Fall study abroad numbers decline

Correction appended

Study abroad has been significantly less popular this fall, with the number of students overseas less than half the number that were abroad at this time last year. After a rise in the number studying abroad from 44 in the fall of 2003 to 67 in the fall of 2004, the number has dipped down again to 32 this fall.

Nancy Kanach, associate dean of the college and director of the study abroad program, remains hopeful that the total numbers for the year will not be affected. "We will probably make up the deficit in the spring and end up where we were last year with 168 students abroad during the academic year," she said in an email.

Henry Hall, originally scheduled to be renovated this year, has been kept open in part because of the smaller number of students abroad. Other reasons Henry Hall was kept open include making up for the housing spaces in swing dorms occupied by the large freshman class, a long wait list of upperclassmen who signed up for housing after room draw and a large number of students returning after taking years off, Kanach said.

This year, 12 students are overseas for the entire academic year, as opposed to only nine last year.

More students usually choose to spend the spring semester abroad, Kanach noted. Last year 25 more students went overseas in the spring than in the fall.

The Wilson School, which encourages students to go abroad, has 9 at Oxford currently, opposed to last year's 10. Monica Ruscil, undergraduate program manager and director of career services at the Wilson School, said, "The numbers will probably come out to the same as last year. The program is traditionally larger in the spring. We send students to Cape Town in the spring, which is always a popular program."

The spring of sophomore year is the first time studying abroad is an option for Princeton students, and it is popular because students do not yet need to worry about fulfilling departmentals or completing independent work elsewhere.

Danielle Carlson '07, who plans to study abroad in Brisbane, Australia, this spring, explained, "I wanted to get my bearings as a junior and write my first junior paper here before I went abroad. Plus going abroad in the spring lets you come back to campus first and plan things out, opposed to organizing everything the year before."

Kanach said she expects a large number of students to study abroad t. "We have been very busy this first and second week back, so I am hopeful," she said.

Though students who study abroad often see it as one of the most rewarding aspects of their career, some choose to stay so as not to miss out on experiences on campus.

Nick Adams '08 sums up the reservations many Princeton students feel about going abroad when he says, "I wouldn't want to leave Princeton."