The department encourages its majors to study off-campus as a way to get a feel for religion "on the ground" in various parts of the world, and the majority of Religion majors do in fact participate in off-campus programs. The department itself does not currently offer an off-campus seminar, but majors have participated in a vast array of both consortial and non-consortial programs, and these nearly always have had a significant impact on their understanding of religion—and in many cases have directly contributed to their comps projects.

For example, just in the summer and fall of 2003 majors from the class of 2005 participated in:

• The ISLE program in Sri Lanka
• The Carleton literature program in Ireland
• The SIT Tibetan Studies program in India Nepal, and Tibet
• A University of Iowa program in Mysore, India
• The Antioch Buddhist Studies program in Bodh Gaya, India
• A Nanzan University program in Nagoya, Japan
• The SIT program in Nicaragua
• An SIT program in Oaxaca, Mexico
• A University of Richmond program in Rome, Italy

Members of the same class are planning future participation in an SIT gender studies program in the Netherlands, the Carleton California studies seminar, and an SIT program in Cuba and Jamaica.

Other programs that have proven popular among students in recent years are the ACM Urban Studies program in Chicago, the Semester at Sea, the SIT environmental studies program in Ecuador, and the ACM India Studies program in Pune.

When to Study Abroad

Majors most often study off-campus during the fall of their junior year, but other arrangements are possible. If a student wishes to study off campus during the fall of senior year (or the summer before senior year, with the following fall term taken off), he or she must petition the department, and must be prepared to have made substantial headway in planning for comps by the end of the spring term of the junior year.

Credit

While no two off-campus programs are exactly alike, a typical semester-length program will yield 27 Carleton credits. Of these, a certain number may be applied toward the Religion major, depending upon the content of the courses and the nature of the work done. Students are urged to plan their off-campus study vis à vis the major in close consultation with their academic advisor. They are encouraged in particular to orient independent study projects toward religion, but regular courses may count for department credit, too. Credit is awarded after one's return, upon submission to the department chair of course syllabi and work done on the program. Typically, credits awarded toward the major have ranged from 3 to 12.