Summer Study or Internship Abroad for Credit

An Occidental College student in the mountains, facing the camera and smiling

Summer study abroad demands independent responsibility, but is flexible and cost-effective. Be ready to take the lead on personal and academic readiness, assessing program quality, and managing finances.

Study abroad is neither an entitlement nor a requirement of an Oxy degree.

  • Apply directly to the program following their eligibility requirements.
  • Pay published tuition and fees directly to the program, not Oxy.
  • Register your plans in the IPO portal before going abroad and before requesting any "pre-approval/nomination" for your program application.
  • Once your course transfer form is approved by IPO, you will receive a notification. Note: Per college policy, a. courses taken abroad in summer or winter are approved for transfer credit only, letter grades show on your record in the transfer section, but are not calculated in the Oxy GPA; and b. online courses may not be used to satisfy core requirements.
  • The $39 processing fee is charged to your Oxy student account.
  • If you are participating in an internship abroad and are interested in receiving internship credit, follow these steps:
    • Transfer Credit & Course Substitution Form. – complete, gather signatures, upload in IPO summer portal.
      • Any department chair/advisor can sign-off on the course for Oxy transfer credit. Consider the department of your major or a department that is most similar to the content/sector of your internship.
      • Show/send the syllabus from the internship seminar to the Chair so they can consider how robust the academic and professional development is.
      • Chairs may indicate that a portion or all of the credit will be accepted. They don’t have to sign off on the total that the program awards (likely to meet in-country internship regulations or labor laws). Oxy chairs can accept a portion.
      • Your department chair/advisor needs to sign both the transfer credit and transfer policy acknowledgment portions of the Transfer Credit & Course Substitution Form.  

Research/Internship/Community-Based Options

A growing number of students choose full-time summer internships abroad for meaningful career development. Some focus on research or have a research component or project element. Career exploration awaits!!

Summer Study Abroad

American Councils for Study & Research Abroad - Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Türkiye

University of Bristol - Accredited Summer Programs

Session 1

Session 2 & Internships

University of Sussex - Undergraduate Summer School

Tulane University

Rhodes College

Emmanuel College, Cambridge University - International Security and Intelligence (ISI)

University of Dublin - Summer Programmes

Summer Budapest Semesters in Mathematics Education (BSME)

BARD College Summer

Consider programs offered by our semester partners for preferential admission, possible fee waivers, or access to matching scholarships. International students may consider institutions in their home country. Let the program know that you are from Occidental College. YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO USE THESE! You may also talk to IPO staff if you need help. Advising links are here optional appointments: A, B, C

Additional Resources

Policies and resources to inform your choices:

If needed, you may request advising Option #1 ; Option #2 ; Option #3

Only students earning Oxy transfer credit or meeting an Oxy academic requirement (e.g. fieldcamp) will be considered.

Summer deadline - March 1st (11:59 PM) 

In past cycles, International Programs has offered partial grants with priority for students who meet some or most of the following criteria:

  • relevant and compelling academic goals for participation articulated in the application
  • not studied abroad (or been approved for a future semester)
  • amounts are on a sliding scale based on demonstrated financial need (verified by Financial Aid)
  • majors under-represented in study abroad
  • whose life circumstances have precluded them from academic travel
  • upper class students. Caution - accepting a summer grant prior to Junior year would likely impact eligibility for a future semester abroad.

Student Testimonials

My experience interning at Bambuddha Group (a social enterprise that operates as a leadership consultancy and impact-focused production studio) allowed me to take what I have learned in the classroom at Oxy and apply it in an entirely new environment, while also challenging me to grow personally, professionally, and culturally.

Kenna Bradley ’28, Summer Internship: Sydney, Australia
Politics major; Irvington, NY
Kenna Bradley headshot with white top

[My internship] added something to my Occidental education that I could not have gained by staying on campus. Oxy taught me how to think critically, ask difficult questions, and engage with issues of psychology, culture, and inequality. Cape Town let me take those skills outside of the classroom and see how they exist in people’s everyday lives.

