Pre-Virtual Departure – Fund for Education Abroad

Hi everyone! My name is Jesus. I am an English and Philosophy double major at UCLA and I will be studying virtually with the University of Cambridge this summer.

I have never traveled or studied outside of Los Angeles so I wanted to experience a different education system and culture. I felt that my education would be incomplete without cross-cultural and diverse educational encounters. I thrive in individualized and specialized education approaches, which the United Kingdom offers, so I chose it as my study abroad destination. The UK is also home to the English language, and the oldest English-speaking universities in the world (Oxford and Cambridge), making it the most fitting given that I am an English major.

Initially, I was going to study at Oxford last summer (2020), but my program was canceled because of COVID-19. This was a bummer because there were only 10 spots available for the Oxford program, one of which I secured and spent 6 months preparing my application for, and 3 years waiting to be eligible for since it was only open to juniors and seniors. Although this was world-shattering because I had worked so hard for that spot, it taught me that there is some truth to the proverb, “when one door closes another opens.”

Although the in-person summer abroad program was canceled again in 2021, Oxford and Cambridge had online alternatives this year. Cambridge came up with a new research program that consists of independent research on a subject of my choosing, rather than just lecturers. One of the subjects offered was bioethics, a field that I had long dreamed of specializing in but was not offered at my school. In addition to this program, I am participating in Yale’s Summer Institute in Bioethics. In the fall, I will start a Master of Bioethics program, and thereafter, I intend to pursue a doctoral degree. I hope to be a bioethicist one day, helping policymakers draft better health laws and policies and serving on ethics committees and institutional review boards. This research program with Cambridge allows me to focus my interests and equips me with the research experience I need for PhD programs.