If you found studying abroad to be a magical experience, you may find that you simply aren’t ready to let the magic end once your originally planned study abroad term has come to an end. Instead of resigning yourself to grudgingly heading back to your home country, consider forging a brave new path and staying in the country you have grown to love so much, finishing your schooling not in the USA, but instead in this decidedly more exotic and exciting land.
Applying for Admission
Generally, when you attend school as an exchange student you never actually apply for the university that you will attend. If you decide to stay, however, you will have to complete an application and gain admission into this college. Visit the student services office at the college abroad that you are attending if you want to continue to attend this college once you make your current location a more permanent landing spot to determine what you need to do to apply. If you want to stay in the same country, but go to a different school, spend some of your time abroad perusing these other options.
Prepare for Your Move
To ensure that you don’t experience any delays, start early planning for a place to stay while attending school in the foreign land you wish to call a more permanent home. Also, extend the coverage term of your citizen secure insurance policy to ensure that you remain covered while on your extended study abroad adventure
Figure Out Credit Transferring
Because transferring credits within the same country can be a challenge, it is probably no surprise transferring credits to an institution across the sea isn’t always super easy. Speak to an admissions agent at your college or university about your desire to stay on as a student and ask them to help you determine what will transfer, and guide you through the steps you must take to transfer these credits. Prepare yourself before you visit that finishing schooling abroad may mean spending a bit more time in school than you would otherwise have to.
Student Visa
Your student visa is the handy-dandy document that allows you to stay abroad for an extended period of time to study. If you were only planning on going abroad for a semester, but now find the call of the country in which you landed too compelling to resist you will need to get a new student visa with a longer term. If you fail to acquire and maintain your travel documentation, you may find yourself unable to stay in the country you have grown to love, so don’t neglect this boring, albeit important, part of the process.
You don’t have to come home after the end of your originally planned study abroad term if you don’t want to. Instead, extend your time abroad, finishing out your college experience in your host country. While doing so will take some planning and preparation, you will likely find this homework to be more than worth it as it will result in you having the opportunity to become even more immersed in the culture were so eager to experience when you originally planned to study abroad.
