Selecting a Program

Wake Forest students in all majors and minors are eligible to study abroad and earn degree credit. Students can complete major, minor, and some divisional requirements while abroad. To ensure the program works with your academic needs:

• Meet with your academic advisor to determine what degree requirements you will need to satisfy while abroad.
• Search for programs by course of study to see a list of programs that offer courses in your academic discipline.
• Visit the Global Transfer Credit System in one.wfu.edu to research how courses abroad correlate to WFU courses.
• For more information, visit the Academics page.

Do you have a preferred location or region that you would like to visit? If so, you can search for programs by location. A few considerations may include

• Do you prefer a smaller or larger city?
• Are there any countries or regions that interest you?
• Would you like to continue studying a specific language?

Another way to narrow down your program options is to consider your preferences regarding the following:

Wake Forest Programs vs. Affiliate Programs

• WFU programs are administered by the Center for Global Programs and Studies. Courses are pre-approved and credit applies toward the GPA. Additionally, on many WFU programs, a WFU faculty member travels with the program.
• Affiliate programs are administered by partner organizations that have been vetted by WFU. Approved courses with grades of a “C” or better will count as transfer credit and appear on the WFU transcript. However, the grades do not apply to your GPA. Students get courses reviewed through the Global Transfer Credit System to receive credit. Divisional credit is only available in some academic departments.

Faculty-Led Programs

• Some Wake Forest semester programs and many Wake Forest summer programs are led by a WFU faculty member who travels with the program.

Local University vs. Study Center

• Programs at local universities allow students to immerse themselves in the local culture and take courses with other local students.
• Some programs are located in study centers designed for study abroad students. They allow students to take courses taught in English in non-English speaking locations.
• Hybrid programs allow students to take courses both at a local university and at a study center.

Language Immersion Programs

• Some programs allow you to take all of your courses in the local language in order to improve your language skills.

Internships

Many programs offer internships. To find programs that offer internships, select internship under academic discipline in the program search (link).

• Many semester programs offer for-credit internships as one of the courses that you take as part of your course load of 4-5 classes total.
• Additionally, summer internship programs allow students to participate in an internship abroad during the summer term.

There are multiple program lengths to allow you to fit study abroad into your academic schedule.

Semester Programs

• Semester programs are offered in the Fall and Spring and replace a semester on Reynolda Campus. Students typically take 12-15 credits per semester.
• Programs in the southern hemisphere typically have dates that differ from the Reynolda campus calendar. For example, Fall programs in Australia typically run from July through November, and Spring programs run from February through June.

Summer Programs

Summer programs are typically 4-6 week-long programs in the summer. They are typically 3-9 credit hours depending on the program.

WFU Short-Term Programs

WFU Short-Term programs are 1-2 weeks in May or over Spring break in connection with a half-semester course on Reynolda Campus. Short-term programs are typically worth 1.5-3 credit hours.

Academic Year Abroad

Students can spend the entire academic year abroad by participating in the same program for two semesters in a row or participating in two different programs.