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Your Path at Croft and Beyond: Resources for Every Step

Whether you're planning your senior thesis, seeking academic advising, exploring study abroad programs, or looking for ways to enrich your college experience, we're here to support you.

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  3. Croft Institute for International Studies
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How to apply when you are a current undergrad

Students currently in college should contact the Croft Institute to learn more about the application process for sophomore entry.

Advising for Current Students

Advising for Current Students provides personalized academic support to help you navigate your course planning, degree requirements, and educational goals.

All students must meet with their Croft advisor before they can register for classes for the next semester.  Mandatory advising takes place once per semester.  Prior to meeting with the advisor, students will receive a report detailing their progress through the major and must prepare a tentative schedule for the next semester.  We will only grant you an advising session if you have fully prepared yourself for the advising session.  

Preparation for advising means that you have:

  • checked the advising report for errors and made corrections where necessary
  • developed a tentative schedule for the next semester
  • prepared a plan for progression through the major that you can discuss with the advisor
  • scheduled an appointment via the Croft reception

*Please note that advisors will not see you nor lift your advisor hold if you do not follow these instructions.

If at any time, you would like to speak to an advisor concerning any aspect of your situation at Croft or the University, or if you have personal concerns you would like to discuss, please schedule an appointment with Mr. Young, Dr. Gowan, or Dr. Dinius by calling the Croft reception at (662)915-1500.

Students planning to go abroad during the junior year must make their plans very early in the semester immediately preceding the study-abroad semester.  Study-abroad advising is more complicated than regular academic advising and involves coordination among several offices: the Croft Institute, the Department of Modern Languages, the Study Abroad Office, and the Office of the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. 

For detailed instructions on how to set up your study-abroad program, please visit our Study Abroad Advising Page.

 

Please note that if you intend to take classes at another American university between semesters and transfer those credits to U.M., you need to submit a Transfer Credit Approval Form to the College of Liberal Arts before taking the classes.  This does not apply to study abroad classes, which must be approved by a separate process.

Steps for Studying Abroad for International Studies Majors

Students planning to study abroad must begin preparations early in the preceding semester, as the advising process involves coordination between offices.

Schedule an appointment with your international studies foreign-language advisor.  The international studies foreign-language advisors in the Department of Modern Languages are:

Your language advisor will tell you which programs in your region are most appropriate for international studies majors and what you can expect from them.  It is important that you talk to your language advisor before you go to the Study Abroad Office.

Visit the Study Abroad Office in Martindale Hall to choose a study abroad program based on the input from your language advisor and begin the formal process of applying for it. 

Which program you choose will depend on a number of factors:

  1. How much you will be able to pay (programs run by other universities or independent study abroad agencies are often more expensive than the programs administered by the University of Mississippi)
  2. Whether you and your language advisor think it would best for you to take all of your classes in your target language or a mix of classes in your target language and English
  3. Whether it would be best for you to take classes with other foreign students or regular classes with students from the country where you'll be studying
  4. What country or region you would prefer to live in for a semester or a year
  5. What content (non-language) courses would be available to you.

Keep in mind that as an international studies major your study-abroad experience should be structured in such a way that you  accomplish two goals: (a) substantially improve your foreign language proficiency and (b) earn academic credit hours counting toward completion of the International Studies major (and, if you have one, your second major and/or minor).

You must apply for your study abroad program through the U.M. Study Abroad Office, pay their fees, and abide by their policies if you want any of the credit you receive while abroad to count for your major and your study abroad experience to count for the international studies semester abroad.

Next, return to your language advisor and have him or her approve the program and specifically the language classes you plan to take while you are abroad. Approvals are done by email now, and he or she will send those approvals to the Study Abroad Office.

Dr. Gowan handles study abroad advising for the international studies major. You can often obtain course descriptions from brochures and other program information available on websites and from the Study Abroad office. When you have chosen which courses you would like approved for international studies credit, send him an email with the courses and the descriptions or syllabuses. He will let you know if you need to meet with him before he approves them.

Be sure to choose plenty of alternate classes, because you may change your mind once you get abroad, or the courses you initially chose may not be taught.

Please remember that in order to qualify for standing as a full-time student you must select at least twelve (12) credit hours of course work each semester at your particular study-abroad program. You select those hours and the courses in consultation with your advisors, but typically six hours will be in foreign-language classes while the other six will be content courses counting toward the International Studies major. Ideally, the content courses will also be taught in the foreign language you are studying, but depending on your level of proficiency and the particular program you selected the content courses may be in English.

When you register for classes abroad, do not worry if the courses available to you do not match the ones you had approved. Contact Dr. Gowan to find out which classes could count for which requirements. If you take classes that have not been approved, your language advisor and Dr. Gowan can approve them by email. Be sure to keep copies of your syllabuses, notes, classwork, and other materials relevant to the courses you take while abroad in case there are any issues with the approval process and for your own future reference.

Do not forget that you have to take Inst 110: Intercultural Communications Pre-Departure before you study abroad.  You also should take Inst 381: Research Methods for International Studies Majors before you go abroad.

Studying abroad for a semester or a year will be the experience of a lifetime. Try to make the most of it. Spend as much time speaking the language you are trying to learn as possible. Spend as little time speaking English with other Americans or foreigners as possible. You are not there primarily to be a tourist. There will be time for traveling and site-seeing, but study abroad is an academic experience, not a vacation. Remember that you are there to learn a new language, immerse yourself in a new culture, and take classes that are not available at the University of Mississippi. Get involved in extracurricular activities - whether athletic, cultural, or service - that allow you to interact with people from the country where you are studying.

Croft's Academic Resources

From thesis help to internships, Croft is here to help.

One of the requirements for graduating with a major in International Studies is completion of the senior thesis during your final year in the program.  The senior thesis is a substantial work of original research and analysis in the student's regional and/or thematic concentration.

Guided by a faculty member who serves as your individual mentor, you write your thesis over the course of two semesters, in two consecutive courses, Inst 421 and Inst 422. 

The thesis represents the culmination of your learning and intellectual development as a Croft student.  It is one of the most important components of the major.  Writing and completing your thesis is a truly  formative experience, which will remain with you for the rest of your life and make you extremely proud of having chosen Croft and International Studies as your major. 

The target length of the Croft senior thesis is anywhere between forty and sixty pages.  Detailed instructions concerning thesis format can be found by following the relevant link elsewhere on this page.  We have also provided a link to sample theses, which give you an excellent idea of what some of the better Croft theses look like and what Croft students who have gone before you were able to accomplish.

We encourage you to start thinking about your thesis at a relatively early stage in your career in the major.  It is not too early to begin considering a thesis topic and your choice of a mentor in the sophomore year.  Early selection of topic and mentor will often make it possible to do preliminary research during the time you study abroad as a junior.  You should select your mentor and a thesis topic before you leave campus for your study-abroad semester or year.  Students who study abroad in the fall of their junior year should select their mentor during the following spring semester.

Faculty mentors for the thesis will in most cases be Croft professors or Croft-affiliated professors, though other faculty members of the University can also serve as mentors.  You select a mentor in consultation with your Croft academic advisor.

A committee of three faculty members evaluates the senior thesis: the mentor, the second reader, and a third reader.  Either a member of the Croft academic staff or a designated Croft professor serves as the second reader, while the third reader is a faculty member you select early on in Inst 421 in consultation with your mentor and Croft advisor. You defend your thesis at the end of the second semester.  

Second and third readers have limited but important roles.  They provide brief written comments on the thesis prospectus in Inst 421 and on the penultimate thesis draft in Inst 422.

Students who intend to write a thesis involving research on human subjects (e.g., interviews) must obtain approval from the University's Institutional Review Board (IRB) before embarking on their research.  The IRB is a multidisciplinary board at the University that works under strict Federal guidelines to insure the protection of human research subjects.  To learn more about this topic, and how to apply for IRB approval for a project, please visit the IRB website.  Be sure to alert your thesis mentor and Croft academic advisor if you plan to do any sort of work involving human subjects in your senior thesis!  Also, know that the IRB application process looks more intimidating than it is once you start the process.

Inst 421 and 422 are structured as individual tutorials and offered every semester.

In Inst 421, you meet with your mentor on a regular basis as determined by the mentor.  The principal requirement in Inst 421 is that you complete approximately half of the thesis by the end of the semester.  Your mentor grades your work in Inst 421 with a regular letter grade.  Important milestones in Inst 421 include the preparation of a thesis prospectus early on, preparation of a literature review, and an oral presentation with A/V assistance (e.g. PowerPoint) of your project about two-thirds into the semester in the Thesis Writers' Conference.  This event, which takes place in Croft 107, is attended by your readers and other Croft students and faculty.  The final requirement in Inst 421 is completion of the "preliminary research product."  Data points for determining your grade in Inst 421 are the prospectus, the literature review, your performance at the Writers' Conference, and the chapters or other parts of the thesis that you complete by the end of the semester.

We cannot emphasize enough the importance of accomplishing as much as you possibly can in Inst 421.  Researching and writing the senior thesis takes a great deal of time.  You have that time in Inst 421, but you don't have it in Inst 422.  The deadline for turning in a full and complete draft of the thesis in Inst 422 is the middle of the semester--not the end of the semester!  Please note that you will not be allowed to register for Inst 422 if your mentor finds your performance in Inst 421 unsatisfactory.

In Inst 422, you complete writing the thesis in Inst 422 during the first half of the semester in close consultation with your mentor.  You must turn in a complete and full draft of the thesis no later than the 7th week of the semester.  The remainder of the semester goes to rewriting, editing, and improving your draft as suggested in oral and written comments from your mentor and second and third readers.  The final draft of the thesis is due two weeks before the end of classes.  Defenses take place during the last two weeks of classes, before finals week.  Remember that your mentor is the final gatekeeper and clearing house for all suggestions by second and third readers and that the mentor decides whether your thesis is ready to go forward to the final stage of an oral defense.  The grade in Inst 422 is determined by the three readers on the thesis committee and is based on the quality of your written work and your performance during the defense.

These are some of the best senior theses, which we are making available to Croft students as inspiration as they develop their own projects. Note many of these theses are longer than our current target length, but are still useful for their methodology and bibliographies.

Check out the theses here.

Through internships with businesses, NGOs, government agencies, and other public and private institutions, Croft students gain a unique and valuable perspective on their futures. Croft faculty and staff provide assistance to students in identifying internships in their areas of interest and applying for them.

The question of internships is raised in advising sessions twice a year with each student on an individual basis, and a limited number of modest stipends are available to assist students in taking advantage of internship opportunities that are unpaid.  Most of the internships offer academic credit.

Below are some of the internships our students have interned with during their time in the Croft Institute: