Questions to Ask About Studying Abroad
Questions to take into a meeting with a study abroad adviser, a department head, or a financial aid officer before you commit to a term overseas. Written for undergraduates who have decided they want to go and now need the details in writing.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Am I eligible for this program, and is there a GPA or class-year cutoff?
Why ask it
GPA minimums are usually applied as a filter before anyone reads your essay, and some programs quietly exclude first-years or students in their final term. Ask for the actual number. If you get "you should be fine," you have not been told anything yet.
Which programs accept students in my major, and which ones do people in my major actually choose?
Why ask it
The list of partner universities is almost always longer than the list where your department will approve coursework. Naming the programs current majors attend surfaces the shorter, real list and tells you who to email for a first-hand account.
What does the application involve, and what is the deadline for each piece?
Why ask it
There is rarely one deadline. The program application, the separate aid paperwork, and the passport or visa step often sit months apart, and the visa step cannot start until the first two clear. An answer like "sometime in the spring" is the one to push on.
What will this cost in total, including what the program fee does not cover?
Why ask it
Program fees commonly leave out flights, visa and residence permit fees, local transport, the housing deposit, and required insurance. Ask for a sample budget from a past participant, because that is where the unlisted costs show up.
Which of my scholarships and aid travel with me, and which stop at the border?
Why ask it
Federal aid often follows an approved program while institutional grants apply only to home-campus tuition. This single answer can decide whether the term is affordable, so get it from the financial aid office in writing rather than secondhand.
How do credits transfer, and who has to sign off on each course?
Why ask it
Approval usually comes from your department, not the study abroad office, and it is often course by course. Also ask whether the grades enter your GPA or arrive as pass or fail, because that changes how you should choose classes.
Could going abroad delay my graduation, and what specifically would put me off track?
Why ask it
The risk is usually one required course that runs only in the term you would be away, or a prerequisite chain you cannot resume until the following year. Ask them to check your remaining requirements against the calendar, not just reassure you.
What language level do I need when I arrive, and which courses are taught in English?
Why ask it
Some hosts advertise English instruction but teach seminars, labs, or group work in the local language. Ask which specific courses in your field run in English this year, since last year's list is not a promise.
What is the visa process, how long does it take, and what does it cost?
Why ask it
Visa timelines are set by the consulate, not the university, and some require an in-person appointment in a city you may have to travel to. If the wait is eight weeks and the appointment book is full, that changes when you need your acceptance letter.
What are the housing options, and does the program arrange them or leave it to me?
Why ask it
Whether you get a dorm placement, a homestay, or a list of landlords determines how much of your first week goes to apartment hunting in a language you may not speak. Ask what happens if a placement falls through after you land.
When does the host term start and end compared with our calendar?
Why ask it
Overlapping terms are common: a host semester that runs into July can collide with a summer job or a lease at home. Exam periods abroad also sometimes sit weeks after teaching ends, which people forget when booking flights.
What health insurance do I need, and how does seeing a doctor actually work there?
Why ask it
Your home plan may cover emergencies abroad but not routine care, prescriptions, or therapy, and some countries require you to buy local coverage as a visa condition. Ask specifically how you would refill an ongoing prescription.
Who is my contact on the ground, and how do I reach them outside office hours?
Why ask it
A name and a phone number is a real answer. "Email the international office" is not, because the problems that matter, a lost passport or a hospital visit, happen on weekends and across time zones.
How are courses taught and graded at the host university?
Why ask it
Systems vary in ways that catch people out: a single final exam worth the whole grade, oral examinations, or a scale where the numbers do not map onto what you are used to. Knowing the format tells you how to pace the term.
What academic support exists if I start falling behind?
Why ask it
Tutoring, writing help, and disability accommodations that exist at home may not transfer, and the process for asking is often different. Find out who you would go to and whether documentation from home is accepted.
Can I work or take an internship on the visa I would hold?
Why ask it
Many student visas cap paid hours or bar work entirely, and unpaid internships can still count as employment. Ask before you build a budget that assumes a part-time job.
Realistically, how much time and money do students have left over for travel?
Why ask it
Course loads and attendance rules decide this more than the map does. Someone with Friday seminars and mandatory labs has a very different term from someone with three contact days, and the honest answer manages your expectations.
How do students on this program meet local people rather than only other exchange students?
