders and contributors to positive local change.  In the course of only three years, Bianca has established a unique reputation as an academic advisor who supports her students holistically, cultivating and guiding student research and professional career development while also prioritizing students' mental, emotional, and physical health and well-being. She does critical work to facilitate a collaborative and supportive culture within the History Department. Bianca is a wise and compassionate advocate, using her position to connect people with resources and to facilitate department-wide policies and conversations to make the History Department a safe community for all students, faculty, and staff. Bianca’s commitment to service, equity, and inclusion spans goes far beyond the campus and is evident in her volunteer and community-building work in the broader Seattle community. Her efforts make our department an inclusive space that promotes community well-being. Mark Weitzenkamp Not only is Mark an incredible undergraduate advisor, but he has dedicated tremendous amounts of time to the careful watch of Smith Hall. In his role as building coordinator (a volunteer position) Mark served as guardian to Smith Hall during the pandemic, and he continues to watch over the building. He is thoughtful, patient, and incredibly detail-oriented in his understanding of what should and shouldn’t be happening in the building. He attends to countless requests, opens doors, meets people, answers emails and phone calls, handling with grace the many interruptions to his regular workflow. History is so grateful for all his behind-the-scenes work to keep the building safe and functioning. Mark is also a gifted adviser, who guides students through our large university. He is a tireless advocate for students and uses his deep knowledge of university systems to help connect students with resources and solve any logistical problems. His love of learning and discussing history and student interests is evident. Beyond this, Mark is an amazing and helpful team player in all aspects of his work. We are so fortunate to have Mark on our advising and history team! Kum Cha (Tina) Vicente Tina has been Smith Hall’s marvelous custodian, who is retiring this year. She has served us all incredibly well without much recognition. With great pride, she goes the extra mile to ensure our spaces are clean, and she has done an incredible job. We all wish her the very best in her well-earned retirement—she will be missed.

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