ESS 808: Study abroad as a Berkeley Engineer

Laura Vogt:
Hello, and welcome to The (Not So) Secret Guide to Being a Berkeley Engineer. I’m your host, Laura Vogt, the associate director of marketing and communications in the College of Engineering. And this week, we’re exploring the process of studying abroad.
The interview has two parts, the first with Kendra Van Nyhuis, an ESS advisor, to go over the nuts and bolts of studying abroad, the requirements, how it’s going to affect your studies as an engineering student, and more information along those lines. Then we’re going to talk with Simon Gonzalez. He was part of a study abroad program last semester and is currently a mechanical engineering student. So first, hi, Kendra. Welcome to the podcast. Can you tell us about yourself and your role in Berkeley Engineering?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
Hi, yes. I’m Kendra Van Nyhuis. I’m an ESS advisor. I work with a portion of the EECS students as well as engineering physics and also material science and engineering students.

Laura Vogt:
I wanted to start off with, what do you think are the benefits of studying abroad, and why should our engineering students see if it’s something they can add into their college experience?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
Yeah. So I think studying abroad is a really important experience that students can have. It helps you expand your horizons. You get to go places you may never ever be able to go again, or it might be really hard to travel to again after you graduate. You get to take classes in different places with different cultures, different understandings. Traveling is a lot easier in different places abroad. Generally just a really great thing. If you can fit it into your plan, I really recommend doing it.

Laura Vogt:
And is it really feasible for engineering students to fit a semester abroad into their study of curriculum?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
It is. I will say it is easier for some majors than others. Some take a little more planning, a little bit more arranging to make sure you can fit it in. But if you’re working on it early and you’re thinking about it ahead of time, I think pretty much all majors have some place that you could stick a study abroad semester in there.

Laura Vogt:
And it’s available, all three, you can do it in fall, spring, or summer, right?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
Yes. Yes. There are fall and spring programs with our partner universities, and then summer has global internship programs. Some are abroad through Berkeley classes, and also some are study abroad programs.

Laura Vogt:
And how does it affect students’ time to their degree?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
So students are allowed an extra semester if they study abroad. So that’s something, when you’re planning things out, that you can talk with your advisor. I know that’s not ideal for all students. So there is possibilities to kind of work things in, as we talked about with summer, or working things in where you’re taking some classes while you’re studying abroad so you can still make your time to degree, if you want to do that.

Laura Vogt:
And do the programs that they do have to be engineering-centric?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
No. In fact, a lot of my students will do programs that are strictly humanities or have mostly humanities coursework within them. So it’s not required that you do engineering courses when you’re studying abroad. We sometimes recommend you do, because we do think it is a good experience to get to learn more about how different countries and different programs are approaching these different engineering topics. But yes, you’re allowed to take whatever you want, as long as you’re following the rules of that institution you’re studying abroad at in terms of how many courses you have to take and what you have to do. We are fine with whatever you’d like for a study abroad semester.

Laura Vogt:
And the classes that you take do transfer into Berkeley Engineering, correct?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
Yeah. So the course that you take, if you’re taking things through the UCEAP study abroad program here on campus, everything will transfer in for credit. If it’s going to transfer in for major requirements, that’s a different conversation. Every major has their own process for getting these things approved for the major requirements. Some are more strenuous than others because of ABET accreditation and things like that. So the best thing to do when you’re planning, once you’ve narrowed down which programs you might want to do, especially if you want to do ones that have engineering in them, is to talk to your ESS advisor about what that process is.
Sometimes it requires you to talk with faculty and get approval. Sometimes you have to go to departmental advising to get approval if it’s a course that’s not in your major department, so you sometimes will have to go to the physics department or the math department to get things approved. So it does take a little bit of legwork to get major requirements done when you’re studying abroad, but it is definitely still possible.
And if you did want to do that, you can go talking to study abroad advisors or peer advisors. They do have lists of programs that have engineering courses or that students have taken engineering courses and gotten them approved in the past. Some majors like civil and EECS also have pre-approved databases that your advisor can point you to of things that have been approved in the past that you can get checked over and possibly get approved for your future plans.

Laura Vogt:
Well, that’s great. I’m glad that they’re able to keep that information for people in the future. And do students need to know a foreign language if they’re studying abroad?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
No. In fact, a lot of the programs have English-language coursework in them. Some do. If you did want to do an engineering course in a foreign language, put it that way, then the Study Abroad Office has lists of those as well. But most of the programs that my students take, they are taking classes in English.

