Discuss Your Program

We want to ensure that you have a rewarding Study Abroad experience. Making sure that your whole family is comfortable and confident with your decision to study abroad is an essential part of a successful program. We recommend discussing your high school program with your parents and guidance counselor before submitting a complete application.

Talking with Your Parents about High School Study Abroad

Discuss why you would like to study abroad with your parents. Would you like to improve your foreign language skills, make your college application stand out, or have the opportunity to completely immerse yourself in another culture? It's helpful for your parents to understand why you want to study abroad.

Make sure that your parents have all of the relevant information including program dates and fees, and that this is a decision they support. The Study Abroad website contains a lot of helpful information including a special page for parents. Our Study Abroad Program Advisors would be more than happy to answer any additional questions that your parents may have or provide former participant references. Simply call us at 1.800.579.1709 or email us at studyabroadinfo@ayusa.org.

Talking with Your Guidance Counselor about High School Study Abroad

Make an appointment for you and your parents to meet with your high school guidance counselor to discuss your plans to study abroad and determine what your school's policies are on transferring international credits.

We have picked up some helpful tips from our experience working with students:

• Ask your guidance counselor if anyone at your school has studied abroad. How did that student receive credit? Often credit policies are set at the school district level so if no one in your school has studied abroad it is likely that someone in your school district has had a similar experience. If not, you can be a trailblazer for other students!
• Make sure to get written documentation of what is required by your school in order to grant transfer credits. We recommend that you map out your graduation requirements and make sure that if certain courses are not offered overseas (such as U.S. History, English, Government or Economics), you have a back up plan to meet those requirements.
• With careful early planning every AYUSA student should be able to get the credits they need to graduate on time. Feel free to give out our contact information to your teachers and/or guidance counselor if they have questions about the AYUSA program. Visit our receiving credits section (located in the FAQs) to learn more.