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First you should attend the Off-Campus Studies (OCS) Informational Meeting for new students held during Opening Week and the Off-Campus Studies Fair, which is usually held in November. Then you should attend an OCS First Step Meeting no later than the first semester of your sophomore year. These are small group meetings intended to help students get started with planning for study abroad. Please note that if you plan to major in the sciences, music or theater, it is often advisable to begin to take courses in your intended major during your first year, if you wish to go abroad. Check with your academic adviser about whether you need to begin taking courses in your intended major.
Most students who participate on an off-campus study program through Whitman earn a full semester of credit, usually 15-16 credits. In order to earn transfer credit from off-campus study, you must have pre-approval from Whitman and earn a C- or better in the courses. To obtain pre-approval, you must complete the Whitman Off-Campus Study Leave Application (WOCSL).
Whitman College offers a number of study abroad options in countries where English is not the main language spoken in which students may begin foreign language study and take elective courses in English. Currently such Partner Programs are located in Austria, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Jordan, Spain, and Thailand. These programs are excellent for students who wish to immerse themselves in a foreign culture but have not yet developed proficiency in a foreign language.
Most of Whitman's Partner Programs in Germany, France, Spain and Latin America require that students have completed four or five semesters of college-level courses in the relevant foreign language or the equivalent. This usually means that you need to have completed at least the 206-level language course at Whitman or one semester of a third-year language course before going abroad. Most programs prefer that students enroll in a course in the target language the semester before going abroad to ensure that their language skills are not rusty. It is generally advisable to take as much of the target language as possible before going abroad.
Because many programs require that students have completed at least two years of their college education to participate, and because Whitman has senior examination or thesis requirements in the majors, Whitman expects that students will study off-campus during one or both semesters of their third year of college.
Whether or not you may apply off-campus study credit toward your major requirements is up to your major adviser or your major department. Most major departments at Whitman are willing to approve transfer credit toward the major quite readily if the course is suitable. Whitman students must take at least two-thirds of the courses in their major on the Whitman campus. Most departments at Whitman allow a maximum total of 8-12 transfer credits (including both foreign and domestic transfer credit) to be applied toward the major.
It is not always necessary to study off-campus on a program that is related to your major, although it is often highly recommended. Many students find it interesting to take courses off-campus in their major field, as it gives them insight into how that field is approached in other parts of the world.
If you take off-campus courses in the appropriate fields, you may apply them to the relevant distribution requirements at Whitman. The advisers of Off-Campus Studies (OCS) can offer you guidance as to which courses are likely to apply to certain distribution areas. The final decision regarding distribution credit rests with the Whitman Registrar.
Grades from off-campus study do have an impact on your academic record. If you attend a Partner Program, your off-campus course grades will be posted on your Whitman transcript. However, they will not be averaged into your Whitman cumulative grade point average. For students studying abroad prior to Fall 2013 on Approved Programs, please note that program course grades are not posted on the Whtiman transcript. However, graduate schools and employers often want to see all college transcripts with grades, so off-campus grades can have an impact on future opportunities.
Transfer students are often able to participate on an off-campus study program through Whitman but it does take careful planning. Keep in mind that you must study at Whitman at least one semester before you can apply to an off-campus study program. This means being enrolled at Whitman at least two semesters before you participate in an off-campus study program. Also, remember that the maximum total number of credits that you may transfer from any institution (including study abroad, domestic colleges and universities, AP and Running Start credit) and apply toward your Whitman degree is 70 credits.
Typically, the OCS staff advises against this as it is usually best to stay on one program for the year to take advantage of immersion into and understanding of the host country's culture. Whitman students who wish to study on two different off-campus programs in one year must demonstrate an extremely compelling academic reason for wanting to do so by writing an additional essay as part of the Off-Campus Study (OCS) Application. This essay and complete application will be reviewed carefully by the Off-Campus Studies Committee to determine the academic merit of this study plan and approval will only be granted in exceptional cases as justified by extremely compelling academic goals. Please note that there is no guarantee that students applying for two different programs in one year will be approved.
Students who are accepted to the Semester in the West program during their junior year may consider applying for study abroad for the spring of their junior year, if it complements their academic program at Whitman. However, because you would be studying away both semesters of your third year, this will take careful planning in terms of completing your major and general education (distribution) requirements. Moreover, your choices of study abroad destination countries will be somewhat more limited because the process for applying for a student visa to enter some countries must be started well before Semester in the West ends. For example, it is usually not possible to study abroad in France or Spain the semester after participation in Semester in the West because both countries require in person applications by the student at the French/Spanish Consulate when Semester in the West is still in session. We recommend that students interested in combining participation in Semester in the West with off-campus study in their junior year, attend an Off-Campus Studies (OCS) First Step Meeting no later than spring of their first year. OCS First Step Meetings introduce students to hot to choose an off-campus study program and the OCS application process. After attending a First Step Meeting, students may schedule an individual advising appointment with an adviser in the OCS Office.
Whitman Off-Campus Studies (OCS) will be making some significant changes in its programming in 2013-14 in order to better serve study abroad students and to continue to maintain access to off-campus studies regardless of financial need. Because this set of changes will take effect Fall 2013, for simplicity we are calling it OCS 2013.
OCS 2013 will take effect Fall 2013 and include the following features for both study abroad programs and US-based Partner Programs:
