Step 6 Return

Before you Return

What type of program did you attend?

You attended a resident credit program: Congratulations, you're all set.

You attended a transfer credit program: Make sure you’ve arranged for your institution to send your transcripts back to Mason. You can email sareg@gmu.edu to check on the receipt of your transcripts. If you asked your study abroad advisor to sign off on the courses through Mason’s CERS system, you will see the credits updated on Patriot Web once we receive the transcripts.

Useful Links

Important to Remember

  • Your credits transfer back to Mason but your grades DO NOT.
  • You still must receive a passing grade in your class in order to receive credit. Standards on what constitutes a passing grade vary. Contact your study abroad advisor if you’re unsure.
  • GEO cannot decide what credits you receive for courses. Everything must be approved by your degree advisor. Even if GEO has approved courses, it is a good idea to check with you advisor to make sure these courses will apply to your degree.

Re-entry

You might recall your study abroad advisor warning you about culture shock before you left for your program. But it can be just as disorienting to return from living in another country. Emotions you might experience after returning from studying abroad include but are not limited to:

Reverse Culture Shock
Boredom “Ugh, back to my regular life.”
No one relates “I have all these cool travel stories and they just annoy my friends!”
You can’t explain “Study abroad is great! But you have to go to understand.”
Reverse homesickness “I desperately need some katsudon right now…”
Relationships have changed “This topic is a lot more boring than before…”
I’ve changed “Why do you keep taking your shoes off at the door?”
People misunderstand “Yeah, nice prayer beads. We get it, you went abroad.”
Feelings of alienation “Wait…life continued on when I wasn’t here?”
Inability to apply new skills “Literally no company cares that I can speak Indonesian.”
Compartmentalization of experience “The longer I’m here, the more my study abroad experience feels more like a dream than a memory.”

We believe study abroad experiences are positive, life-changing events. Everyone at GEO has lived or studied abroad at one point. But it is important to remember that life-altering events will have effects on your life after you return.

Manage Reverse Culture Shock
Set a meeting with your study abroad advisor or a PAGE GEO isn’t just here for you when you study abroad, we’re here for your entire academic career at Mason. We know what it's like.
Get involved Sign up for our alumni mailing list to get information about upcoming events, volunteer to speak to freshmen or exchange students about your experience, apply to work in our office, and come to our predeparture orientations. GEO Alumni have their own community, and this is a great way to meet others who can relate to what you’re experiencing.
Make an appointment with Career Services International experiences and the skills you’ve developed are INCREDIBLY valuable for the job market; but they will not be valuable to all organizations equally. You must try to identify the skills you’ve developed, describe them in your resume, and find organizations that have those needs. A career counselor can help you through this process. You can also always reach out to our study abroad advisor too; each one of us had to figure out how to apply our international experiences to careers. We can help you through this process!
Practice makes perfect The more international experience you have, the easier dealing with both culture shock and reverse culture shock becomes. Look to see if there are any other study abroad opportunities in the future that might interest you.
Be patient and accepting of yourself You might be thinking "I definitely won’t experience reverse culture shock."" That’s fine, there’s nothing that says you must have a negative outcome from studying abroad. But if you’ve recognized any the effects above in yourself, be patient. Reverse culture shock follows the exact same pattern as culture shock, which both will eventually pass.
Apply Your Experiences
Make an appointment with Mason Career Services You’ve gained new insights and experiences as a result of studying abroad. Figure out how to put those experiences and skills on your resume in an effective way.
Intern abroad This can be a great way to build on skills you’ve gained from studying abroad in the classroom. It can also open up the possibility that your future career may be outside the United States.
Take a foreign language class. Don’t let your experiences fade away! One of the best ways to do this is by working on your foreign language skills. You’ve probably already picked up a few words from your host country.
Join an internationally focused student organization. So many student organizations have an international focus (including our GEO alumni programs). There are events that will connect you with international students studying here at Mason, help you practice languages, share cultural experiences, etc. This can be a great way to find your community.

Join our Cohort

Work for GEO

GEO always has a need for student workers and global ambassadors. Job postings are often available on Handshake. Keep an eye out! Mention your interest to work with us with your study abroad advisor.

Study Abroad Again

The only thing better than studying abroad is studying abroad twice! For most students, there is no limit to how many times you can study abroad (and you’ll already have learned that it doesn’t cost you more to study abroad than to study at Mason). Feel free to apply again!

Give to GEO

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