International Students

Dear parents,

Greetings from the Office of International Programs at Ithaca College – and congratulations once again upon your child’s acceptance! We all are looking forward to welcoming your son or daughter as a student at the College soon!

I know that there is still a lot that your child (and probably you) have left to do: there are still decisions to be made and papers to be completed; the visa application process is still ahead, and then the planning for the trip to Ithaca. I hope the information in this letter helps you as you are trying to help your child in this process. Most of this information is available on our website, www.ithaca.edu/oip/international.htm. Please do not hesitate to write or call if you have questions, our staff and I will do our best to assist you.

Best regards,

Diana Dimitrova
Director of International Student Services
ddimitrova@ithaca.edu

Click here for more information about:

Immigration documents
Visa application
Orientation
Housing
Registration and Billing
Healthcare and Insurance
Safety
Homesickness and culture shock
and more...

Study Abroad

Dear Parents,

We know we're a bit biased, but we highly believe that studying abroad is one of the most valuable opportunities that students can take advantage of during their undergraduate years. 99.9% of students that return from studying abroad tell us "It was the best semester of my college career." and most would happily go abroad again if they could. The benefits of studying abroad are numerous and include:

• Intercultural communication skills
• Opportunities to learn new languages
• Increased self confidence, maturity and flexibility
• Opportunities to gain work experience overseas via internships
• A competitive advantage when looking for jobs
• Achieving a global perspective on emerging issues
  
  There are numerous opportunities for students to study abroad - where students go and in which programs they participate is largely a personal choice. The Office of International Programs (OIP) is dedicated to assisting students in finding the choice that best suits their needs and in ensuring that students are completely prepared to engage in this important and momentous undertaking. Many of our students who study abroad have never been outside of the United States, though many also have had extensive travel experience.
  
  As a parent, you are naturally concerned about your child undertaking such a large journey on their own and we hope that this section will give you some tools to better understand how you can be helpful to your child as they prepare to study abroad. In addition, we have provided you with some information and links that address items such as safety concerns, health concerns, culture shock and re-entry, logistics regarding finances and transfer of credit. We hope you will find this section useful and encourage you to please let us know if there is anything else we could include that would be helpful.
  
  With kind regards -
  The staff at OIP
  Email: intlprog@ithaca.edu

  Rachel Cullenen
  Director of Study Abroad
  rcullenen@ithaca.edu

For information regarding program options, click here.

For more information regarding study abroad in general, click here.