Planning to Study Abroad 

1. Visit the Overseas Program website and decide on a school to visit. 

2. Consider the school’s course offerings, making a list of courses of interest. Note: a maximum of six credits abroad can be used to meet PNP major requirements. Additional credits can be applied to ArtsSci degree requirements or to other majors. 

3. Complete the Overseas Program application on-line. 

4. Obtain the Study Plan PDF from Overseas. 

5. Contact PNP Study-Abroad Advisor Jason Gardner to make an appointment for Study Plan approval. 

6. Return the approved plan to the Overseas office. 

Where to Study Abroad with PNP 

PNP approves six schools for study-abroad because their faculty and the course offerings fit well with the PNP major. These are also schools where undergraduates in interdisciplinary majors such as PNP find it relatively easy to enroll in courses they need for major progress. Some may have stronger or weaker offerings depending on what parts of PNP you wish to pursue abroad. For more information about that, read on, and feel free to contact PNP Study-Abroad Advisor Jason Gardner.

Note: Most links below go to external websites for the study-abroad institutions listed. For information about WUSTL requirements for attending these schools, find them on the WUSTL Overseas program pages.

DIS (Danish Institute for Study Abroad; Copenhagen, Denmark or Stockholm, Sweden) 

DIS is the only PNP approved program in continental Europe. It has a good variety of course offerings for PNP Majors on the Language, Cognition, and Culture track. While DIS also offers some courses in philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience, these often work only for PNP-major elective credit toward the philosophy or psychology cores rather than as replacements for specific courses named on the major checklist.   

Also note that the DIS program is for visiting students only—it does not have a local student population. This means two things. First, those who study at DIS do not get the experience of embedding themselves within a local student population. Second, DIS staff will be more concerned with ministering to the needs of visitors. Some students also report the courses at DIS are not as academically rigorous as typical Washington University courses. 

University of Auckland (New Zealand) 

The University of Auckland offers a broad range of courses PNP students can take to meet major requirements under any checklist heading. Visiting PNP students should not expect difficulties finding or enrolling in courses suitable for the major. 

University of Cape Town (South Africa) 

The University of Cape Town offers a broad range of courses PNP students can take to meet major requirements under any checklist heading. Note that although Cape Town tends to list prerequisites for the upper level courses PNP majors need more often than other approved schools, students visiting Cape Town have not reported issues enrolling in the courses of their choice. So PNP students visiting Cape Town should not expect difficulties finding or enrolling in courses suitable for the major. 

University of Edinburgh (Scotland) 

The PNP program has a study-abroad arrangement with the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, which provides a useful pre-arrival guide for visiting students. Information likely to be especially useful for Washington University students is available on the Overseas Programs website.

Edinburgh offers a broad range of courses PNP students can take to meet major requirements under any checklist heading. However, some students have difficulty getting into the courses they need. There are two things to look out for if you would like to study at Edinburgh.  

First, Edinburgh requires students to have taken at least three courses in an academic area before they can take an upper level course in that area, and most courses PNP majors need are upper level. So, PNP majors wishing to study at Edinburgh should assess what courses they might need to take abroad, and whether they might need to take an additional course here before they go, in order to meet this requirement. This is more often an issue with philosophy than psychology courses, as PNP students tend to have had three or more psychology courses by the time they go abroad, but fewer than three in philosophy. 

Second, courses are in high demand at Edinburgh, and PNP students are not always able to register for the courses they list on their Study Plan. This is especially an issue in Spring, when more visiting students attend Edinburgh. Students interested in Edinburgh are thus encouraged to consider going in the Fall, as this affords significant advantages in terms of course availability (and access to housing). 

University of Queensland (Australia) 

The University of Queensland offers a broad range of courses PNP students can take to meet major requirements under any checklist heading. Visiting PNP students should not expect difficulties finding or enrolling in courses suitable for the major. 

Another thing to note about Queensland is that visiting PNP students are eligible to participate in research at the Queensland Brain Institute.

University of Sydney (Australia) 

The University of Sydney offers a broad range of courses PNP students can take to meet major requirements under any checklist heading. Visiting PNP students should not expect difficulties finding or enrolling in courses suitable for the major. 

Other Study Abroad Venues 

PNP would be glad to help as many of our undergraduates study abroad as is possible. While the most straightforward way for PNP undergraduates to do this is to visit one of the above institutions and take courses for PNP Major credit, we recognize that the best option for some students will be to attend a different institution from the ones we have approved, possibly one without PNP-relevant courses. 

The Overseas office requires students who go abroad to do so under one of their WUSTL areas of study, and to advance their knowledge of that area while abroad. Most universities will have classes in Philosophy, Psychology, Neuroscience, Linguistics, or Anthropology that could be used for the PNP major. Some universities might lack specific courses for the major, but offer other learning opportunities in the spirit of PNP. If a PNP student is interested in studying at a non-approved university, and it has some working relationship with the Overseas office, they may petition to go there as a PNP Major. For more information, contact Dr. Amy Suelzer Overseas office and the PNP study-abroad advisor, Jason Gardner.