Priceless by Isabelle

Priceless by Isabelle - March 2016 Scholarship Essay

To address the prompt as simply as possible, yes I do think that all college students should be strongly encouraged to study abroad. It is impossible in the modern and irrevocably connected world today to not encounter and interact with other cultures other than one’s own at some point or another. To study abroad would do nothing but serve to broaden a young person’s mind and general knowledge of a culture dissimilar to their own. If colleges were to require students to study abroad, whole other doors would open for so many individuals. It would throw open the heavy gates to otherwise closed parts of the mind and soul that can only benefit individual growth as well as international growth.
I can personally attest to a shift in mindset, for the better. This past summer, I had the incredible opportunity to take a two week trip to Germany with my school. Not only was the experience one of the best of my life to date, it offered an unparalleled opportunity to observe another culture up close and personal and learn about the history of Germany. While our group spent most of the two weeks in the state of Bayern, Munich to be more specific, our entire group was imparted with knowledge in an interactive and enriching manner. If only two week in another country did this for myself, imagine what the half semester or full year could do for college students.
While studying abroad may not be the cheapest of endeavors for a college student, the information that one would inevitably acquire throughout the entire experience is priceless.