Disclaimer: This article is my required follow-up project for my Gilman Scholarship. More details below.
I spent my 6th semester at Olin, Spring 2024, studying abroad in Stockholm, Sweden under DIS Study Abroad. My participation was sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Gilman Scholarship.
What is the Gilman Scholarship? According to their website, “The U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad, providing them with skills critical to our national security and economic prosperity.” Applying for a Gilman Scholarship is probably a good financial decision and isn’t an endorsement of U.S. foreign policy. You are eligible to apply if you’re a Pell Grant recipient.
My decision to study in Sweden was not well-planned. I applied to DIS Abroad because I had heard good things. DIS has two programs: Denmark, Copenhagen and Stockholm, Sweden. I indicated preferences for one program in Stockholm and one in Copenhagen so that the admissions committee would decide for me. In the end, I was assigned Stockholm, likely because they are trying to develop a new program.
I will not recommend nor discourage Stockholm as a study abroad location, but I will endorse the DIS Abroad organization. I felt very supported navigating all the logistical difficulties of studying abroad. All classes are led by DIS Abroad (as opposed to a local university), and they have a modest diversity of offerings. I used my study abroad to get my AHS concentration done – “Scandinavian studies.” My classes: history of the Vikings, transgender culture in Scandinavia, Scandinavian crime fiction, and Scandinavian fashion.
One of your classes is your “core class” – mine was Vikings – and you’ll travel with your class twice during the semester, all-expenses-paid. The first trip is shorter, maybe 4 days. My class went to Uppsala, a city not far north of Stockholm to look at Viking stuff. Later, we went to Oslo, Norway and Reykjavik, Iceland to look at… more Viking stuff. We were also treated to some dope Indian food in Oslo, which I’ve heard is the best place for Indian food.
As far as personal growth, I became very good at cooking rice and beans. That’s all I ate for two meals a day for over two months. This was also a good financial decision if that’s your thing. Overall, studying abroad will probably have a neutral impact on my future. I suppose it was nice to have classmates that are more uniformly distributed across humanly traits than Oliners are for a semester. Besides that, Stockholm in the winter is very cold and dark, so beware.
As for the Gilman Scholarship, there are plenty of resources at Olin that can help with your application: myself, writing tutors, and Courtney Beach. I’m glad to chat if you have questions or want to get a sense of your personal fit.
