"The only program of its kind"... but that doesn't make it great. Past Review
By Karla L (Ithaca College) - abroad from 08/26/2013 to 12/16/2013 with
Semester at Sea Study Abroad: Make the World Your Campus
What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
American reputations abroad are there for a reason.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Overpriced programs that are way cheaper and more flexible to do on your own. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Five star hotel rooms that are cleaned every other day. |
| * Food: |
Great, but keep in mind you have to eat it for 4 months. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
On my own- great. But SAS would like you to travel in groups and be weary of strangers. Mostly because they don't want their image tainted, not because they really care about your safety. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Free condoms |
| * Safety: |
Overprotective mom kind of safe. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Use the money you would have used to pay for this program to travel on your own. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | No |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? | 10+ |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Look, I loved spending a semester traveling around the Atlantic, but I had a few major issues with the program I chose to do it with. Semester At Sea’s marketing is on point. The videos, the pictures, just the idea of such a program is tantalizing. SAS promises to produce new, inspired, educated people, but over the last 50 years, it’s gotten more expensive and less applied to. Student capacity is at 700, but the Fall 2013 voyage had only 575. Some blame the economic recession in 2008 for this, because (depending on your “cabin type”) the program costs between $24,000 and $38,000, excluding Visas, outside travel arrangements, textbooks, increases in fuel costs, various on-ship charges and “fundraisers,” to name a few. I don’t know what Semester At Sea used to be, but I wish I could have seen it. I don’t doubt that the program used to be the real “Academical Village” it claims to be now, but considering its sharp attendance decline, the Institute of Shipboard Education and the University of Virginia are taking whoever they can get to fund these incredibly expensive journeys. Excluding those who are lucky enough to receive full, or even half, tuition scholarships, today’s SAS students come from wealthy families. Not a lot of people like to be the asshole with a chip on their shoulder and say that rich people are careless and ungrateful, but allow me to fill that necessary role. Obviously it’s a generalization, but young people who are rich are kind of selfish babies. I came on the ship energized and excited to embark on a trip that would change my life. I expected there to be a few annoyingly privileged, inexperienced and ignorant people, but I expected there to be way more cool, open-minded, worldly and inquisitive people. After all, it takes a certain kind of person to sign up for something like this, right? Wrong; it’s just the opposite. Little did I know Semester At Sea has a reputation of being a “booze cruise.” The students were uninterested in their classwork, as if it weren’t an incredible opportunity to take classes relevant to the places we were going. They were even bothered by it, like it was a chore instead of an immense privilege. As I spoke with my shipmates about this issue, most expressed a different, “enlightened” experience and were quite offended by mine. What they considered to be “enlightening” moments of travel would shock you. Our conversations were therefore brief and cutoff. But a few others that I inevitably ended up becoming good friends with perceived this same, increasingly disturbing reality… Was this really what we signed up for? To travel with what felt like a bunch of egotistical, alcoholic idiots? Like any college student, I love to get drunk and party, but that’s not why I took a semester off to do this. Semester At Sea’s faculty and administration was just as disappointing. They were narrow-minded and uninformed, constantly warning us to travel in groups and be distrusting of strangers. It’s understandable considering the program has become a “booze cruise” of naive and inexperienced travelers, but it was a still a shock to my higher education experience. Not only that, but they were constantly trying to get money out of us through its sponsored programs, fees and random fundraisers. Can’t you use the thousands of dollars we’ve all already paid you? Probably not, because that money has to pay for the full service spa, the stewards that clean our rooms and make our beds every other day, and the waiters that take our dishes after every meal. Needless to say, the program was not the right fit for me, but there is no other option out there that would have allowed me to travel to 15 countries with 12 credits under my belt at the end. I don’t regret it, but I wouldn’t do it again. I kept thinking for those 4 months how I wish there was another program like this, but better. Because Semester At Sea is not for smart, driven, responsible students. |
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