Laura Vogt:
I’ll never forget one of the students that I was working with. One of our student workers was going to go to France to study abroad. And so, she was watching all the Disney movies with the French subtitles or the French over.

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
Yeah.

Laura Vogt:
It was very funny. She was like, “Because I know the storyline, so it’s making it easier, so you can learn the language faster.”

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
Right. It’s true. And if you do have a little bit of experience in a language, it can be a really good immersion to be studying abroad in that area. Even if you feel like you’re not fluent level in that language, it can help to have a little bit. But I do have students who have absolutely no Swedish who’ve studied abroad at Lund University, absolutely no Korean and they’ve studied abroad at South Korea, Korean universities. So it is very possible. It’s doable.

Laura Vogt:
And how far in advance should students start planning to try to study abroad?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
So sooner the better. If it’s something that’s on your radar that you’re thinking of doing, definitely meet with your ESS advisor even in your first semester, second semester to talk about it. You can’t study abroad in your first semester, but we usually don’t advise you study abroad in your first year or so. First summer is maybe a good first point that you could study abroad, and then usually, sophomore and junior years are the best time to go, although that also depends on the program as well.
Often, you want to finish your lower-division coursework before you study abroad. It’s kind of hard to get lower-division requirements approved in study abroad programs. You’re more likely to see upper-division coursework in the approved courses for these places and things like that, because they’re kind of assuming juniors and seniors studying abroad. So since we kind of recommend doing it in your sophomore, junior year, if you’re planning it in your freshman year, you’re already making good tracks to be able to fit that in.

Laura Vogt:
And is there financial aid available or other scholarship aid available?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
Yes. So the financial aid, again, if you’re doing the UCEAP Berkeley programs, the financial aid that you have will transfer to your study abroad program. It does scale depending on… If the program is more expensive, you might get a bit more aid. If it’s less expensive, you might get less aid. But the specifics of that is something you can talk to… The Study Abroad Office has financial aid counselors in it that can help walk you through when you’re looking at different programs, what the cost would be, how your financial aid would translate, and, if there’s any extra costs, where those might happen.

Laura Vogt:
And if they want to talk to somebody in Study Abroad, there’s advising staff there that they can make appointments with?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
Yeah. So you can look on their website with their study abroad officers. If you know what area you want to study abroad in, they have it listed underneath each advisor’s information, and their email address is there, so you can reach out to them. A good first stop, though, actually is their peer advisors, especially if you’re not sure where you want to study abroad or what you want to do. They have peer advisors with hours on the website. You can chat with one of them to help narrow things down, and they can also help connect you with whatever staff advisor, and Study Abroad would do the program that you’re interested in applying to.

Laura Vogt:
Excellent. And also make sure that I have all the links for the Berkeley Engineering Study Abroad page, the Study Abroad Opportunities page, and links to their peer advisors and things as well. I know a lot of times, we have events throughout the year that give a chance for panel questions or anything along those lines to talk about study abroad. Are you going to have those as well in our fall semester?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
Yeah. So we haven’t picked the exact date yet, but usually sometime in November, we have a Study Abroad Info Night or an info session, where we have a panel, usually four or five students who’ve studied abroad in engineering in the past, at different programs, different countries, who will talk through their experience, like the pros, the difficulties, things they wish they would have known, all that kind of stuff. And then we’ll have someone from ESS give a presentation about the specifics of application.

Study Abroad Office has an advisor who will come and talk about the specifics on their end, and then there’s a Q&A session where you can ask questions of anybody, of ESS, Study Abroad, or the panelists, about anything you want to know study abroad. So that’s our kind of big thing in the fall. And then Study Abroad Office itself has study abroad fairs every fall and every spring, and there’s usually an info tabling during that week. And so, we always have a table there. So if you’re looking around at different programs and you want to stop by and ask us a question, we’ll have an advisor and possibly peer advisors there as well to help you out with the engineering side of study abroad.

Laura Vogt:
And we’ve talked about it before on the podcast, but the best way to keep up with events and things that are coming on is to check your newsletter that comes out every Monday, make sure that we have all those.

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
Oh, yes. Yup. And there’s usually an RSVP in there for the Study Abroad Night, because we usually try to provide some sort of food, sustenance, or some other goodies as an incentive to show. So if you RSVP, you can come and get some snacks and learn some more about study abroad.

