Toward the end of your sojourn abroad, and upon your return to Portland, you can refer to these resources to encourage a thorough wrap-up of your off-campus study and a smooth transition back to Reed.
Reconnect with Your Academic Adviser
In your first days back on campus, it's a good idea to meet with your academic advisor and confirm how your study abroad impacts your eight-semester plan. Take this opportunity to revise the plan (if necessary), to share information about your study abroad experience, and to review your graduation requirements. A review of your course registration and requirements is particularly important since you may not have been able to consult with your advisor as in-depth when you registered from abroad.
Confirming Credit Transfer
To ensure that your off-campus study courses successfully transfer to Reed:
- Request that an official academic transcript or grade report be sent directly from your study abroad/off-campus study program or host institution directly to the registrar’s office at Reed: Reed College, Registrar’s Office, Eliot Hall 311, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., Portland, OR, USA 97202-8199. NOTE: The registrar’s office cannot transfer off-campus study (OCS) coursework/credits until an official academic transcript or grade report has been received.
- Review email follow-ups from the registrar’s office on your OCS Course Approval Form submissions to ensure that your OCS courses are transferring to Reed as you expect. Once your OCS courses have successfully transferred to Reed, check ATLAS to ensure they are applying to your requirements as expected/approved. Contact the registrar’s office with questions.
What's Next?
Re-adjusting to Reed
After spending an extended period of time off-campus, returning to Reed College/Portland/the United States can be shocking. Your experience on campus will likely be different from what you acclimated to while abroad, as well as different from how it was before you left. Adjustment to your new experience may be accompanied by conflicting emotions—joy, relaxation, warmth, and release of tension can alternate with apprehension, loneliness, a sense of loss, and frustration. You may be experiencing “re-entry shock,” and while the specifics vary, you are not alone.
Upon your return to campus, you may want to reach out to the health & counseling center for a re-entry meeting. Chatting with a counselor can help ease the re-entry process and aid your re-integration to campus life.
Remember the observation of Heraclitus: no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.
Stay Engaged with International Learning at Reed
Upon your return to Reed, there are many ways to continue your international experience:
- Hang out with Language Scholars to maintain your language proficiency.
- Live in a Language House and/or participate in their community movie nights, conversation groups, and events.
- Participate in programs and events from International Student Services (or join the International Student Club).
- Shape your senior thesis to build upon your experience (and potentially incorporate a research grant to return to your place of study!).
- Consider taking a course in an interest you developed while abroad (or a language you learned), one that is more meaningful after having studied abroad (such as a location-specific history class), or a class that helps you process and/or document your experience (such as art or creative writing).
- Consider engaging with student media and publications: host a radio show inspired by the music of the country you come from, or contribute a reflection of your experience to the Reed College Creative Review.
- Attend visiting speaker presentations and other campus events related to your experience.
Life Beyond Reed
Your study abroad could be an asset in the job market! Connect with the Center for Life Beyond Reed to learn how to help communicate the value of your experience.
Other ways that you can build upon your previous time abroad:
- Teach abroad through the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program.
- Attend a Summer Abroad Program.
- Engage in a volunteer or internship project abroad: