College Credit with PSU

Thankfully, at Carpe Diem we have a very unique and helpful relationship with Portland State University that allows our students to gain up to 18 quarter-credits per semester with Carpe Diem. Students, upon successful completion and submission of course work, will earn a PSU transcript denoting the appropriate course and course number.

Portland State University is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges & Universities. In order for each course to be approved by PSU, Carpe Diem has to first submit a course description to the Office of International Affairs. Each course description is designed based on the actual layout of the programs, and approved by a PhD from the appropriate department. Once (hopefully) it's approved, the course is then available to be offered to current students. The instructor of record is vetted and approved of by Portland State University and salaried by Carpe Diem and is also how we're able to keep the costs so low for so many credits. It's a very comprehensive process that allows us to offer credits which have successfully been transferred to almost every school that students have attempted.

We designed these courses in recognition that most "study abroad" options actually hinder their students' ability to engage in the local culture. In counterpoise, we've designed our courses so that students do the majority of their documentary work (ie., papers) once they get home - in that way, when you're halfway around the world you're actually able to be present with your experience.

 

Portland State University Carpe Diem Gap Year Partnership

 

REGISTERING FOR THE CREDIT:

Registering for the university credit through PSU is actually fairly easy. There's two simple steps, send in a check made out to Carpe Diem for $900, and login to your online student account and edit your profile to show the courses you'd like to take. In the box, simply type each course title so we can get you registered for fast processing at PSU. PLEASE NOTE, do not apply separately to PSU unless you're needing FAFSA funds (doing so will incur a fee of about $300 regardless of wether you actually take FAFSA funds or not).

What happens behind the scenes is that once we've received your payment for the $900, we'll submit your vital information to our contact at the Office of International Affairs. They'll get you set up with a PSU ID#, and you should then be able to access your PSU account.

For students who've applied for FAFSA, you'll want to download this form from our financial aid web page.

 

DOING THE CREDIT:

Doing the credit option at Carpe Diem means being prepared to work on assignments regularly throughout the semester: on average about 60% - 70% of our students choose this option. That being said, the majority of your course-hours almost always are earned by simply participating on the program. For instance, almost all of our programs have required volunteer and language study hours that are uniformly built into the actual bones of each and every program. Some courses will require you to either do an art project, interview locals, and/or read a few relevant books available overseas - all of which will be partially or fully built into your existing program. For many programs (typically the 6 credit ones) you'll also be required to do a 15-minute presentation to your group. Every course will require you to keep a daily journal and at the conclusion of each semester you'll have to write a 5-10 page paper.

Once you finish your program you'll have until June 20th for the spring and January 20th for the fall, to submit your papers and your journal to the instructor of record. The instructor of record will then read your journal, grade your papers, and submit an unofficial transcript to each student for final approval. Extensions are available with advance notice, however re-writes are rarely allowed due to the sheer quantity of papers the instructor is responsible for. We'll tell you honestly that the instructor is a fair but tough grader, so please read the course descriptions thoroughly in order to submit the right materials.

What happens behind the scenes is that your PSU account is automatically set up with some dummy courses (INTL 399) as space holders.

 

GETTING YOUR TRANSCRIPT:

You'll have about six weeks after your program completion to submit course papers and your journal to the grading instructor at Carpe Diem. After she receives them she will send you an unofficial grading report.

We like to send you a copy of your unofficial transcript for you to review to which you'll have 2 weeks for approval or to contest it before we submit it to PSU. It typically takes up to 6 weeks for PSU's Registrar to process the grades.... less if you've correctly registered your classes on your Carpe Diem MyAccount page. After that timeframe we suggest emailing our contact at PSU's Office of International Affairs, Ron Witczak, to verify things are in order. Once she gives you the thumbs up that your courses have replaced the dummy "INTL 399" courses, simply order a transcript via PSU's online system or by calling the Registrar's office.

The process for receiving your transcript from PSU is easily done by reaching out to
Portland State University
Office of Admissions, Registration, and Records
Transcript Request Desk
Fax 503-725-8180
Phone 503-725-8193
transcripts@pdx.edu

REASONS TO TAKE THE CREDIT OPTION:

  • Why not get college credit on top of a life-changing experience?
  • Each assignment is designed to better integrate your experience while in-country. One of the most common comments when students submit their papers is "thank you." Having put pen to paper about three months of indescribable experience tends to solidify and clarify its impact.
  • FINANCIAL AID! Sure there are a lot of hoops to jump through with regard to financial aid, but it can bring a program like this within your budget that would normally be outside of your means.

