After semester study abroad application decisions were released on Saturday, Jan. 18, the deadline for students to commit to semester programs occurred just a week later on Saturday, Jan. 25.
According to the 2024 Open Doors report, approximately 87.5% of Notre Dame students study abroad. With this, Notre Dame ranks third in undergraduate participation among doctoral universities. Pepperdine and Elon University claimed the first and second spots.
“We haven't seen our numbers decline last year or this year with this year's app, which is exciting, because that really is Notre Dame students saying ‘this is not extra, this is part of the college experience,’ study abroad director Robert Leis said. “This is very integral and important to us, and it's much higher than the national average for students at a university.”
Because semester program commitments were just recently due, and some program applications with capacity were reopened for those who did not get accepted, the exact number of students who will be studying abroad in the coming summer and 2025-26 school year is not yet available. However, Leis reported that 500 students each is typically the target for the fall semester, spring semester and summer session.
While Notre Dame offered waitlists for summer study abroad programs, waitlists were not presented to applicants for the 2025-26 semester programs. Leis noted waitlists tend to move very minimally, especially for larger programs, so their elimination allowed students to move toward looking at other options and meeting with study abroad staff this past week.
“If you're on a waitlist, you're hopeful that you're gonna get off the waitlist, even if we would talk to the students and we would encourage the students, saying you know, ‘this is a big waitlist, and there's very little room on this program,’” Leis said. “So realistically, this is not a good idea. I think by removing the waitlist, we're able to help students still have the opportunity to go abroad.”
The summer study abroad team is also offering waitlisted students the opportunity to apply to other summer programs with capacity.
Leis noticed positive shifts this application cycle. According to Leis, Notre Dame study abroad pushed the message that “there are only so many spaces on any program for any term” to students, faculty and advisers. With this, study abroad advised students that popular programs tended to be filled by first choice applicants, so popular programs listed as second choices would most likely already be filled.
“We really pushed that message, and when I was looking at the overall numbers, students really heard it,” Leis said. “We had less students applying for one of those sort of big three, big four programs as a second option, which has allowed us to give out more offers.”
Notre Dame offers almost 40 semester study abroad programs. Many of these programs are direct exchange, meaning only a couple of students take part in them.
“There are quite a few like that where they'll just take one or two students and those tend to be, like, really specialized in each program,” Leis said. “Those are not hard to fill just because, not only are they so limited, but they are for a very particular student doing a very particular field.”
Leis termed the “big four” programs London, Ireland, Rome and Athens, and he also stated Sydney and Toledo have become increasingly popular. The London program has the highest capacity, coming in at about 190 students, although this number includes smaller groups such as Notre Dame graduate students as well.
Sophomore College of Science neuroscience major Reagan Ludwig participated in the Rome summer program last summer. This summer, she will participate in the Germany summer program, and she will study abroad in London next fall.
“After the summer one, it was just a few weeks long, so I kind of dipped my toes in the water,” Ludwig said. “Then, I was like, ‘wait, this is so fun.’ I'm excited to do more of this, keep traveling, and getting to know a place was super cool, like getting to know Rome. I'm excited to get to know London more, travel around on the weekends, but during the week, just explore London.”
Originally, Ludwig did not plan on studying abroad during the school year as she thought she would just study abroad during the 2024 and 2025 summers.
“I really was having a hard time deciding what to apply to. I was thinking I was all set with both summer things, like that would be plenty. I could be here on campus, enjoy both the fall football vibes, working my athletic training job and then spring, study hard for the MCAT,” Ludwig said. “But then I was like, ‘okay, why not just apply and see, keep my options open.’ It was the week of and I decided to apply, worked on my applications quick and I was thinking, ‘I'll let the university study abroad admissions gods choose for me what semester because I was having a hard time with those trade offs.’ They decided London fall, so I decided to take it.”
According to Ludwig, a South Bend native, “I’m leaving my life as a townie to go explore the world.” Ludwig was first called to the London program on account of their pre-med class offerings, but she then became interested in how unique London is compared to the South Bend Ludwig is used to.
Sophomore political science major Sofia de Lira applied to the Toledo and Santiago fall programs and she will be studying abroad in Santiago in the coming fall.
“Well, I was hoping that it'd be easier to get into the program that I wanted, but it did not work out that way. And then also, my birthday is the very first … week in the spring. [I] didn't really want to spend it in a foreign country with people I don't know and I decided football season just wasn't the end all be all for me,” de Lira said.
De Lira prioritized going to a Spanish-speaking country when choosing which programs to apply to.
“The most important thing for me was going to a Spanish-speaking country and then between the options, Europe would have been exciting because I could have traveled around more conveniently,” sophomore Sofia de Lira said. “And Mexico didn't appeal to me because I've traveled to a lot of different places in Mexico already and then Chile appealed to me because I took a class where we learned a lot about it and it seemed really great.”
“I think Western Europe is always popular, but I think more and more we're starting to see students look to round out their portfolios, you know, build up their resumes after graduation. “Go to the global south. Go to the Far East. Go to the Middle East,” Leis said.
Fellow political science major sophomore Smith McGruder applied to the University College Dublin (UCD) Dublin and Toledo fall programs. He will be studying abroad at UCD Dublin in the fall.
