For Parents & Guardians

Typically, students will select a program from the list of programs approved for study abroad credit.

In general, each program or university has comprehensive information online. Ask your student which program or university they will be attending and visit the programs' website. Often there are special sections for parents.

The Lewis Global Studies Center's resource room also has printed material that your student can send to you. However, the printed material tends to have more of a marketing focus with an overview of information. In general, the program or university website will contain more detailed information regarding academics, housing, calendars, and important application deadlines.

Smith students must meet the Smith eligibility requirements in order to be approved to study abroad and receive credit. At the discretion of each academic department, credit earned abroad can be used towards major and minor requirements.

To find out if specific courses abroad will satisfy major or minor requirements, students must consult with the appropriate department adviser before submitting her study abroad credit application.

Students are usually able to incorporate a study abroad program into their four years of college through a semester, year or summer. This may be harder to do in some majors than in others, and it requires careful planning in order to fulfill both degree and major requirements as well as study abroad program pre-requisites. Many study abroad programs accept students in their sophomore, junior or senior year.

Early consultation with the Lewis Global Studies Center can help a student to consider all the options in planning out their college years. We are here to help with early planning!

Courses, credits, and grades earned while studying abroad will appear on the Smith transcript as transfer credits. This information will include the name of the program or university, followed by a full listing of the course titles, the credits, and the grades.

Grades earned for courses taken abroad will not be included in the Smith GPA, although the letter grade will be printed on the transcript.

The only exceptions to this policy are the courses, credits and grades earned on the Smith programs in Geneva, Hamburg, Paris, and Florence. For these programs, the courses and credits will appear on the Smith transcript as Smith courses and the grades will be factored into the Smith GPA.

This is a personal decision, but we recommend that before your student departs from home that you discuss the best avenues of communication (email, telephone, Zoom, FaceTime) and how often you both want to communicate.

Many families find that regular weekly or biweekly email communication works well. Agreeing on a regular day of the week to communicate can help keep you updated on your student’s activities without impinging on their need to explore their new environment and become acquainted with the people around them.

Online video chats or online telephone conversations can be helpful in situations where you need to discuss something important together to reach a decision, although overuse can lead to your student becoming more dependent on you instead of more independent. It’s helpful to remember that just because you can communicate daily with your student doesn’t mean that this amount of communication will actually help them plunge into their new situation. In fact, sometimes too much communication with home can cause the reverse: The student spends too much time on the computer and not enough time exploring their new environment and focusing on new acquaintances. This can lead to increased isolation and diminished experiences which in turn can cause a significant downturn in their feelings about being in the study abroad location.

Some families are used to using cell phones to communicate often and rapidly within the United States. Please bear in mind that depending on the country and region your student is heading to, cell phone communication may be readily available, but expensive, so cell phones are best used locally while in-country. There is also a chance cell phone connectivity may be spotty or unavailable.

Make sure before your student leaves that you have the following:

• The email address they will be using while away.
• A phone number where they can be reached (homestay family, dorm room or cell phone). If this information isn’t available before your student departs, or they are going to buy a cell phone or a new SIM card after arrival in the host country, have an agreement about when they are going to give you that telephone number.
• The street address (including the street number or name/number of the building) of either the sponsoring program or the location where your student will be staying so that you can send them packages by airmail if necessary.
• Make sure that you have the telephone/fax/email information for the program administrator overseas in case of an emergency.
• In an emergency, you may also contact the Smith Campus Police, who can reach the associate director for international study outside of regular office hours.

Bear in mind that your student may initially report to you that they are unhappy with some aspect of the program or that they are depressed. We suggest that you exercise a degree of patience, as many of these issues sort themselves out in the first few weeks. Often, students call home in distress because of one issue or another, such as housing, the quality of the courses, or location of the program, which can lead to a discussion about changing housing, sending more money, or even dropping out of the program and returning home. While there can be real emergencies, most of the issues are the result “cultural adjustment,” which is normal and should be overcome in a relatively short time. You can encourage your student to speak to the program staff on site and to reach out to the Lewis Global Studies Center at Smith if problems seem to be continuing beyond a reasonable amount of time.

We encourage you to consult the program dates and plan your travel after the program. It is not typical for families to visit students overseas. If you can afford to make a visit, it’s best to do so when the program has finished so your student can show you around their new “home” at a time when they have no academic responsibilities.

Smith students are not allowed to leave a program early; just like at Smith, each end of the semester or year is the important culmination of their academic experience.