Where will your path lead?

It’s never too early to start planning your time abroad. When you meet with faculty advisors, let them know you’re interested in international learning, both on campus and beyond. As you begin planning, consider your goals and the benefits of going abroad.

Why You Should Study Abroad

Learn. Engage. Go places.

Your time abroad will be one of your most formative Cornell experiences. It is high-impact, immersive learning. You will transform from someone with perhaps only a basic understanding of a place's complexities into an informed global citizen, open to rich, diverse, complex cultures.

Grow Academically

With a range of different program options, including Cornell Global Hubs, you have the opportunity to take unique courses, gain hands-on experience, and lock in your language learning in an immersive environment. Using academic skills and learning within a different context also pushes you and allows for a deeper understanding of courses you've completed at Cornell.

Advance Your Career

Your time abroad will distinguish you professionally. It will change how you view the world. The impact will go far beyond the time you spend in another country. As a student at one of the world’s top universities, you have the potential for success in whatever you want to pursue. Encounters in and outside the classroom allow you to build important life skills—critical thinking, problem solving, flexibility—that will remain with you long after your college career.

Meet Your Goals

Your time abroad will fit seamlessly into your time at Cornell. Nearly every major can study abroad during the academic year. With planning, you can easily integrate an international experience into your time at Cornell. And your financial aid applies to semester and academic year programs. For semester and yearlong programs:

• If you receive financial aid, your estimated family contribution will not change when you go abroad.
• Your semester or year abroad will fit within your eight-semester path to graduation.
• Credits earned abroad will transfer back as major, minor, distribution, or elective credits.

You Can Study Abroad Almost Any Time!

You can go abroad during the academic year, a semester, during the summer, or over winter break. All opportunities should fit into your eight-semester plan toward graduation. If you plan well, you may even be able to study abroad more than once while at Cornell!

Short-term or summer programs offer opportunities during any year you are actively enrolled at Cornell. If you want to spend a semester or academic year abroad, junior year is the typical timing, although spending a semester abroad during the fall of senior year is becoming more common. Studying abroad for a semester or academic year as a sophomore or during the semester you are scheduled to graduate is generally not approved.

First Steps on Your Path

Global learning is a vital part of your Cornell experience­. There’s a study abroad opportunity that’s right for you, your major, and your goals. We’ll help you find your place in the world and take the steps needed to get there.

Education Abroad is here to help you:

• Plan and find resources.
• Identify study abroad program options.
• Connect with your college advisor so you’ll know how programs mesh with your academic requirements.
• Start and successfully complete the application process.
• Go abroad and thrive.

We’ll advise you before, during, and after your study abroad experience. Reach out to us—and take the first steps on your study abroad journey.

Get started right now by browsing study abroad programs and exploring Get Started to find out what you need to know about college policies and your academic progress, financial planning, and health and travel safety.

Next Up: Academics