We encourage our students to study abroad when such study enhances their courses of study. Students studying another culture benefit in obvious ways from being in that culture; students in environmental studies may benefit from being in an appropriate natural environment. Cornell has several of its own study abroad programs and sends students to many programs run by other institutions.
Study abroad is one of the academic options that students and their parents sometimes evaluate very differently from college faculty and advisors. We are believers in serious, informed tourism. An extended opportunity to practice a language and to observe, read about, and perhaps work in another culture -- albeit without earning credit for such activities -- can be at least as beneficial as formal study abroad and does not require sacrificing time at Cornell.
About 200 of our students go abroad each year. We insist, however, that the programs be rigorous and make sense for overall academic progress. This usually means study at a foreign university in the foreign language. We do not normally award credit for self-contained programs in English for foreign students.
Study abroad, universally appealing, is not universally sensible. There are trade-offs. The most exciting intellectual experiences at Cornell are small-group learning with Cornell faculty. Studying abroad may mean losing some of those. After all, one of the goals of the junior year is to become familiar with different approaches and expertise of faculty in one’s department, so that one can make connections for tutorial, seminar, or honors work in the senior year. Spending the junior year away from Cornell can interfere with that process.