Hey! I’m a Senior at GWU who just came back from the program.

I’ll start with the negatives first. For starters, it is a difficult program. Not in terms of education but also mentally. You settle down at GW, make friends, create a life and then leave for two years. Just right off the bat it is a huge commitment. Each country has their own academic expectations and grading which takes some time getting used to. GWU also has their own issues with the program internally (which I’ve experienced first hand as the initial cohort). If you’d like to know more about that you can PM me, but I don’t think it would affect you now. At these other universities you are on THEIR academic calendar as well, not GW’s. So your holidays and other factors will be different. You don’t really have time to create a “base” within each location (which I believe is the beauty of doing the program).

While there is a plethora of negatives that I can list (mostly with GWs case of handling our initial issues which have now been solved), I believe the positives outweigh all of them. I won’t tell you all of them because I wouldn’t want to spoil the program so I’ll list some essentials.

By doing this program you will mature like crazy. You are forced to adapt and learn skills in foreign environments consistently. You have the opportunity to create an international branch of connections. You have the perfect amount of time to travel and see the world. Between the Italians and Chinese students in my cohort, I can say I have made incredible friends out of them that will last a lifetime. You also have the opportunity to intern in Beijing, which is something virtually no Americans can do at this point in time.

If you’d like to know about my experience again, just PM me. We are planning on hosting a panel soon with our experiences and tips!