Studying abroad can seem like a daunting, unattainable goal. As someone who used to think this as well, I totally understand these feelings. I used to see beautiful scenic Instagram pictures of people studying abroad and every time I did, so many questions filled my head. I couldn’t understand how people could afford to study abroad, or how they even heard about the opportunity to study abroad. Especially since I haven’t traveled much in my life, studying in a whole new country for a full month or more seemed like a pipe dream. It turns out though, when the opportunity came along for me to study abroad, it ended up not being as much of a struggle as I initially thought it would be.
After a few months of getting the necessary preparations and applications together, I was able to study abroad in Florence, Italy this June and July. It was an amazing and exciting experience that I am so thankful for.
The first step in applying for studying abroad is to actually find the opportunity to go. All of the countless emails your college sends you can get super redundant and seem irrelevant to you, but it’s very important to check them out! The way I found out about the opportunity to study abroad in Florence through the fashion department at VCU was by receiving a mass email from the department.
Hearing about opportunities like this can bring up feelings of uncertainty or questions of whether you will be accepted or not. Thankfully, in my case, VCU encourages its students to study abroad. It didn’t feel the same as applying for college, and I didn’t fear that if I didn’t have a crazy high GPA I wouldn’t get in. Believe in yourself! Colleges want you to study abroad, they aren’t trying to make it unattainable!
A pleasant surprise was that the application process wasn’t hard at all. The most difficult part was having to write on the application why I wanted to study abroad and what I believed I would be getting out of it. My advice in answering these prompts is to speak from the heart and be sincere about your intentions. You could describe the knowledge you hope to gain, how it’ll impact your career or how being around the cultures of others is interesting and potentially insightful for you.
Financial situations can definitely be a set back for those who want to study abroad. I was expecting that there would be no financial help opportunities for my study abroad journey. To my surprise, there were a few scholarships offered for academic achievements as well as for financial needs and I ended up receiving one! I would encourage you to apply for all available study abroad scholarships because you could end up receiving it to your surprise, like me.
I hope if you have been wanting to study abroad, that you feel inspired to just go for it! Studying in a new country is such an eye-opening experience. It gave me a feeling of rejuvenation and independence. I was hesitant to it at first too, thinking I needed to have a rich family and 4.0 GPA to go, but that’s not the case!
Image credit: Sydney Spencer