Questions to Ask Before Studying Abroad
Questions for a study abroad office, a program provider, and students who have already been: how credit and grades come back, what the program fee leaves out, visas and insurance, housing and medication, and who answers the phone when something goes wrong.
The questions
Open any question for the note
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.
What does the program fee cover, and what will I still be paying for separately?
Why ask it
Some fees include housing and a meal allowance, others cover tuition and an orientation and nothing else. Ask for the list of exclusions, which is the shorter document and the more revealing one.
Which of my credits transfer, who approves that, and can I get it in writing before I leave?
Why ask it
Approval usually sits with your major department, not the study abroad office, and reassurance from the wrong office counts for nothing. Get a course-by-course equivalency signed while you are still on campus, because arguing it from another continent is far harder.
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.
How many hours a week do classes actually meet, and how much of the grade rests on one final exam?
Why ask it
Courses in many countries meet far less often and load most of the grade onto a single exam or paper. If you work better with steady deadlines, that structure will hurt you, and no brochure mentions it.
Am I placed in housing, or expected to find my own once I arrive?
Why ask it
Finding a flat in an unfamiliar city, in another language, while jet-lagged is genuinely hard, and in some cities September is the worst possible month to try. Placement removes an entire category of risk.
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.
Does my financial aid or scholarship travel with me, and does the money arrive before housing is due?
Why ask it
Aid can usually follow you, but the timing often does not: deposits and rent abroad can fall due weeks before disbursement. Spotting that gap early lets you arrange a bridge instead of scrambling in August.
What visa do I need, how long is processing taking right now, and does it allow me to work?
Why ask it
Processing times move with the season and with consulate staffing, and student visas often carry specific work limits. Both change your timeline and your budget, and neither is stable enough to take from an old forum post.
What health insurance am I required to carry, and does it cover therapy, prescriptions and a flight home?
Why ask it
Many programs require their own policy on top of whatever you have, and the useful part is the exclusions: mental health care, pre-existing conditions, medication, medical evacuation. This is the paperwork most worth reading line by line.
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 level of the local language do I need for daily life, as opposed to for my classes?
Why ask it
Programs advertise English-taught courses and then leave you to handle a lease, a doctor and a bank in the local language. Ask what a student who arrived with none of the language found hard, rather than whether it is possible.
Who is my point of contact once I land, and what hours are they reachable in local time?
Why ask it
In a difficult moment you need a name and a number, not an office. A contact who only works your home university's hours leaves you effectively unsupported for half of every day.
Who do I call at two in the morning, locally and at home, if something serious happens?
Why ask it
Ask it plainly and notice whether the answer is specific. A real one includes a number answered at night, the hospital they use, and what the program pays for compared with what you would.
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.
What have students found hardest about this particular program?
Why ask it
This gets past the marketing to specific friction: a two-hour commute, an unheated dorm, a department that never answers email. If the answer stays general, the office has not debriefed anyone.
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.
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.
Planning a term abroad
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Working backwards from departure
- 1About a year out: confirm which programs your major will take credit from, and check whether a term away collides with a required course taught in only one semester.
- 2Around nine months out: apply, and separately ask the financial aid office what changes. Programs run or approved by your own university usually keep aid intact; direct enrollment abroad often does not.
- 3Six months out: start the visa. Some consulates require an in-person appointment in a particular city, and the appointment slot, not the paperwork, is normally the bottleneck.
- 4Three months out: handle medication, vaccinations and insurance, and get your prescriptions written out with generic drug names as well as brand names.
- 5A month out: tell your bank and phone carrier, arrange a card with no foreign transaction fee, and store scans of your passport, visa and insurance somewhere you could reach without your phone.
Money, in practice
The first two weeks are the expensive ones
Deposits, a transit pass, bedding, a phone plan and meals out before you know where the cheap places are. Budget arrival separately rather than dividing the term into equal months.
Cards and currency
Check the foreign transaction fee on every card you hold and open an account without one if you need to. Fewer, larger cash withdrawals usually beat a fee on each one, and declining a card terminal's offer to convert into your home currency is nearly always cheaper.
Rates move
If your savings are in one currency and your rent is in another, a shift of a few percent across a semester changes your budget. Leave room rather than planning to the last unit.
Things students wish they had done differently
- Booked flights before the visa was actually approved.
- Treated credit as settled because the study abroad office said yes, without the department signing anything.
- Landed on a weekend or a national holiday, when no office was open and no bank account could be opened.
- Left prescription refills to be figured out after arrival.
- Planned so much weekend travel that they never came to know the city they were living in.
If things go wrong while you are there
Before you leave, find out which office at your home university handles emergencies outside business hours, and keep that number written down rather than only in your phone. If your country offers a registration service for citizens abroad, use it, since it makes replacing a passport or being reached in a crisis considerably easier. If you begin to struggle, contact the program early rather than at breaking point: changing housing, dropping a course, or taking a leave of absence all become harder once deadlines pass.