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International Education

Returning Students

Welcome Back! 

After completing an enriching study abroad experience in another country, most students are excited to return home and share their experiences with friends and family.  Though returning to a familiar environment, some students have issues re-acclimating.

Re-entry is the process of readjustment to your home culture and is often referred to as "reverse culture shock." At first, you may be very pleased, even euphoric, to be back in your home country, and others will be equally delighted to have you back. After people express their pleasure at seeing you again and listen politely to your stories for a few minutes, you may realize suddenly that they are not particularly interested in what happened to you and would much rather talk about their own affairs.

This may prompt feelings of irritation with others and impatience with your own inability to do things as well or as quickly as you had hoped. Resentment, loneliness, disorientation, and even a sense of helplessness may pervade your emotions. Just as you overcame culture shock and learned to adjust to life abroad, you will also need to give yourself time to re-adjust to life at home. You will also need to find ways to utilize your new maturity, independence, language and cross-cultural skills.

80 percent of people
8 in 10 HR Executives say that a study abroad experience was an important factor for overseas job placement within their companies.

How long and how strongly a student experiences reverse culture shock can depend on multiple factors, such as length of time away, previous travel abroad, and frequency of communication with people back home while abroad. Even though there are different levels of reverse culture shock, there are ways to deal with it. One of the best ways to combat "re-entry shock" is to become involved in international or cross-cultural groups on the Bentley Campus.

Transcripts for Semester and Summer Programs

Semester and Summer Programs

Transcripts may take several months to arrive.  Some programs require that students make a formal request for a transcript to be sent to Bentley, so be sure to confirm with your host institution before your departure. You must complete the mandatory program evaluation in order for your study abroad grades to be posted. Once your transcript arrives and your evaluation is complete, your grades will be posted to your Bentley transcript. 

For grade translation details, please reference the Bentley Grade Equivalencies chart. Programs not listed on the chart use a grading scale similar to Bentley's system and do not require translation.

Faculty-Led and GBE Programs

The timeline of grade submission is dependent upon each professor. Grades are generally submitted 1-2 months after the conclusion of the program.

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