Autumm Battles ’26, Summer Internship: Cape Town, South Africa
Psychology major; Chicago, IL
Autumm Battles headshot

Student Narratives

Aurelia Mendez-Ortega ’28

 

Aurelia Mendez selfie with Seoul in the background

Working in a global context

I participated in the Summer Global Internship in Seoul, South Korea with the Council on International Educational Exchanges (CIEE). During my time abroad I spent eight weeks as an AI Developer intern at Hexaplus, an AI solutions provider focused on AI Transformation with services across education, consulting, and AI system development. I was also enrolled in a class that prepared me for entering the global workplace, as well as how to navigate culturally diverse working environments. This was my first internship in the computer science field and it helped shape my professional and academic goals by influencing aspects of the field that I am more passionate about, such as educational technologies and a collaborative setting. It also helped build my confidence by requiring me to voice my opinions and step outside of my comfort zone in order to contribute and work toward the larger organizational goals.

In addition to professional development, I was able to experience and explore a new culture which helped broaden my perspective on Korean society and how it operates. As well as gaining a better understanding of the values that shape and contribute to their society. I was also able to expand my taste palette and learn more about the history of Korea through their museums and monuments.

While abroad I was able to draw connections between topics from the classroom and real world implementation, and then apply those connections to a professional setting. The tight knit community at Oxy has helped me engage with my professors and the content of my classes in a way where I can take those concepts and ideas outside of the classroom. By interning abroad I was challenged to act on these practices instead of just learning about them. Overall my experience abroad helped me develop new professional and personal skills, gain new experiences within the computer science field, and increased my interest in working in a global context.

Jack Elfenbaum ’27

 

Five young men standing together in London with a big blue sky in the background
Jack stands on the far right. 

A transformational, hands-on learning experience

I spent eight weeks interning with the Policy and Public Affairs team at the Railway Industry Association in London, an experience that expanded my Oxy education far beyond anything a classroom could offer. Professionally, I was given real responsibility from day one. I compiled and mapped transport funding across nearly 80 Local Transport Authorities using Excel and Power BI, and built an ArcGIS StoryMap analyzing labor data to help RIA address the collision between mass rail-sector retirements and youth unemployment across the UK. These projects taught me how policy research actually translates into advocacy, which I got to witness firsthand watching my data become the foundation for arguments made to Parliament itself. Personally, this internship pushed me to learn faster and adapt more independently than I have in any academic setting. Arriving with little knowledge of the UK rail sector or its government, I had to build fluency in an entirely new field in real time, guided by colleagues whose expertise raised my own standards for precision and rigor. Culturally, the summer lived in its small rhythms as much as its big projects: commuting by Tube, debriefing with flat mates after work, comparing professional norms with coworkers over lunch near Parliament. I left feeling like I understood not just the rail industry, but a different way of working and living altogether.

Ella Lietzau ’27

 

a young blonde woman standing in front of old grey buildings in Berlin

A formative educational experience

This past summer I was able to study abroad in Berlin. Because of conflicts during the school year, going abroad for a semester did not work out for me, but I am grateful that I was still able to get this experience over the summer. At Oxy, I am majoring in Environmental Studies, a major that I created myself through Oxy's Independent Pattern of Study. The courses that I took in Berlin contributed to my area of study, particularly a class titled "Urban Design and Sustainability." Through this class, I was able to learn hands-on how the city of Berlin and its surrounding areas deal with issues of sustainability.

Living in Berlin also allowed me to experience a city unlike one I had lived in before. I relied heavily on public transportation, as do most Berliners, which tied greatly into the concepts I was learning in class. It was very impactful to go out and experience concepts of urban design and sustainability rather than just read about and study them. I was also able to experience differing perspectives and cultures' opinions on issues that I learn a lot about at Oxy. I took a class specific to Berlin - "The Politics of Memory: Museums and Memorials in Berlin," where I dove deep into the culture and history of the place I was staying. This class was also very hands-on, and I would have never been able to develop as deep of an understanding on the topic had I not taken the course in Berlin. Overall, this experience was very formative towards my understanding of my major, and I was exposed to important ways of thinking that will inform me as I tackle challenges in the future.

Contact International Programs
McKinnon Center for Global Affairs, Johnson 102
Phone: (323) 259-2533
Fax: (323) 341-4976
ipo@oxy.edu