Why ask it
Exchange cohorts tend to close in on themselves, especially in programs that house everyone together. Concrete answers, a buddy scheme, a sports club, courses taken alongside local students, are the ones worth acting on.
What do returning students say they wish they had known before they went?
Why ask it
This is the question that produces the specifics no brochure carries: the bank that would not open an account, the deposit that never came back, the course that was harder than advertised. Ask to be put in touch with one or two of them.
What should I do in the next month to stay on schedule?
Why ask it
Ending with a concrete next step turns the meeting into a plan. If the answer is only "keep an eye on the website," ask what the first hard deadline is and work backwards from it yourself.
Is this run by my own university, an exchange with a partner school, or a third-party provider?
Why ask it
The three models differ on who is responsible when something goes wrong, how credit comes back, and whether your tuition and aid still apply. Plenty of students never learn which one they signed up for until they need help.
Do the grades I earn count toward my GPA at home, or do they come back as pass or fail?
Why ask it
This decides whether a difficult semester abroad can damage your record or is walled off from it. Some schools accept the credit but not the grades, which also affects honors thresholds and graduate applications.
Once I am back, what do I have to do for the credits and grades to appear on my transcript?
Why ask it
Foreign transcripts can take months, and credit sometimes sits unposted until someone chases it, which can hold up graduation clearance or a scholarship renewal. Ask who owns the follow-up, because it is usually you.
If I am placed with a host family or roommates, how are the matches made and what happens if it is not working?
Why ask it
Placements are often made from a short form and the results vary widely. The second half of the question matters most: whether there is a process for moving you, or whether you would be told to make it work.
What have students in this program actually spent per month on food, transport and a phone?
Why ask it
Published budgets are estimates, frequently optimistic and sometimes years old. Ask the office to put you in touch with two students who went last year, because their real numbers will not match the brochure.
If I take a regular medication, can I legally bring it into the country and refill it there?
Why ask it
Drugs prescribed routinely in one country are controlled or banned in another, and local pharmacies will not fill a foreign prescription. Sort this with your doctor and the country's embassy before you book flights.
What are the rules on traveling to other countries during the term, and does my visa allow re-entry?
Why ask it
Re-entry depends on the visa, and some programs also require permission or bar travel in certain weeks. Booking cheap flights before checking this is the classic expensive mistake.
Has anyone left this program early, and why?
Why ask it
Early departures usually trace to something information could have prevented: a housing situation, a mental health crisis with no local support, money running out. Nobody volunteers this, which is exactly why to ask.
What happens to my housing, credits and money if the program is cancelled or I have to come home?
Why ask it
Cancellations, medical withdrawals and family emergencies all happen. What matters is the refund policy in writing, whether partial credit survives, and whether your home school would let you re-enroll mid-term.
Using these questions with an adviser
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Ask the right office for each answer
Study abroad office
Best on program options, application steps, housing, visas, and on-the-ground support. They are usually not authorised to promise anything about credit or aid.
Your department or major adviser
The only people who can approve which courses abroad count toward your degree, and the only ones who can tell you whether a term away breaks a prerequisite chain.
Financial aid
The only source on which grants, scholarships, and loans follow you. Ask for the answer in writing, because the difference between offices on this point is where most nasty surprises come from.
How to get answers you can rely on
- Ask for numbers and dates rather than reassurance. "It usually works out" is not an answer you can plan against.
- When told something is normally fine, ask what happens in the case where it is not.
- Write down who told you what. Advisers change and programs get restructured between the meeting and departure.
- Ask to be connected with a student who went last year. They will answer the cost and workload questions more bluntly than staff can.
Where students most often get caught out
Assuming credit approval follows program acceptance
Being admitted to a program says nothing about whether your department will count the courses. Get course approvals signed before you leave, and ask what to do if your abroad timetable changes on arrival.
Budgeting from the program fee
The fee is a floor. Flights, deposits, permits, and the first two weeks before you find your feet are what break budgets, and they are rarely itemised anywhere.
Starting the visa late
The consulate sets the timeline and does not care about your term dates. Find out the appointment wait early, because it dictates when you need every other document in hand.
Ignoring the return
Ask now about re-enrolment, housing at home, and whether your abroad transcript arrives in time for the next registration. These are dull questions that cause real trouble later.