REASONS NOT TO TAKE THE CREDIT OPTION:

  • If you're taking the credit option simply to be covered by your parents' medical insurance and considered a full-time student, the $900 you spend on the courses will be about three times what you'd pay for a more comprehensive additional travel-medical policy issued through Global Vision Travel.
  • If you're deferring from another institution and have a generous financial aid package there that you don't want to risk, then check the deferral policy of that university. Sometimes they will grant a deferral conditional upon the faith that you won't enroll at another university during the deferment period.
  • You're simply burned out and the words "5 paragraph essay" make you drool and go cross-eyed.

 

OUR CURRENT COURSE OFFERINGS:

These are constantly being added to though the list below represents those courses that have been approved by PSU. For a copy of each actual 3-6 page course description, please log on to your online student account.

University Courses:

  • ANTH (103): Introduction to Social/Cultural Anthropology (4 credits)

    In this introduction to socio-cultural anthropology, students will gain exposure to valuable information from peoples and cultures around the world, learning about different forms of communication, religious and symbolic systems, technological adaptations to environment, and power dynamics in social systems. Students will be introduced to anthropological theory by reading an ethnography and conducting their own fieldwork.

  • ANTH (399): Societies and Cultures; Reinforcing "The Other" (4 credits)

    In this upper-division course students will apply knowledge theyʼve learned from previous Anthropology courses to better understand the ways the host-country’s State policies and politics increase the social divides. Such cultural divides could be relative to socio-economic differences, differences in geographic residency within the host-country, or even the ways that a national identity is disparate in some areas but wholly aligned in others. Supplemental assignments offer opportunities for research and reflection of experiences.

  • ART (199): Art Through Cultural Exchange (4 credits)

    The course is an introduction to multiple art forms, including musical, visual, dance, meditation, yoga and/or movement. The course will encourage students to critically examine art and their artistic views within the context of the culture in which they travel, and to evaluate ways in which they relate to their travel group with an emphasis on art, artistic influences, and the impact art has on the host-culture. Supplemental assignments will offer opportunities for research and reflection of experiences.

  • ART (399): International Art Intensive (4 credits)

    The course is a more intensive study about a particular art form that may include art, painting, stone carving, textiles, music, visual, dance, meditation, yoga and/or movement. It provides for both personal and professional growth and is intended for students who want to expand beyond the traditional classroom learning setting. This course will ask students to create an artistic representation of their overseas experience and write a paper in summary of it.

  • ECON (201): Principles of Economics; International Economics (4 credits)

    Students will enhance their understanding of global economics and the ways that decisions on the macro scale have an impact on a micro level (local population). Students will gain a first-hand experience of the ways that international policy impacts local populations and seek an understanding for how the global supply chain works. They will be asked to trace a particular commodity from production to purchase, with each step along the way understanding where the dollars have passed and what are the results from each step.

  • ECON (399): Economics and the Impact of "Fair-Trade" Versus "Free-Trade" (6 credits)

    Students will enhance their understanding of global economics and the ways that decisions on the macro scale have an impact on a local population. Students will gain a first-hand experience of the ways that international policy impacts local populations and seek an understanding for how the global supply chain works.

  • ESM (199): Environmental Sustainability (6 credits)

    This course is designed to provide hands-on learning opportunities for undergraduate students who undertake foreign travel. It offers the student an opportunity to learn outside of the classroom and affords an opportunity to take advantage of appropriate technology, sustainability issues in the developing world, and to learn first hand about local issues of environmental entropy which are available through travel.

  • ESM (399): Global Warming and The People (6 credits)

    This course is designed to provide hands-on learning opportunities for undergraduate students who undertake foreign travel. It offers the student an opportunity to experience outside of the classroom some of the tell-tale signs of a shift in local and regional weather patterns. Students will be asked to understand the basic science, explore opposing viewpoints, and to relate them to things theyʼve witnessed or experienced while on their semester.

