Everyone has their reasons for going abroad or staying put. In the end, it is your decision. You can still have an amazing college experience even if you chose not to go abroad.
Nina The reasons I have for staying put pretty much all stem from the experiences before college and during my freshman year here at Boston College. The starting point was during orientation freshman year of college. In the pandemonium and excitement of freshman year, I remember sitting in my first ever advising session with about 20 other CSOM students. The situation was intimidating enough. But to top it all off, the professor was standing at the front of the room handing out a sheet with four separate sections to indicate the four years at Boston College. He then said, “Alright so this is really basic but let’s try and plan out your four years here, remember if you want to go aboard you have to plan accordingly.” I sat there stunned looking at the blank sheet of paper feeling the pressure right at that moment to make the right decision. Do I go abroad? Or do I stay here for the full four years? I felt a sudden pressure to make my decision and make the right decision. It was overwhelming.
Fast forwarding to freshman year it started in a whorl wind of “name games” and professors trying to scare you into submission. I was thrown into what felt like an impossible situation. I would study hours on end and not be making the grades that I had become so accustomed to making in high school. Suddenly that looming GPA requirement was on my mind again. If I wanted to go abroad then I would have get those grades up, but again the question was raised do I want to go abroad at all? I realized right then and there, I didn’t want to go abroad. There is so much involved in going to another country for a semester!
So in the end, I decided to stay put. Why? Well I’ve thought about it a lot and I think that my main reason for staying put was that I felt Boston College has so much to offer me. There is so much left to experience and so much unknown that I want to experience before leaving college. I picked Boston College for a reason, when I was visiting all those other schools Boston College was that made me excited. My other main reason for not going abroad was that as a student in CSOM it’s not exactly the easiest to set up your schedule to go abroad. A lot of people do it and all successful but I felt that the extra stress and headache would not be worth it for me personally.
Katherine: Surprisingly, I had always planned on going abroad. Every time I thought about college, I thought about the semester I’d be spending exploring Europe. Even up until the beginning of sophomore year I thought about how the same time next year I’d be saying goodbye to my family and friends and setting off on this adventure. However as time got closer, I started having second thoughts. I went as far as applying but then realized this wasn’t the right path for me.
Firstly, I don’t think I could be that far away from home for so long. I am extremely close with my family. I am not saying that students that go abroad aren’t, but with the fact that I talk to each of my parents at least twice a day, I’d rack up quite the phone bill abroad. A month abroad was more than enough for me. I decided to do one of BC’s summer programs in Dublin. It was definitely the right choice for me. I had a great time, was able to see many different places, meet amazing people and was I was able to go home right as extreme homesickness was setting in.
As my friends set off to explore the world for a semester, I can’t help but sometimes be jealous. But then again, I was the one who chose not to go abroad. If you are like me and many other BC students who choose not to go abroad, you most likely have your reasons as I have mine.
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