Catalyst: A Multidisciplinary Review of Undergraduate Scholarship

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Undergraduate Opportunity Spotlight: The British Studies Program

Joshua Bird

Study abroad is not only one of the best ways to make a resume stand out to a potential employer but is also one of the most enriching experiences that a college student could pursue. The University of Southern Mississippi offers 12 such programs. One of the older and more broadly applicable of these opportunities is the British Studies program.

As suggested by the name, a participant in the British Studies Program travels to London, England, for four and a half weeks over July and August. While there, the student attends classes and earns six hours of 400- or 500-level credit in one of 16 areas, such as geography, anthropology, and computer science. This variety, along with the flexibility with which these courses are taught are a few of the things that allow this program to be of such high quality. So many areas of interest are covered, from English to music and speech to photography, that anyone who is looking to get away could find justification for participation in this program by simply running their finger down the list of classes. There is a set that is applicable to almost every major.

“One doesn’t come to London to sit in a classroom for 5 days a week and be lectured.”

One does not come to London to sit in a classroom for five days a week and be lectured. The participants live and learn in King’s College residence hall in the center of London, a city with more history and character than most are capable of imagining. Though this is the case, one of the main benefits of going abroad is the opportunity to see and experience as many different things as can be crammed into the limited stay. That can hardly be accomplished without a little travel, and the creators of British Studies designed the program with this exploration in mind.

Depending on the major, classes are only taught three or four days a week, depending on which classes are chosen. This is to give the students the benefit of long weekends to be spent as they wish. Many who participate use this time make their way around the rest of Great Britain February 9, 2007 2:56 PM>9, 2007 2:36 PMnly opportunities for students to travel. In fact, all of the classes consist of class periods that are conducted in the field. The Shakespeare class visits Stratford-upon-Avon, the international marketing class visits the BMW headquarters in Munich, and the geography class takes a trip to Scotland to visit the home of Nessy, the Loch Ness Monster. These are just a few examples of some of the arrangements that ensure students can have an experience abroad that goes far beyond the classroom.

Class lectures are not given by just any run-of-the-mill professor either; they are of the highest quality. Many of the courses’ guest lecturers are pioneers in their respective fields. Together, these attributes add considerably to the uniqueness of the experience that the British Studies Program provides.

This may all seem like a great deal, but the question left to be asked is, “How accessible is the program?” The answer comes in the form of a resounding, “Exceptionally!” First, since this program is operated by a consortium of schools, the applicant needs not even be a student at The University of Southern Mississippi. Undergraduates are eligible so long as they have completed 28 semester hours with at least a 2.0 GPA, and all graduates are eligible. Although registration is open until April 25 this year, it is strongly recommended that students aspiring to study abroad with the British Studies program apply as early as possible due to limited space. Applications are reviewed as they come in and accepted applicants are notified as soon as the decision is made.

Payment is made easy too. The undergraduate program is $4,999 although graduate students can expect to pay $5,299. This sum takes care of tuition, fees (history, theatre, geography, and speech and hearing classes have additional surcharges), and housing, as well as a round-trip flight. Should the student wish to secure his or her own air travel to and from London, the program cost is $500 less. Facilitators of the program recommend that participants bring $3000 in pocket money to be used for food, individual travel, shopping and the exceedingly important college student ritual of going out. Information on financial aid can be found at the Southern Miss International Programs Office, (601) 266-4344.

There is little that could make a resume stand out like time spent learning overseas. Programs like this also make way for otherwise impossible networking. It is difficult to imagine the impact a letter of recommendation from the head of sales at Aston Martin would make on the human resources manager of a business firm. An aspiring photographer’s portfolio filled with pages of photos of some of the better-known landmarks of London opposite pages of obscure but beautiful areas of Scotland’s landscape will stand heads and shoulders above the rest. What better inspiration for a budding actress, playwright, or director than to visit the home of one who many consider the greatest playwright of all time? These are just a few examples of the unquestionable and limitless potential benefits of participating in this program. It is tailored in such a way that students can take the experience and make it whatever they want it to be.

Joshua writes: “I am planning to attend the British Studies program this summer. Though, for obvious reasons, at this point I can’t offer any retrospective insight, I can say that I am excited almost beyond words. I have an exhaustive list of things that I want to do, places that I want to go, and pictures that I have to take. College is not only about learning, but also about growing, and the British Studies Program is a tool by which a student could do both. I intend to use it, and I hope that by writing this article I have piqued at least one other person’s interest.”

Joshua Bird

Joshua Bird is in his second year at Southern Miss and is an Honors College Presidential Scholar from Jackson, Miss. A member of the NAACP, Joshua teaches two Biology 103 labs and works in the Biology Museum in the basement of Mississippi Hall. His major is finance with an emphasis in insurance. After graudating in 2007, Joshua plans to attend law school; he hopes to eventually practice corporate law.