“I also wanted it to be easier to get into Dublin and then … the Bengal Bouts Tournament is in the spring, and that's like a big thing I really want to participate in,” McGruder said. “So there's that. And then also there's just a lot of important things, you know, in the spring, like, for me, so I didn't want to miss those.”
McGruder selected the UCD Dublin program, for he could best picture himself there.
“Dublin was the most appealing for me because I think I could really see myself in Dublin,” McGruder said. “And for me when I was picking a trip to go on, someplace I could see myself having a good time and sort of fitting in was really important to me. And Dublin kind of seemed like the best place for me for that.”
For some students, studying abroad in the fall comes with apprehension about missing the Fighting Irish football season or the warmer semester weather. Even though Ludwig stated the fall was her favorite time to be on campus on account of the weather, football games and being able to work football practices as an athletic trainer, she noted she would get to experience those joys her senior year.
“Then, the more I started thinking about it this playoff season like, if we're really good, I'll be back for the national championship,” Ludwig said. “Like, don't worry. Hopefully we get there, so I can be there.”
Ludwig is also excited to participate in London’s internship programs and enjoy a flat style of housing. De Lira expressed similar concern regarding studying in a new place with new people.
“I'm worried about being away from everybody for so long and on a different time zone, but I know that at the end of the day, everyone who does study abroad has an amazing time and so I think knowing that helps calm those apprehensions and worries,” de Lira said.
McGruder echoed de Lira’s words, calling upon missing friends who do not study abroad at the same time for a whole year.
“I feel like I'm gonna miss a lot of people back at school and back home, but then also, some friends … they're not studying abroad in the fall and they're studying abroad in the spring,” McGruder said. “I feel like there'll be a couple friends that I won't see for like a whole year. I feel like that'll be a really long time to not see a couple of my really, best friends.”
While many sophomores plan to study abroad their junior year, other sophomores hope to take advantage of campus and other programs.
“Well, I was having a conversation with a senior, actually in my major, who was telling me about her study abroad experience and how she was glad that she got the opportunity to,” sophomore Santiago Ralston said. “But she encouraged me to really consider why I was applying to study abroad and if I was doing it because I would enjoy it and because I wanted to, or, on the other hand, if I was doing it because I felt like I had to because, you know, you're only going to get the chance to study abroad once.”
Ralston majors in the Program of Liberal Studies.
“And after really thinking about it, because she's right, I should apply for the right reasons,” Ralston said. “I should apply because I actually want to study at a program abroad and actually want to do it versus just doing it because I feel like I should and I realized that in the end, I would rather stay here and take classes here and just experience life here, as opposed to putting myself in to a foreign country and doing that just because everybody I knew around me was doing it.”
Sophomore Yamilka Moreno opted out of a semester abroad and instead will be spending her fall 2025 semester in Washington D.C. at the Notre Dame Washington Program. Moreno majors in political science and minors in real estate.
“Right now, I'm thinking of becoming a civil rights lawyer or immigration lawyer. I think if I chose to delve into policy, I think I'd end up in somewhere like Washington, D.C.,” Moreno said. “So I feel like it'd [the Washington Program] be more fitting for the career I'm possibly thinking of, compared to … other study abroad programs that, you know, policy isn't their focus.”
In Washington D.C., students both take classes and intern part-time. Moreno applied to the program in December and was accepted last week. Moreno is from North Jersey.
“What I'm excited about I think is, I'm already from the city, but living in a different city from what I know. That's what I'm excited for,” Moreno said.
While sophomore Tara Igwe will not be studying abroad through a Notre Dame semester program, as an architecture major, she will be spending the 2025-26 school year in Rome through the School of Architecture’s Rome Studies Program.
“It is a part of the curriculum for when you apply to Notre Dame as an architecture major, so I always knew that I was going to go abroad, but the arkie [architecture] school actually doesn't call it study abroad because it's part of the curriculum,” Igwe said. “So it's more like … I would still be a regular Notre Dame student, but in a different place because they believe that going to a place like Rome is beneficial to our experience as architects because Rome has a variety of architecture ranging from old to new, ancient to modern.”
Architecture students have studied in Rome since 1969.
“I don't think I am [in regard to missing out], because … even though academics is a big part of why people study abroad, people study abroad so they can also … get that travel experience,” Igwe said. “I think me being in Rome for a year, I also have the opportunity to go to other places in Europe, so I don't think I'm missing out on anything. I actually do think I'm gaining a lot because compared to other people who are there for just one semester, I'm there for a whole year. I think my experience will definitely be different and I don't want to say more immersive, but I definitely have more time to do more things compared to other people.”
While Igwe spoke on the benefits of a year abroad, she also spoke on how two semesters abroad will also bring difficulties.
“I think it would be hard just because not only am I in a new place, but … I'm going to be in a new place for a whole year. I think just having to adjust to that and possibly not seeing my family for a year is kind of something I have to just accept because the U.S. is kind of … far away from everything else,” Igwe said. “I also think architecture is already hard enough on its own, so being in a foreign country and not being able to call on my friends that are outside of the major for advice and stuff that would also be hard because I'm studying abroad with my classmates and I'm not particularly close to a lot of people yet, but that's also an opportunity to form those relationships.”