Laura Vogt:
And is there anything else that we haven’t talked about that you would like to add?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
I think the big underlying point for study abroad is to go talk to your ESS advisor. It usually helps if you have narrowed down where you want to go, but the ESS advisor is going to be able to help walk you through. There’s a lot of paperwork that has to be done. There’s different steps at different time points. And like I said, each major has slightly different considerations in terms of when you want to go, what you might be able to take, how you would take that.
And so, your ESS advisor is going to be able to give you those details and that information. But if you want overview, we’re going to have the links on there for the engineering website. There’s a really great step-by-step guide about how to approach study abroad on our website that you can use to just start your first explorations into possible study abroad options.

Laura Vogt:
And I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that study abroad is available for people who started as first-year freshmen and as transfer students, right?

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
Yes, for sure. And so, yeah, for transfer students, we usually recommend going abroad sometime in your senior year, your second year of transfer. The one thing, and this applies to both freshmen and transfer students, we usually don’t advise studying abroad in your final semester at Berkeley, wherever that is, because it does take a bit of time for the grades to come back when you’re finished with study abroad. And so, it could delay your graduation if you’re studying abroad in your final semester. If you’re okay with that and you know that going in, that’s a possibility. But we usually don’t recommend just so that we can make sure you graduate on time, you get your degree, and have no problems there.

Laura Vogt:
Well, thank you so much for coming and being here today and talking to us about the basic nuts and bolts of going study abroad.

Kendra Van Nyhuis:
Yeah. Thank you for having me.

Laura Vogt:
And our second interview, Simon Gonzalez. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I know our students have heard about you from the mentorship program podcast that we did a couple weeks ago. And so, I’m happy to have you back to talk about your study abroad experience. So can you start off with reintroducing yourself?

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. Hi, everyone. My name is Simon. I’m a fourth-year mechanical engineering student at Berkeley, and I’m excited to be back and talk about my experience studying abroad.

Laura Vogt:
Well, thank you again so much for coming back and joining us today. Study abroad is one of those things that I didn’t take the opportunity to do when I was in college, so I’m always really excited to hear about folks that get to go and study and have that experience. So how did you learn about it?

Simon Gonzalez:
Well, study abroad has always been in the back of my mind. I learned about it through social media, TikTok and whatnot, but I’ve always heard that it’s not possible for engineering students because of the level of rigor in our curriculum. And so, it’s not something that is really talked about. But one day, my friends and I were hiking in Muir Woods, and one of my friends just threw out the possibility of us going together, and we all liked that idea. They’re all a year ahead of me. So it was kind of a cool way to end our college experience together. So that was kind of the beginning of us looking through the different types of programs that are offered, the requirements, and that’s how we knew we wanted to go together.

Laura Vogt:
So what was the first step that you had to take to start planning to actually go on a semester abroad?

Simon Gonzalez:
So since we were going in a big group, it was about seven of us, we had to filter the programs through requirements that we were all able to fulfill. And that kind of made it easier, because we just set the minimum GPA requirement, which was 2.0, and we filtered through the different programs that were offered, the locations, and found the one that stuck out to us most, which was the food, art, and society program in Rome, Italy.

Laura Vogt:
And did you have any qualms or anything about going to a European country that maybe you hadn’t been to before or just a location that you hadn’t been to before?

Simon Gonzalez:
We were all pretty nervous. I’ve been to Mexico, and I’ve been to Taiwan through the GLOBE Ambassadors program. So I had some experience traveling, but this was the first time I was going to a European country. They spoke a different language, and it was for four months. It was a full semester. So I was pretty nervous of, would I get homesick? Do I even have the financial resources to go? There was a lot of what-ifs, but applying as a group really made me feel more comfortable, and having the resources here on campus to really develop a plan made the whole experience better.

Laura Vogt:
And when you say that you applied as a group, you each still had to do your own individual applications and everything. You just all got to go at the same time.

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We all individually submitted applications, figured out our financial situations, and applied individually, but we were all accepted together, and the plan was for us to go together and enjoy being abroad together.

Laura Vogt:
So I’m curious about the financial aspect of it. That seems like it would be a worry for most folks trying to go. So what did you do to tackle those, the finance question?

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. So finances was honestly one of my biggest fears while going abroad, because I’m from L.A. I’m from South Central, and it’s a poor community. So I was pretty worried, but I was able to receive financial aid, which covered the program and some of the housing. I got a refund for housing because I opted out of program housing and got an Airbnb away from the center, just because I was able to get more of an Italian experience through that.

