Welcome to the Nordic Study Abroad Road Map – your gentle guide to the wild ride that is studying abroad 🎢.

The NSAC Road map is made for you – you, who were once enchanted by the thought of studying abroad. It’s also made out of love – a deepfelt wish, from all of us already abroad, to share this wonderful experience of ours with as many people as possible.

We, the NSAC team and broader NSAC society, want to emphasize that we are always here to help you. We are not merely popping out of our rabbit holes once a year for the NSAC conference, as you might think. Rather, we aspire to be a transparent network of (very kind) real-life people, and the roadmap is intended to highlight our year-round presence.💙

Now, you might wonder, why are these NSAC folks so eager to voluntarily spend their precious hours helping me? The answer is simple: because we were once you. We were all equally confused, desperate, and on the edge of giving up the dream because of the often overwhelming application processes, not to mention all the challenges that naturally follow an acceptance letter.

However, we didn’t give up. Instead, we received the exact help we needed to make our study abroad dreams come true – and for many of us, that help was facilitated through NSAC. So, beyond being part of a wonderful community of awesome and inspiring kindred souls, this profound sense of gratitude drives every NSAC team member. It fueled the creation of this roadmap, and it’s why we genuinely care about you and your journey!

So, why a roadmap? The idea behind it is to provide you with an easily accessible overview of information and inspiration, written by real people with real-life experiences. We all have unique study abroad journeys, and our most noble task is to assist you, whether you have country-specific questions, funding concerns, or are still weighing whether studying abroad is the right choice for you.

As you begin exploring the roadmap, you will discover that it is an interwoven network of links, guiding you from one section to another. This design aims to help you easily find the information you are seeking while also gently encouraging you to make new discoveries.

Often, it’s the unexpected – perhaps even unconscious – encounters that end up shaping crucial crossroads in our lives. So, while you may approach the roadmap with a specific and determined objective, we encourage you to remain open-minded. Who knows, an opportunity you never considered might be precisely what you didn’t know you were looking for 😉.

We wish you a wonderful journey through the roadmap 🚀!

What are your plans?

The first question we want to ask you might seem like the easiest one to answer. Perhaps it’s a ‘no-brainer.’ However, remember what we mentioned about letting the unexpected unfold. We encourage you not to dismiss options just yet!

With that said, feel free to explore the sections of interest below and learn more about pursuing a full undergraduate degree, a full postgraduate degree, or a semester abroad.

Preparing for a degree abroad

Preparing to go abroad requires a lot of effort. At some point in your journey, you will undoubtedly rely on the old-school ‘to-do list’ and ‘timeline.’ However, what we mean by ‘preparing’ right now is much more enjoyable than that.

Taking a gap year to travel and explore the world or spending your summer in an enriching way can be incredibly beneficial as you prepare for a degree abroad. This not only contributes to personal growth but also matters to many universities abroad, as they consider how you’ve spent your time before university alongside your academic transcript and teacher recommendations.

In other words, engaging in meaningful volunteering, work, or learning experiences during your summer or a gap year can be highly valuable and transformative + it can enhance your chances of being accepted into your dream university. Therefore, it’s worth exploring the multitude of amazing opportunities in relation to your long-term future plans.

We’ve also included a section titled ‘CV’ where we’ll provide more in-depth information on what the drill is about.

We hope to get you inspired!

Countries and Universities

Your study abroad experience undoubtedly depends on which country you choose. Aside from considering whether you see yourself more as a High Tea person or the super-size hamburger type, it’s worth noting that different countries have very different approaches to the concept of education.

Degrees vary in length, the level of focus on your chosen subjects differs, and class sizes can range from an average of 20 people to huge lecture halls with more than 500 attendees. What’s your ideal study and living environment? Click on the contries below and find personal and honest stories about living and studying around the world. Within each country you will also find stories from specific universities!

Australia

Finance??

…

Life after university abroad

Coming back home

Events

You’re about to reach the end of the roadmap. But don’t worry! Still keen on the idea of going abroad? Then we have some fantastic news for you! We, the NSAC community, are constantly working to provide the best help we can possibly offer. Besides writing blog posts, newsletters, and creating exciting study abroad takeovers on our social media accounts, we host several events that you should definitely look into.

Of course, we have our NSAC conference, which you’ll undoubtedly want to participate in. Additionally, we plan on facilitating workshops where we can delve deeper into specific parts of the study abroad journey together. Furthermore, we want to highlight that some of our incredible ‘sister organizations,’ such as Project Access Denmark (PA) and Danish Students Abroad (DSA), have amazing offerings. You can find a more thorough explanation of these unique offerings in the sections below!

NSAC gap-year workshop

Partners

ATU

We hope you’ve had a great and inspiring journey through the roadmap! As mentioned, when you were about to make your roadmap departure, everything was written by real people with real experiences. If you have any questions, feel more than free to reach out to us through the NSAC network [link]. We’re here to help!!

We hope to see you at our events! If, for any reason, we don’t have the pleasure of meeting you, we wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors. Whether you go abroad or not, we encourage you to embrace your invaluable time as a student. Education is much more than job preparation; it’s a time of personal growth and, more importantly, it’s an opportunity to learn how to contribute to the common good – to spend our lives benefiting others and our shared world. Remember to care and enjoy the ride along the way.

Big hugs,
NSAC💙

Still having NSAC-craves? We are always open to welcoming new members into the NSAC community. Don’t hesitate to contact us if our mission resonates with you and you see yourself becoming a part of it!