About Foreign Fellowships

Academic Program for Foreign Fellows
Foreign Fellows ordinarily enroll in two to four courses each semester at Mount Holyoke, and they are required to attend class meetings regularly and to complete the assigned reading, papers, and examinations. Most classes meet for 50 or 75 minutes two or three times each week; some seminars meet once each week for two or three hours. During the Fellowship year, Foreign Fellows should plan on completing a program of at least 20 credits (five courses) leading to Mount Holyoke's Certificate for International Students. They may elect the ungraded option for only one of these courses. Students may choose to earn the Certificate in a specific discipline which is offered as a major or minor at Mount Holyoke. They may do so by electing three courses in that field, all of which must be graded.

Foreign Fellows may elect courses at any of the other colleges in the Five College Consortium, although at least half of the courses they elect each semester must be Mount Holyoke courses. Undergraduate students and Foreign Fellows are required to be in residence at Mount Holyoke throughout the academic year, which is divided into two semesters: the fall semester extends from early September to mid-December, and the spring semester from late January to mid-May. The academic program during January is very different from and more relaxed than the two semesters, and Foreign Fellows are encouraged to participate in it.

Stipend and Fees
The Fellowship awarded will cover the full charge for tuition, room, and board (a value of $46,280 for the 2007-2008 academic year). Foreign Fellows will also receive a stipend ($3500.00) for their work in the language department with which they are affiliated. A student needs approximately $3,000 a year for books, health insurance, and incidental expenses; these costs will not be covered directly by the Fellowship, but will be off-set by the stipend. All of these costs are likely to increase each year. Opportunities for employment both on and off campus are extremely limited, and Foreign Fellows must bring sufficient funds with them to cover all of the expenses not included in their fellowship award or stipend. They must also be prepared to cover the cost of their travel to the US. Foreign Fellowships are very rarely renewed for a second year of study.

Bachelor of Arts Degree Program
The Bachelor of Arts degree requires more than one year of study. Admission to the Foreign Fellow program is separate from admission to a degree program; Foreign Fellows are admitted as non-degree students for one year only, with no guarantee of eligibility to work toward a degree. Therefore, students whose primary purpose is to earn a degree should apply directly to the B.A. program, rather than to the Foreign Fellow program. A Foreign Fellow who decides after her arrival that she would like to earn a degree may apply for admission to the B.A. program after she has completed one semester's work at Mount Holyoke, but she will have to complete the same application as any other degree-seeking international student and will be held to the same standards as any other applicant. She will not be advantaged in any way due to the year she spent as a Foreign Fellow. It is also important to know that, if admitted, she will likely not receive the same amount of financial aid as she did during the year when she was a Foreign Fellow.