Why Should I study abroad? Participating in one of our programs allows you to:
- Enhance your job opportunities.
- The American economy is becoming increasingly globalized and companies need employees
with language skills and cultural competencies.
- Studying abroad allows you to face and overcome challenges, solve problems and develop
unique abilities. Employers value creative thinking, flexibility, communication, teamwork
and problem solving skills—all traits that you can develop during a study abroad program.
- When you list a study abroad experience on your resume, you immediately stand out
from the crowd.
-
Experience other cultures.
- By immersing yourself with the people of another country, you have the opportunity
to notice nuances that cannot be explained in words.
- Often, you will also meet students from countries other than the one you are visiting,
learning even more about their culture and way of life.
- As you learn to respect differences, listen carefully to others, cope with challenges,
solve problems and develop independence, you develop traits and skills that are very
valuable to employers.
- See the world.
- A National Geographic global literacy survey found that 87 percent of students in
the United States between the ages of 18 and 24 could not locate Iraq on a world map,
83 percent cannot find Afghanistan, 58 percent cannot find Japan, and 11 percent cannot
even find the United States (US Senate Resolution).
- Study abroad gives you a break from your regular routine as a student. Whether you
choose a short-term experience, a semester, or yearlong one, you will earn credits
by doing things other than sitting in a classroom on the WSU campus.
- Get into graduate school.
- A survey done by the Institute for the International Education of Students shows that
studying abroad influences subsequent educational experience, decisions to expand
or change academic majors, and decisions to attend graduate school.
- Study abroad experiences give you opportunities to understand others' values, perspectives
and deeply held beliefs, and in doing so, reexamine your own.
- If you are lucky enough to study abroad long enough to master a language, you will
find many opportunities in your life to use that language. Study abroad is the optimal
way to learn a language because you are immersed in a community that predominantly
speaks it.
- Improve your communication skills
- Study abroad experiences give you opportunities to understand others' values, perspectives
and deeply-held beliefs, and in doing so, reexamine your own. This allows you to effectively
understand and communicate with others, a core skill in effective business negotiation
as well as in life.
- If you are lucky enough to study abroad long enough to master a language, you will
find many opportunities in your life to use that language. Study abroad is the optimal
way to learn a language because you are surrounded by it daily and listening to it
in its proper context.
