Courses

No previous Spanish is required! Some courses may require Spanish, but those will be noted.
You can enroll in either Summer Session I (5 weeks), Summer Session II (4 weeks), or both I & II (9 weeks). Course availability is subject to student interest and enrollment. To find a list of course offerings, please refer to USAC's website and select which session you are considering. Important: a minimum of one year of general biology is required for some of the elective courses.  

Internships:
Qualified students may apply for internships during their time abroad. These internships are designed to complement the academic program. As a result, interns receive credit (a maximum of two in the summer) but no financial compensation. The schedule and number of work hours will be determined by the schedule of USAC courses. USAC will attempt to place students in their field of interest, but it is not guaranteed. You finalize your internship placement after you are onsite in Costa Rica and final say will be made by the internship sponsor. Internship applicants need to have a GPA of 3.0 and be in junior standing by the time the program begins. Interns are placed in a Spanish-speaking environment and must be able to communicate at an advanced language level. In certain circumstances, relevant work experience may be required. Past placements have included local hospitals, pharmacies, elementary and secondary education centers, research centers, Vet's Clinic, the Senior Citizen Center, etc. Students should complete the necessary internship materials prior to arrival in San Ramón. A refundable $200 fee is charged and returned upon successful completion of the internship.  

Whether or not an internship will come back as internship credit for your major will vary. Students are encouraged to contact their academic advisors to discuss what completing an internship abroad will do for them.

Service-Learning may be available. See the USAC website for information on volunteer opportunities and the UWEC Center for Service Learning for details on project proposals and approval.

Credits & Courseload 

You can take three-six credits in Session 1 and three-five credits in Session II. If you are abroad for both sessions, you will earn 6-11 credits. To receive summer financial aid, you must take at least six credits.

UW-Eau Claire Equivalencies

To view a list of summer 2020 courses and how they come back to UW-Eau Claire, click on the document below.  Courses noted as "under review" will be updated when available.

Summer 2020

The Spanish course offerings change very little from year to year but the electives may change. 

Grade Conversion 

Grades are assigned by USAC professors. Courses in the program are graded on the U.S. A-F grading scale. The grades reported on your USAC grade report are the same grades that will appear on your UW-Eau Claire transcript.

UWEC students abroad are not allowed to take classes pass/fail. Grades from Costa Rica are figured into your UWEC GPA and posted to your UWEC transcript.

Liberal Education Requirements

If you are in catalog year 2016-2017 or later, you can fulfill an Integrative Learning (I1) requirement through study abroad. You will opt in after being accepted to your program and must complete a series of assignments before, during and after your time abroad. Talk with your academic advisor about whether you need to complete an I1 requirement through study abroad. You must complete the first assignments prior to going abroad; retroactive enrollment is not allowed.

Spanish Language Immersion Requirement

All Spanish and Latin American Studies majors and minors must complete at least six weeks of language immersion in residence in a country where the language is spoken. If you complete both Sessions I & II, you fulfill the language immersion requirement.  

If you would like to use just Session I or Session II as partial credit (5 weeks or 3 weeks, respectively) towards the immersion requirement, you can, but you must complete another approved language immersion experience at a later date to fulfill the rest of the requirement. It is up to you to discuss this IN ADVANCE with your Spanish or LAS faculty advisor to determine how you will complete the rest of the requirement.

Students sometimes ask if they can complete one session, then stay in Costa Rica for extra weeks to fulfill the rest of the requirement. This is only possible if you a) identify/develop an appropriate independent project; b) meet IN ADVANCE with your Spanish or LAS faculty advisor to get permission for this project to fulfill the rest of your requirements, and c) make all arrangements for your additional time in Costa Rica.  The project must be approved BEFORE you begin it, and neither the CIE nor USAC will arrange additional support/activities for you to complete an independent project before or after your program enrollment.