Winter Term off-campus application deadline approaching

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Students seeking to study off campus for Winter Term have until before midnight this Wednesday to turn in their applications.

DePauw offers 27 off-campus Winter Term courses. This year, DePauw is offering four trips to Italy.

"Italy is always very popular," said Mandy Brookins Blinn, an associate director in the Civic, Global and Professional Opportunities office.

In addition, she cited trips to the Galapagos and Geosciences trips as among those that consistently draw many students.

However, she noted a few changes in student preferences.

"I've seen more and more students interested in Latin America, Africa and Asia," Brookins Blinn said.

A variety of factors motivate students to choose particular courses, one of which is the expense. For students who qualify, DePauw offsets some of the cost through need-based financial support of up to 30 percent of the course fee.

At $1,450, the Winter Term in Service trip to San Diego offers the lowest estimated cost among the off-campus trips.

"I've always wanted to do a service trip, and I think it'd be a great experience to go out of the country," said freshman Jamie Catton, who is applying for trips to San Diego, El Salvador and Ecuador.

Some students primarily consider the academic benefits of each trip, such as strengthening foreign-language skills.

Junior Andrew Pfaff, who traveled to Italy and Argentina for previous Winter Terms, is considering the trip to Spanish-speaking Costa Rica, but for different reasons.

"I'm really interested in that because I'm a biochemistry major planning to go into medicine," Pfaff said.

Passions for certain subjects not only motivate students, but also the professors who lead the trips. Associate Professor of English Peter Graham, who co-leads the Sundance/Slamdance trip with his wife, said, "My wife and I, [Associate Professor of English and The DePauw adviser] Lili Wright, my colleague, love watching films and being in Park City, being around all these film people."

Last year, the 35 to 40 students who listed Sundance/Slamdance as their first choice, as well as those who listed it as their second or third choice, competed for the 20 slots available.

"It's been a very popular course, and it's been very hard to get into. Usually if you don't choose it as your first choice, you don't get it," Graham said.

To determine who is selected, Winter-Term coordinators email the first-choice applications to the faculty leaders of the trips. After reviewing the preferences for about a week, faculty members choose which students receive a place and then move on to other applications if slots still remain.

Students not chosen for a trip still have an opportunity to apply again in the fall for off-campus courses with open spaces.

"If students don't get a course this time around, they still have plenty of options for Winter Term," Brookins Blinn said.