These numbers convinced me when I was deciding to come to Dartmouth. As exceptional as they are, however, the numbers don't tell the whole story. They say nothing about the degree of cultural immersion students experience on these off-campus programs an important measure of quality for these programs.
The LSAs and FSPs offered at Dartmouth make it easy for students to study abroad without having to worry about logistics such as finding a university, transferring credits and paying tuition. Whereas students at other colleges often have to go through a separate program, Dartmouth organizes its own study abroad. Furthermore, because it is the norm, studying abroad is ingrained in the College's culture. It is almost expected that you will participate in at least one off-campus program during your career here making it logistically easy and socially acceptable to study abroad. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was for me to jump back into Dartmouth life after being away for two terms. This would certainly not have been as easy at many other schools.
Despite all of this, I found myself disappointed with the FSP I participated in last Fall. Don't get me wrong: living in a foreign country with a host family was incredible. Nonetheless, the program itself was lacking. After returning to campus this term and talking with friends who had done other programs, I realized my FSP experience was not unique.
According to the Dartmouth website, off-campus programs offer "students opportunities to study other cultures." And the best way to study another culture is by integrating yourself into that culture. Nonetheless, I could not help but feel isolated from the local culture on my FSP. Taking courses with only Dartmouth students in a room attached to an apartment complex left little room for interaction with the local community. My experiences outside of class were not much different there was very little guidance as to activities to do in the community.
The things I did on my own were infinitely more valuable than what we did in class. Whether it was meeting students at the local university, playing bridge at the local club or going to school with one of my host brothers, most of what I took away from the FSP occurred outside of the classroom. I was fortunate enough to have a host family who helped me organize these things. To a certain extent, it should be the responsibility of the students to seek out these opportunities, but I felt there was more I could have done and taken advantage of had I just been better informed. My poor knowledge of the local community (and language, initially) as well as the brevity of the program hindered my ability to seek out authentic cultural experiences. Given these difficulties, Dartmouth students often end up hanging out with each other, isolating themselves even more from the local community.
The organizers of each program are in a unique position to help students on LSAs and FSPs with this problem, given their prolonged experience in the respective communities. The lack of this guidance begs the question: What am I paying Dartmouth tuition for? While students should certainly be responsible for taking advantage of the opportunities presented, program organizers could eliminate many of the obstacles students face in finding these opportunities. Some programs may be better at dealing with this problem than others. But even within each program, it can vary from year to year and professor to professor. This should not be the case.
When asked about the off-campus programs at Dartmouth, College President Jim Yong Kim said: "I think a lot of what we do is just language training Language training is fantastic, but my hope is that we can add some complexity and substance to these programs." I think Kim is right Dartmouth off-campus programs could benefit from a little "substance."
Study abroad often has the reputation of being academically easy and a mere excuse to spend time in a foreign country on your parents' dime. The study abroad programs should be something more. Living in a foreign country offers a great opportunity to not only learn about another culture, but also experience new things. With the addition of new programs each year, Dartmouth far surpasses its peers when it comes to number of study-abroad programs it offers. It is now time, however, for Dartmouth to focus on the quality of those programs.
