Though the University has a world-class international relations program at the Wilson School, when it comes to placing students in study abroad programs, the University struggles to convince students to leave campus.
This spring semester, the University saw 111 students go abroad to join 11 students already abroad for the year, out of a total undergraduate student population of roughly 4600. This number indicates a significant increase from the fall semester, when 59 students studied abroad.
Despite the raise, the University is still actively seeking to increase this number.
Nancy Kanach, associate dean of the College and director of the study abroad program, said the University's goal is to have 20 percent of each graduating class study abroad.
To achieve this goal, the University plans to create more Princeton programs and revise the list of approved programs to which students can apply.
The University only directly runs one study abroad program — the ecology and evolutionary biology semester program in Panama.
In addition to the Panama program, University students can travel abroad through consortiums and other schools' approved programs.
Thus far, the University has sent students to 30 different countries spanning four continents.
The rest of the Ivies
In comparison, Dartmouth currently has 134 students abroad and expects 208 students to go abroad during the spring quarter out of a total student population of 4098.
Dartmouth offers a number of off-campus programs exclusively for its students. Students choose a host country based on the subject they wish to study. For example, the Dartmouth history department organizes and directs a program in London.
Brown University has 532 students currently studying abroad out of 5711 students, while Harvard College has a total of 99 students abroad during this spring semester out of a total of 6597 students.
Harvard runs the majority of its overseas programs through foreign universities. For most of these programs, students apply directly to overseas schools. Harvard has only one program in Chile run and organized directly through the school.
Harvard, in contrast to Princeton, increased its low foreign study numbers by decreasing its core distribution requirements for students who go abroad.
Since the implementation of this new policy last year, Jane Edwards, director of international programs at Harvard College, has seen a 29 percent increase in the number of Harvard students studying abroad.
"We have a president and a dean who talk publicly about students graduating in today's world," Edwards said. "[Students] need to prepare to live in a globalized world."
Student response
Allynn Lodge '04 spent her junior spring semester in Madrid, Spain, through a program run by Boston University. As a Spanish major, Lodge chose to study abroad to perfect her language skills.
Though no other Princeton students were in her program, Lodge enjoyed her time in Spain.
"I couldn't have made a better decision," she said.
Melissa Magner '04 spent the fall of her junior year in Florence, Italy, after only two semesters worth of intense intermediate Italian.
She heard of the program, run by Trinity College, through word of mouth. Though she does not regret traveling abroad, she said readjusting to Princeton life was difficult.
"You learn to appreciate Princeton so much more after you come back," Magner said.
Scientific study abroad
Despite the push to revise and create new study abroad programs, the benefits fall short for engineers and science majors.
At Harvard, the largest percentage of students who study abroad are from the government, history and literature departments.
At Brown, the majority of students who go abroad major in international relations.
Similarly, the majority of Princeton students who study abroad are from the Wilson School.
Although the University encourages engineers to go abroad, few programs meet the high University standards for science and engineering courses.
The field of international education is currently attempting to develop ways to allow more engineers to go abroad, Kanach said.
Frequently, molecular biology majors such as Jessie Yu '06 have had their study-abroad dreams frustrated by the lack of high-quality courses in their department available outside the United States.
"There is no benefit for molecular biology majors to go abroad," Yu said.
Similarly, University engineers' rigorous requirements hinder their study abroad plans.
"Being an electrical engineer, the course load is so heavy that it's just not really feasible to take time off from Princeton," said Steve Chuang '04.
Chuang added that Princeton electrical engineers cannot find equivalent courses at other Universities, and, consequently, he has never considered studying abroad.
Despite these obstacles, Kanach said she continues to encourage all students to consider studying overseas.
"Students come back to Princeton and feel revitalized by seeing the world in a different perspective and by seeing themselves in a different context," she said.
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