The UC Davis Summer Abroad is extending the deadline to apply to select programstotoday, Apr. 29 and May 1, in the hope of encouraging students to take the opportunity to study abroad and give students who missed the deadline a chanceto apply.
“We know there are some students out there who want to apply who haven’t,” said Eric Schroeder, director of the Summer Abroad Education Abroad Center (EAC) program and University Writing Program lecturer.
Programs take place during both summer sessions, but only deadlines for programs in the second summer session can be extended.
“The programs that are leaving after July 15 can [have deadlines to apply] be extended to May 1,” said Kathy Cunningham, program coordinator of the Summer Abroad EAC.
“It takes time to affirm accommodations, and with the [Summer Abroad] orientation coming up May 17, we need to order the [Lonely Planet] Guide and the materials,” she added.
Summer Abroad programs range from three weeks to 31 days long and are headed by UC Davis professors and lecturers. Students take two classes while abroad and receive eight units of UC-approved credit. Select programs are not yet full and will accept students as long as there is room.
“Some programs have a minimum of 18 students and a maximum of 25. Some are team-taught, with two [professors], and can have a minimum of 26 and a maximum of 32 students,” Schroeder said.
Schroeder has also been teaching Summer Abroad for years, and will be teaching literature, history, cinema and ecology in South Africa. To help select which program is best for a student, he said, “It depends on how much time and money you have, where you want to go and what you want to do.”
To apply, students may visit the website summer-abroad.ucdavis.edu or go to the Summer Abroad Center located above the Education Abroad Center on the corner of Third and A streets. The EAC is still holding “Enroll in a Day,” where students may download, complete and turn in the online application to apply for summer abroad.
Students need to turn in the application, a copy of their unofficial transcript, a signed waiver of liability, a signed participation contract and pay the nonrefundable $300 deposit. Extensions are given for turning in the health forms, 2×2 passport photo and proof of passport due to the extra time needed to acquire the materials.
“[Students] can start the online account and turn the application in the same day; it’s really easy,” said Summer Abroad EAC assistant and graduated political science and Native American studies major Mirella Ceja-Orozco.
Financial aid is available to students who have filled out a FAFSA for the 2007-2008 academic school year. Students can also go on the Summer Abroad website and use the financial aid estimator, which includes the cost of the program, flight and spending, to estimate the total amount of going abroad and how much financial aid will be packaged. According to Ceja-Orozco, the financial aid estimator is a pretty strong, accurate estimator of how much aid students will receive.
Schroeder encourages all students, especially first-years and sophomores, to consider studying abroad. He said, “This is an opportunity of a lifetime. Students need to plan it early; the older you get the more difficult it is because of internships, work, academic reasons. If you plan it, it will happen.”
WENDY WANG can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.
Information box:
Deadline to apply has been extended for the following summer abroad programs:
Extended until TODAY:
Social and Cultural Changes in Globalizing China
Location: Kunming, China
Date: July 2 to 30
Courses: Anthropology 148A and 198
Extended until Tuesday, Apr. 29
Music and Culture in Latin America
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date: June 28 to July 26
Courses: Music 127 or Spanish 171 and Music 198
Brazilian Literature and Culture
Location: Salvador, Brazil
Date: June 28 to July 27
Courses: Portugese 161 and 198
Playing to the Gods
Location: Athens & Hydra, Greece
Date: July 3 to 28
Courses: Dramatic Art 155B and 198
Extended until Thursday, May 1
Weimar Culture: The Roaring Twenties and the Rise of Nazism
Location: Berlin, Germany
Date: Aug. 1 to 31
Courses: German 118B and 198
Contemporary European Cinema
Location: Duesseldorf, Germany & Locrano, Switzerland
Date: Aug. 1 to 31
Courses: Film Studies or German 142 and 198
Ireland Without Borders
Location: Belfast, England & Dublin, Ireland
Date: Aug. 5 to Sept. 2
Courses: English 149 and Nature & Culture 198
Chiapas: Indigenous Literary and Social Movements
Location: San Cristobal & Chiapas, Mexico
Date: Aug. 4 to Sept. 3
Courses: Native American Studies 184 and198
Film as Narrative: Inventing Scotland
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Date: July 19 to Aug. 16
Courses: English 160 or Film Studies 189 and 198
