Bailey Wiles is an ISEP Student Engagement Officer for 18 states, including the Northeast, the Great Lakes, and the Midwest regions. ISEP is a nonprofit organization and is one of the largest study abroad networks in the world. They have more than 300 universities in over 50 countries that student could attend a program at. Their goal is to help students study abroad and to meet their needs with an affordable budget. Any major can go for their academic programs, and they also offer internships and volunteer programs.
If a UIU Student wanted to participate in one of their programs, Bailey would be the one to help guide them through the process, along with UIU’s Education Abroad Coordinator as well. Bailey herself studied abroad through ISEP in Université de Savoie in Chambéry, France. UIU has a very close partnership with ISEP and typically has students study abroad through their programming every year.
I interviewed Bailey via e-mail and her responses are below:
1. Have you studied abroad before? If yes, where and why?
I have! I’m an alumna of the ISEP program at the Université Savoie Mont Blanc in Chambéry, France. I opted to participate in the Language and Culture program in Chambéry because I wanted to take part in the intensive language classes to learn French. I’m not a very good language learner, so I felt that this would be the best way to force myself to learn it – and it definitely was!
2. Can you please describe ISEP to me as an organization?
ISEP is a nonprofit organization with a mission to overcome any barriers that students face to studying abroad – no matter the student’s budget, major, special needs, etc. We are also a member community of over 300 universities in more than 50 countries that work together to share resources that help students study abroad. With ISEP, students experience what it’s like to take classes alongside locals, in any subject, and on a budget they can afford. We have opportunities to not just study abroad, but intern or volunteer as well.
3. What are the duties or main tasks of your position as a Student Engagement Officer?
My main duties are to help students get started and to pinpoint the location (region or country) where they would like to study abroad and recommend matching universities based on what they want to study; I also work with study abroad offices in my region of the U.S. which includes 18 states (and Washington, D.C.) in the Northeast and Great Lakes/Midwest. I do a lot of traveling around my region to attend study abroad fairs, meet with study abroad offices, and a bunch of other miscellaneous things that I do like presenting to classes and meeting with students.
4. Why did you choose to work as a Student Engagement Officer?
I feel like my job is about giving back for what I received. I’m from a small town in Missouri, and I never could have imagined how much my life would change when I studied abroad. I’m eternally grateful for all those who encouraged me to take a leap and go abroad, and now I get to give back by providing that same encouragement to students who have the same doubts and apprehensions that I had. It’s also so much fun to work with other people who studied abroad!
5. What are the challenges of this position?
The challenges are trying to keep up with a constantly changing world. Because I can be on the road up to 6 days per week, it can be tricky to keep up with the news and the ever-changing world we live in. I try to make sure I prioritize that in my week, but it can be difficult.
6. What do you enjoy about your work with ISEP?
I absolutely love working with students to get started on their life-changing study abroad journey. It’s so rewarding to see their excitement when they learn that they have options that meet their needs. I was once in their shoes – I was a college student who didn’t think I could study abroad because I didn’t think I could afford it until I heard about ISEP.
7. What are the difficulties you find when recruiting students for study abroad?
I hear over and over again the exact same doubts from students everywhere I go – that they can’t study abroad because of x, y, and z reason. That is simply not true! If you have the motivation, you can study abroad. I meet students all the time who get a couple of scholarships and it ends up costing them less to study in abroad with ISEP than it would to stay at their home university for a semester. It’s amazing! And it’s possible.
8. Why do you think studying abroad is important?
Studying abroad is SO important – it will change your life! And there are so many reasons why it is important. Personally, I learned so much about the world from studying abroad. It made me more culturally competent and it helped me learn another language – which I truly never thought I would do. And learning French gave me the ability to interact with people who I would never have the chance to interact with otherwise. That’s invaluable!
It also helps with confidence, which I really noticed with myself. You are sort of forced by necessity to gain confidence and be willing to ask for help when you need it. I credit that lesson with helping me get to where I am today in my career and in my personal life. After studying abroad I was no longer afraid to take risks and to put myself out there. And failure is no longer as scary as it once was.
I also made lifelong friendships from studying abroad. One of my friends lives in Madrid and is coming to my wedding in October. It’s crazy to be an ocean apart, but still be able to continue our close friendship.
9. What would you suggest to students who want to study abroad through ISEP?
I would suggest that they get started sooner rather than later. The students who start the process early are the ones who end up finding the perfect location for their needs and generally are the ones who receive more scholarships and aid to go abroad. We recommend that students get started a year before they plan to go abroad. They can find more information how to do that my visiting this page on our website. They can also get in touch with me by emailing me at bwiles@isep.org or adding me on my ISEP Facebook page which you can find here.
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