Select Your Students

Student selection

Our field experience courses have limited enrollment. We typically aim to place 16 students in each course, with a minimum threshold of 10 students. Applications are collected through an online form, and students have approximately two weeks to apply. Once the application closes, the student services program coordinator will collate your course’s applications and share them with you electronically.

Some elements you may consider when selecting students:

• Local language ability
• Evidence of scholarly interest in the country to be visited and the topic to be examined
• Previous overseas travel. Proven ability to function overseas is a positive, but we also want to widen the perspectives of students who may not have had the opportunity to travel before.
• Academic achievement, including GPA and membership in honors programs
• Participation in student media or student media organizations
• Completion of an application essay explaining the field experience's role in a broader program of study
• Successful completion of relevant lower-level courses to ensure they are academically prepared for the specific coursework
• Recommendations from other faculty members, which can shed light on academic preparedness and maturity

You will have seven to 10 days to review the applications and provide an unranked list of your top 16 choices and a ranked list of alternates. The exact dates of these deadlines will be communicated to you well in advance for your planning purposes.

Because of the tight timing involved in this process, in-person student interviews are discouraged. If you feel interviews are necessary, it is your responsibility to coordinate the completion of those interviews within the window of time afforded for reviewing applications and selecting students.

We have a generic application, but you can also personalize if you want to ask specific questions. Do you want to require the students to submit additional information (e.g., a short essay, work examples, references, etc.)?

All students will be asked to submit the following documents before being given permission to enroll:

• Bursar authorization agreement
• OVST liability waiver
• Drug and alcohol policy form
• Emergency contact form
• Media release

Alternates

Students are allowed to apply to more than one field experience course. Those who do so are asked to rank them in order of preference. If more than one faculty member selects the same student, the student will be given their higher preference. This may knock some of your top 16 students off your list, at which point we would move to your alternates list to fill those spaces.

Additionally, IU policy states that students who are currently on academic probation or who have been given a sanction of disciplinary probation or stronger (e.g., deferred suspension, suspension, or expulsion) are not permitted to study abroad. The student services program coordinator will check all student applicants’ records with the Office of Student Conduct during the period when you are reviewing applications. Any students meeting the criteria above will be removed from consideration.

Some students choose not to enroll after being admitted, so we build in a window of time that allows alternates to enroll in their place.

Low enrollment

If it becomes clear that a course may not reach the minimum 10-student threshold to continue, the Media School dean will decide to whether or not to move forward with the program.

Withdrawals

Students will be given deadlines for withdrawal, after which they are liable for different portions of their trip fee.

If a student notifies you of his or her intention to withdraw from the course, please tell the student to notify the student services program coordinator so that, if possible, he can retain some of the trip fee and another student can be offered their spot. The student is not be considered withdrawn from your class until he has notified the student services program coordinator in writing.