Let’s start with what we don’t want -- that your off-campus study semester end up being unconnected with your other seven semesters at Macalester.

What we aim for, instead, is that your off-campus study semester build upon and enhance your prior work here, then enliven what follows. This kind of integration is not the work of one person or any official planning, but rather a broad collaboration: you, academic departments and faculty, and us.

You: Think ahead, plan your off-campus study semester not as a separate thing but as part of a whole, discuss your plans and ideas with faculty, and with us.

Faculty: Professors can be crucial in helping you see how off-campus study can be used to advantage, such as for capstones and honors projects. They can also help you use coursework done before you leave to prepare you for the experience.

Academic departments: Quite a few of them hold forums and other events to showcase what you have done in your off-campus semester. And of course 12 of them require off-campus study for completion of a major.

Us: Come to us for advising as early and often as you like. We’ll try to help you look ahead. Our Proposal form and process require you to look ahead. We also put on some forums for returnees, use returnees to advise younger students before they study off-campus, and publish our on-line journal of off-campus research, Macalester Abroad.