International Students
When you're a teenager, you're looking to explore. It's in your nature. For students from all corners of the globe, there's no better place to explore than at EXPLO at Wellesley. Welcome to our global community.
Weekend Trip Sampler
At EXPLO, you’ll have a change to explore some of America's greatest sights and cities. Here are some examples of where we can take you this summer:
- New York City
- Boston Museum of Science
- Six Flags New England
- Quincy Market
- Whale Watch
- Paw Sox Baseball
- Boston Harbor Cruise
- Harvard Museum of Natural History
- New England Aquarium
- Boston Duck Tours
- Kayaking on the Charles River
- Museum of Fine Arts
- Sailing in Boston Harbor
- Horseneck Beach
- Cake Decorating Clinic
- Trapeze School
- Indoor Skydiving
Airport Pickup
We know that one of the big concerns about traveling so far from home is the transportation. Our staff meets students at Boston's Logan International Airport and escorts them to campus and helps them settle in. We have staff at the airport until we know we have the last student.
When it's time to return home at the end of the session, we take students to the airport and stay there until we're sure everyone is safe and in the air. We know you would not take chances with your children, and neither will we.
An International Adventure
What does EXPLO look like? An international program set on the campus of Wellesley College. Bright students who can speak over 25 languages (and come from around the world and 40 U.S. states) but who use English as the working language on campus. A community composed of innumerable backgrounds, customs, and beliefs — all of which are open for you to explore, debate, and add some views of your own.
America + the World
What is EXPLO like? You'll talk politics with friends from California and Shanghai during a Boston Harbor cruise. You'll head into the town of Wellesley with your classmates and chat over iced coffee. At EXPLO, we're experts at integrating our international students into the full program experience. So not only will you take classes with American students; you'll also live on the same residential halls, eat in the same dining halls, and hang out in the same quad as your American and international peers. All the while, you'll be learning the nuances, slang, customs, and habits of your new American and international friends.
Preparing For the Future
Students come to EXPLO for all sorts of reasons. Some hope to attend an American university or college some day. Others would like to attend an English language based boarding school and need help with the process, so they will take the Boarding School Concentration. While others intend to apply to English language based international schols. Some students intend to continue their studies in their native language, but theynonetheless want to improve their educational and career opportunities by becoming comfortable in an English-based community. And for most international students who are already fluent, they just want to be part of a community where they can explore American culture and the world of people and ideas with enthusiastic teachers and classmates.
English + Academics
The working language of EXPLO at Wellesley is English. To enroll in the program, students must be able to speak and understand English at an intermediate or higher level. To ensure that students will be able to participate in all aspects of the program — from academics to residential life to extracurricular activities — international students who do not attend a school with an English-language based curriculum will need to schedule an interview with EXPLO so that we may assess English speaking abilities.
Once a student has submitted an application and deposit, we will contact the student's family about scheduling an interview. Regular academic offerings at EXPLO at Wellesley offer advanced English speakers a great language immersion experience because they are not lecture style, but instead are active and project based. Advanced English speakers choose from the full course offerings at EXPLO at Wellesley.
ESOL Instruction
For intermediate-level speakers, EXPLO offers English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). The goal of this specialized course is to improve students' oral English and comprehension skills through hands-on projects, role-plays and activities. In addition to one ESOL course, students take one additional course, which would be drawn from a selected group of our regular EXPLO at Wellesley offerings. That course will be assigned once students arrive on campus so that we may conduct an in-person language assessment. Intermediate-level speakers will also be able to choose from a select list of workshops.
For students at the beginning of their study of English — Early English Language Learners — EXPLO offers EXPLO English.
Students interested in enrolling in EXPLO Chef or EXPLO Ortho must be fluent in English.
