The United States offers a wide range of short-term study programs lasting 12 months or less, including high school exchange programs, work and professional exchange programs, vocational and technical programs, short-term university study, professional study, and intensive English programs. This section gives an overview of some things you need to think about when applying to any short-term study program in the United States. The chapter also presents the main program options that are available.

Short-Term University Study

Would you like to study at a U.S. university, but you cannot commit to study for a full degree in the United States? University exchange programs, non-degree or "special student" study, and summer session study offer the opportunity to spend a summer, a semester, or an academic year at a university in the United States without enrolling in a degree program. This study might be part of your degree program in your home country, or you might take just a few courses at a U.S. university — at the undergraduate or graduate level — for your personal or professional enrichment.

University Exchange Programs

Many U.S. universities have formal links with universities outside the United States, and they have set up student exchange programs with these universities. Under such programs, U.S. students and students from another country trade places and experience living in each other's countries and studying at each other's universities. Usually, the courses studied count toward the student's degree program in his or her home country. Most of these programs run for either a semester or an academic year. The advantage of this arrangement is that students from outside the United States generally pay the amount of tuition charged by their home university rather than the tuition and fees of the U.S. university, which can be considerably higher.

Contact the office responsible for international programs and linkages at your institution to ask if your school has exchange agreements with any U.S. universities. If it does, find out how the exchange program operates and whether you are eligible to take part. Or, if you are applying to study at universities and colleges in your home country and know you would like to spend some time studying in the United States, find out whether they operate any U.S. exchange programs. Also, many U.S. universities list their exchange programs on their websites.

You may be able to apply for funding for an undergraduate exchange program from your home university or institute, even if study abroad is not a requirement for your program of study. Funding from U.S. institutions for short-term study of this kind is very limited. If you are not eligible to receive funding from your own school or from the U.S. institution, you might try to obtain funding from social, welfare, or community organizations like Rotary International; from multinational companies; or from local businesses.

Non-Degree or "Special Student" Study

If you have completed secondary school or an undergraduate degree or if you are in the process of studying toward an undergraduate or graduate degree, many U.S. universities will allow you to take degree-level courses without enrolling for a full degree program. Under this arrangement, you may be able to take classes in a specific department, in several departments throughout a university, or, possibly, at several universities in a local area.

Non-degree students who take degree-level classes may be called special students. Many universities impose a specific time limit on the number of semesters for which you can be registered as a non-degree or special student.

General information on the opportunities and requirements for special student study should be available in most universities' catalogs. For specific information and application procedures for schools and programs that interest you, contact university admissions offices directly as well as the individual departments concerned, explaining that you wish to do short-term, degree-level study as a special student.

Special students are usually, though not always, ineligible to receive university-sponsored financial assistance such as scholarships or assistantships. Funding may be available from independent foundations and organizations, such as Fulbright Commissions, that award scholarships for postgraduate study. Further information can be found at EducationUSA information and advising centers, your local university's study abroad office or career placement center, or public libraries that have funding directories such as Funding for United States Study and The Grants Register....Continue Part-2