  • FL: (199) Hindi Language Immersion and Travel (3 credits)

    This course is three weeks of total immersion in language study. It is 2-3 hours a day (30 hours in total) of intensive study with a language instructor at a Carpe Diem-chosen language school. Each student will live with home stay families for the duration of their language study. Students will be expected to complete all course requirements within one month of the completion of their course date.

  • FL: (199) Portuguese Language Immersion and Travel (3 credits)

    This course is three weeks of total immersion in language study. It is 2-3 hours a day (30 hours in total) of intensive study with a language instructor at a Carpe Diem-chosen language school. Each student will live with home stay families for the duration of their language study. Students will be expected to complete all course requirements within one month of the completion of their course date.

  • FL: (199) Swahili Language Immersion and Travel (3 credits)

    This course is three weeks of total immersion in language study. It is 2-3 hours a day (30 hours in total) of intensive study with a language instructor at a Carpe Diem-chosen language school. Each student will live with home stay families for the duration of their language study. Students will be expected to complete all course requirements within one month of the completion of their course date.

  • FL: (199) Thai Language Immersion and Travel (3 credits)

    This course is three weeks of total immersion in language study. It is 2-3 hours a day (30 hours in total) of intensive study with a language instructor at a Carpe Diem-chosen language school. Each student will live with home stay families for the duration of their language study. Students will be expected to complete all course requirements within one month of the completion of their course date.

  • FL: (199) Spanish Language Immersion and Travel (6 credits)

    This course is four weeks of one-on-one (or very small group) language instruction and total immersion in formal Spanish language study. It is 4-5 hours a day (approximately 80 hours for the semester) of intensive Spanish language instruction at a Carpe Diem-chosen language school in Latin America. Each student will live with home stay families for the duration of their language study. Students will supplement their language immersion by volunteering side-by-side with native-speakers, and living in the host-culture over the course of their three-month study abroad experience.

  • FL: (299) Spanish Intensive Language Immersion and Travel (6 credits)

    This is an advanced study course where students will increase their Spanish fluency by intensive language instruction by living and volunteering with Spanish-speaking homestays and families. The student will also enhance language skills via travel and research to various historic sites, cultural events, exhibits, etc.

  • GEOG (199): Geography of Globalization in Food (4 credits)

    This course is designed to provide hands-on learning opportunities for undergraduate students who undertake foreign travel. It offers the student the opportunity to explore different food systems, the methods in which food is produced and grown in that culture, and to seek an understanding of how that culture uses organic, alternative, and/or progressive methods of farming. Students may also explore the ways in which that culture eats and perceives their food, their level of interaction with fast food chains, local farming, and that culture's general nutrition.

  • GEOG (399): Environmental and Its Peoples (4 credits)

    This course is designed to provide hands-on learning opportunities for undergraduate students who undertake foreign travel. Students will undertake a deep understanding of the ways that the environment impacts and influences the people who live in it. Students are encouraged to think about non-traditional interpretations of the environment. Some examples might include high mountain ranges, social isolation, closeness to wildlife, city-dwelling, proximity to clean drinking water, proximity to transportation, elevation, etc.

  • HIST (199): Colonialization and Western Interference (4 credits)

    In this study of colonialism and the history of Western influences, students will undertake to understand the influences that colonialism has had on the host-country. Students will explore the ways local cultures have been impacted by the influences of “westernized countries” that might include infrastructure (roads, trains, and transportation), language, gender roles, world-view, social justice issues, sanitation, food, politics, political influences, natural resource management, etc. It provides for both personal and professional growth and is intended for students who desire to expand their educational experiences beyond the traditional classroom setting by working directly within another culture.

  • INTL (199): Globalization Awareness and Community Development (6 credits)

    This course provides students with an opportunity to learn through work experience and volunteer service concurrent with assignments while on their academic study abroad program. It engages students in meaningful work/volunteer experiences while helping them gain an understanding of a particular issue of their choosing relevant to globalization and its impacts on local populations. Themes can include the ways the local communities are impacted by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, international development as practiced by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) program, global wealth distribution, alternative government systems and their advantages/disadvantages, and more.

  • INTL (399): Evaluations of International Non-Governmental Organizations (6 credits)

    This course is designed as an advanced course, where students are asked to take on a detailed exploration of International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and chart both their benefits to the local populations to which they serve, as well as the ways they often times donʼt work. Students will be asked to understand what some of the common pitfalls are in INGOs and as well as whether in the long-term they are creating more problems than theyʼre fixing.