But I received financial aid, and I also applied to scholarships, which was really big. One of them was the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, and the other was the Gilman Scholarship, which was really helpful for me, because it’s a scholarship geared towards students interning or studying abroad who might not participate otherwise due to financial reasons. So they want people to experience being abroad, even if you struggle financially.

And they also provide other opportunities while abroad. One of them was a Brussels study tour, where they flew us out to Brussels, Belgium, and that’s where the majority of the European Union institutions are, and we got to visit them and learn more about international relations, the European Union. And even after the program, they allowed you to connect with a network of Gilman alumni and provide other resources. So that was one of my most helpful resources while abroad financially. And I also have personal savings, and I also took a small loan out just so I could travel more and make the experience more memorable. So it was a lot that came together to support me financially.

Laura Vogt:
That’s awesome. I’m interested about the scholarships. I wouldn’t have even thought to look for scholarships specifically for study abroad. How did you start investigating that, or did someone tell you about it?

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. One of my friends told me about the Gilman Scholarship, and they’re one of the biggest study abroad scholarships that I know. So I applied to it, and I was able to receive it.

Laura Vogt:
It’s okay.

Simon Gonzalez:
So the question was how I went about looking for the-

Laura Vogt:
Yeah. Did you have to research them more, or did you just get word of mouth on a lot of them?

Simon Gonzalez:
Most of the scholarships I applied to, I heard through friends or the Study Abroad Office. So I didn’t have to do much research, but I’m pretty sure that if you do a quick Google search, you’ll find a lot of scholarships or resources that are willing to help you financially for these experiences, especially interning and studying abroad, because, for some reason, they like helping people do that.

Laura Vogt:
Oh, definitely. I think study abroad gives you just a different view on the world in general, is to open up your eyes to different experiences and meeting new people and different ways of learning even, I’m sure.

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. Studying abroad was one of the things that I’d never thought I’d do, but I am 100% glad I took advantage of, and I’d recommend to anyone. It wasn’t only helpful academically, but I feel like it developed some skills that you only get while traveling to a foreign country. So yeah, I just love studying abroad.

Laura Vogt:
Did you get to go on a lot of trips then? Because I know you said you did the Belgium trip. Did you do other short trips around?

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. So I was mainly in Rome, Italy. That’s where the program took place.

Laura Vogt:
And I know there’s nothing to do there.

Simon Gonzalez:
Aw. Rome is honestly one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been to, because it’s like an open-air museum. You see the Colosseum. Walk across the street, and you’re looking at an ancient Roman road, and then it’s just crazy. But I was able to travel to neighboring countries. I traveled to eight different countries total.

Laura Vogt:
Oh, wow.

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. It was Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Egypt, Morocco, and Malta.

Laura Vogt:
Wow, that sounds awesome.

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. I had wonderful memories in each country. I wouldn’t have had it any other way, and that’s honestly what makes me want to travel more, being able to see the Great Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, and being able to share that with my family, even if it’s through a FaceTime call. It was very beautiful, a lot of memories. Yeah.

Laura Vogt:
And do you think one of the things that really made it more successful and enjoyable for you was that you went with your friends?

Simon Gonzalez:
I do. I don’t know what I would have done if I went alone. I might have still gone, but it would have been very different, because I would have had to make friends there or reach out to people prior to leaving to Italy. But since I went with a group of friends, we were able to plan things out, like trips. They’re trustworthy. They’re my friends. So I felt comfortable traveling to different countries or even within Rome with them, going through all the academics, talking to them about classes.
But even if I didn’t go with friends studying abroad, and the program I went to was a UCEAP program, and they have a lot of resources that are able to help you socially, academically, navigate around your study abroad country. So yeah, studying abroad with a group was more comfortable, but it would have been easily as comfortable if I went alone because of the university’s-

Laura Vogt:
That makes sense.

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah.

Laura Vogt:
Did you take engineering classes there that you were able to transfer back over?

Simon Gonzalez:
I didn’t. The program was food, art, and society. So it was more of a cultural experience and a cultural program, learning about Italy, history, et cetera. But I was able to fulfill the HSS requirement through one of the classes.

Laura Vogt:
Oh, nice.

Simon Gonzalez:
So I didn’t go for nothing. I was able to still make some progress towards my degree.

Laura Vogt:
Well, no matter what, you’re not going for nothing.

