What is RateMyStudyAbroad.com?
The History of RateMyStudyAbroad.com
RateMyStudyAbroad.com is the beloved mindmeld of John Henry and Henry van Wagenberg, two bros (not literally bros, but bros as in friends) who studied abroad and had very different experiences on very different study abroad programs.
John "loved the Davidson Classics Trip," (check out John's Classics program) but Henry "didn't love as much" the program he went on in Germany. (According to some people, he, like, really, really didn't love it). But both noticed that there was no place on the internet to learn what other kids had thought about their abroad programs -- and whether those kids had loved their programs or, you know, really, really not loved them as much. Fate delivered them (thanks, Cameron!) into the laps of fellow studyabroaders Andy Martin, Sophie Lvoff, Chuck Yatsuk, Whitney Henry, and Kristen Brooks, and together they've created RateMyStudyAbroad.com: a website to help make sure guys and girls like them get on programs they will love. Right now we are trying to collect reviews of programs and build the website. Help us and future study abroaders by rating your study abroad.
The People
Henry van Wagenberg lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. He studied abroad in China, Germany and aboard a tall ship with SEA Semester. He had a bad study abroad experience in Germany, which helped him notice that there wasn't any way to read student reviews about study abroad programs online. He grew up in Baltimore, graduated from Davidson College, and worked in DC and New York before deciding to spend a year studying philosophy in his dad's house "the cottage" while waiting tables to fund himself. In 2010 he took on RateMyStudyAbroad full time.
John Henry works for the DC consulting firm Booze Allen Hamilton and lives in Washington, D.C. He studied abroad on the Davidson Classics Trip, (which he loved) and is a graduate of Davidson College. He and Henry came up with the idea of RateMyStudyAbroad together. What a great idea.
Kristen Brooks is a graduate of NYU and of School Year Abroad (SYA), where she completed a year of high school in Zaragoza, Spain. With a passion for progressive and experiential education, she contributes weekly to our blog, hoping to inspire other students to study overseas.
Kayti Christian is currently an intern at RateMyStudyAbroad and helps with marketing and social networking. She is finishing up her Communications degree at Colorado State University and lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. She has traveled to Germany and Rwanda for volunteer work and she has also taught English to students in South Korea.
Other People Who've Helped Make RateMyStudyAbroad Happen
Jeff Bordogna worked for Hotelicopter.com, a website dedicated to helping travelers find great hotel deals. He studied engineering at the University of Virginia where he helped found theCourseForum.com, a space for UVA students and professors to share feedback on courses. He grew up in New Jersey and now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Alan Webb worked as a consultant in Australia after college. Also a proud University of Virginia alumnus, he now he lives in Washington, DC. In his spare time, he is more than likely to be found hanging out with very cool Tibetans, or, actually, visiting Tibet.
Andrew McLaughlin graduated from Fairfield Univeristy in 2007. He grew up in Baltimore and worked for Credit Suisse in Charlotte, North Carolina. He studied abroad for one year in London with the Mountbatten Institute.
Andy Martin is the co-founder and CEO of Steadfast Associates, a group that helps enable creative projects. Andy and Steadfast have been integral to the creation of RateMyStudyAbroad. Andy is a graduate of Davidson College. He lives in Austin, Texas.
Chuck Yatsuk is a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago. Chuck's hard-core programming skills have helped bring RateMyStudyAbroad to life. He has also exhibited his work as a sculptor in New York, Japan and South Korea. He resides in Brooklyn, now that he's back from Korea.
Sophie Lvoff is a photographer and imager who has exhibited her photographs in New York, Boston, Maine and Berlin, Germany. Sophie was the lead designer for RateMyStudyAbroad. A graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Sophie lives in New Orleans.