  • INTL (299): Context and Culture: Defining Systems (6 credits for Latitudes Students ONLY)

    This international experiential course creates an opportunity for students to assess and analyze systems and subsystems contained within an area of interest to the students such as business (for example, accounting, fiscal accountability, etc.), social work (for example, child development, health, etc.) the environment, organizational development, gender, education and politics. Students will be expected to integrate information from participant observation, research, readings and interviews to inform conclusions. A plan to approach the course will be approved by the instructor within 10 days of beginning the work/volunteer experience.

  • MUS (199): Applied World Music (3 credits)

    This course is designed to provide hands-on learning opportunities for undergraduate students who undertake foreign travel. It offers the student an opportunity to learn about local music and musical influences, do a detailed study of an artist or local genre, and potentially create and record their own regionally-influenced musical piece.

  • PHE (250): Our Community: Our Health (4 credits)

    This course will engage students in responsible and challenging volunteer activity while helping them gain an understanding and knowledge of the health care system of their host country. Students will be exposed to alternative healthcare systems and alternative healthcare practices. They will learn about the pros and cons of the host-countryʼs healthcare and health, and chart progressive ways to improve. Possible subjects could include, obesity, infant-mortality, domestic-violence, addiction issues, HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention, nutrition, water sanitation, etc.

  • PHIL (199): Introduction to Spiritual/Religious Studies and Their Roles in Culture (6 credits)

    This course engages students in meaningful work/volunteer experiences while helping them gain understanding, acquire knowledge, and develop the necessary skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world. Students will study the spirituality of their region to understand a sense of local spiritual traditions and provide a level of insight into personal belief structures and how they structure daily life during their academic study abroad.

  • PHIL (399): The Self in Spiritual/Religious Practices (6 credits)

    This course is an advanced course designed to engage students in meaningful work/volunteer experiences while helping them gain understanding, acquire knowledge, and develop the necessary skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world. Students will study the spirituality of their region to understand a sense of local spiritual traditions and provide a level of insight into personal belief structures and how they structure daily life during their academic study abroad. Supplemental assignments offer opportunities for research and reflection of experiences.

  • PSYCH (299): The Individual and Culture; Culture and Its Influence on the Ways People Operate (4 credits)

    This course is designed to provide hands-on learning opportunities for undergraduate students who undertake foreign travel. Students will explore the psychological differences and similarities across cultural boundaries, and explore issues like “what is success across cultural lines” and “how does language determine world-view?” Students will challenge their own cultural norms and identify cultural biases in undertaking this course.

  • SOC (199): Social Systems (4 credits)

    This course is designed to provide hands-on learning opportunities for undergraduate students who undertake foreign travel. It offers the student an opportunity to write an ethnology based on a living within a group for three months and use either their group for a detailed study of social systems, or, through volunteering with, studying with, living with, and interviewing locals from the host-country, seek an understanding of that cultureʼs social systems.

  • SOC (399): The United States as Seen from the Outside (4 credits)

    This course is an analysis of the views that a students host-culture has about the United States. Students will be asked to make observations about the local culture and identify some opinions that the local peoples have about America. Students will interview local people as well. Areas of inquiry that students might engage with are, “how does xxx culture view the United States? “In what ways does the local culture want to be like the US?” and “In what ways does the local culture not want to be like the US?” Students will be asked to write a summary analysis of whether they consider it wise for the local culture to engage in such pursuits and what might be some of the consequences of their opinions politically, economically, and socially.

  • WS (299): Introduction to Global Women's Studies (4 credits)

    This course provides students with an opportunity to earn academic credit for their experiences during their academic study abroad program. Effectively it is a critical analysis of the essential issues that affect womenʼs lives. It provides for both personal and professional growth and is intended for students who desire to expand their educational experiences beyond the traditional classroom setting by using the external international experience to reflect on the inner experience, and the female experience. It engages students in meaningful conversations about the role of women in marriage, family, education, justice and reform, health care, sexuality, political and economic status and encourages them to look critically at themselves and in these areas of their own culture. Supplemental assignments offer opportunities for research and reflection of experiences.