Simon Gonzalez:
Oh, yeah, yeah. So yeah, it wasn’t an engineering program, but I still benefited from it academically, and that’s kind of what I wanted from studying abroad. I didn’t want to go to a different country and be stressed about calculations and diagrams and engineering. So that’s the route I took. But if you want to continue making progress towards your engineering degree, there are programs for that.

Laura Vogt:
And I know you do get an extra semester if you take a semester abroad, so you aren’t dinged in your times that you can be here.

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. That’s interesting, honestly, because I know for many people, that’ll push them away from studying abroad, because you want to graduate as soon as possible, go to work, or maybe grad school, or whatever your future plans are. But for me, it wasn’t that big of a deal. It’s just a semester that you’re staying behind, and you’re able to make these wonderful memories and travel. And a lot of times, you tell yourself, “Hey, I could travel once I’m done with my degree, once I start working and make money.” But sometimes that doesn’t happen, because you get caught up with work or something happens in life.

Laura Vogt:
Life.

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. Life happens. So I’m glad I took advantage of it, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Laura Vogt:
Do you have one particular moment that stands out as the best time there?

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. It’s impossible to choose, honestly. Like I said, Rome is incredible. You have the Colosseum. You have the Vatican. You have everything there. So where I was studying abroad was very beautiful. I made a lot of memories. I met a lot of people. But traveling is just a different experience. I never thought I’d see the Great Pyramids, but I was there. I never thought I’d see the Eiffel Tower, but I was there. And even sometimes you’re pulling all-nighters to catch your early flight, or you have these moments where you’re tired, you’re sleep-deprived, you have an exam coming up. But even those memories, once the program is done, they’re all beautiful memories. You think back, and it’s just great.

Laura Vogt:
That’s awesome. I’m so excited that you had such a good time and that you have such good memories to just take with you forever, and that you got to share it with your family. That is pretty cool too.

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. That was one of my favorite moments, because you want your family to experience things with you. And unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take family over there because of financial reasons. Tickets are expensive. But I was able to share quick FaceTime calls of what I’m doing. If I’m traveling to a different country, I’d FaceTime my mom, my siblings, my cousins. And yeah, everyone was just excited that I was traveling and taking advantage of it, even though it meant me staying an extra semester to finish my degree. Initially, I thought, especially my mom would be, not mad, but-

Laura Vogt:
Concerned or-

Simon Gonzalez:
… she was against this idea of studying abroad, because I was away from home, foreign country. I was delaying my graduation, but she was one of the most supporting people that I had. Yeah. And I was able to bring souvenirs for my family as well, which was beautiful. They all liked it. I brought my little brother a jersey, and I see him wearing it, taking it to school, telling me how people are complimenting him, and it’s amazing.

Laura Vogt:
Oh, that’s fun. Is there anything else about your experience that you wanted to talk about that we haven’t touched on yet?

Simon Gonzalez:
I want to leave off with, if you’re planning to study abroad but are worried about money, graduating late, being alone in a foreign country, I say go for it. I never thought I’d have the chance to study outside of the US, but experiencing this has shown me otherwise. I know there’s so much outside of the US, and everyone needs to experience it at least once in their life. It’s not always going to be rainbows and sunshine. You’re going to have difficult days, but that’ll be over. You’ll enjoy the experience, and you’ll make memories that’ll stay with you for a lifetime.

Laura Vogt:
Well, thank you so much for being here today and sharing your story with us.

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. It was great. Hopefully, I motivated some people to study abroad. If anyone wants to talk more about my experience or the process, I’m open to speaking to anyone about it, but yeah.

Laura Vogt:
Are you okay with sharing your email?

Simon Gonzalez:
Yeah. So my email is simon, S-I-M-O-N, simongb10@berkeley.edu.

Laura Vogt:
Well, thank you again so much for being here today. It sounds like you had just an awesome time. I can’t even imagine… I always talk about if I would go on a vacation, I’m like, “I don’t want to go for a week, where you just have to rush through and do everything. I want to go for a long time.” So I think that’s so cool that you got to do that and actually be there and explore for four months.

Simon Gonzalez:
Yes. I loved it. Being able to not just stay in Rome, being able to venture outside and enjoy things was amazing. But yeah, it was a pleasure being here, and thank you for speaking to me.

Laura Vogt:
Thank you. And thank you again to Kendra and Simon for being on the podcast today, and thank you, everyone, for tuning in to The (Not So) Secret Guide to Being a Berkeley Engineer. We’ll be back next week with more information and resources for your time as a Berkeley engineer. Thank you.