Duke students are known to take on ambitious projects after receiving their diplomas.
But some recent graduates are pursuing their interests beyond America's borders-studying experimental protein physics in Russia, teaching elementary school in Argentina or researching sex education in the Dominican Republic.
Graduate school or immediate entry into an office job are no longer the only options for recent graduates, many alumni said. According to numbers gathered from senior surveys conducted by the Career Center, approximately 20 to 40 graduates choose to pursue work or service opportunities abroad each year.
"In the past few years, [working abroad] is an increasing trend for students who want to do short-term international projects," said Abby Vargas, career specialist at the Career Center.
Alumni in a variety of fields cited work experience, traveling and finding practical applications for classroom lessons as the main benefits to pursuing international opportunities.
"I recommend a year abroad to all driven Duke students in order to decompress for a year before entering the highly competitive world of Wall Street, graduate school, etc.," Adam Yoffie, Trinity '06 and a Fulbright scholar currently working in Israel, wrote in an e-mail.
Laurel Redding, Trinity '06, said taking a year to work in a laboratory in Jhunan, Taiwan provides her with experience in a new environment before graduate school.
"I chose Taiwan kind of randomly-never had really done Asia before, wanted to try a new and exciting place and I knew a fair amount of people in Taiwan," Redding wrote in an e-mail. She will be coming back to the United States next year to attend the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Working abroad is not without its perils, however, graduates said.
"I have been robbed, given counterfeit money, assaulted and gotten extremely lost, but after a while I got used to everything and had a wonderful time," Magdalena Fernandez, Trinity '04, wrote in an e-mail of her experience working in Argentina at a law firm and as a first-grade teacher.
The availability of international programs that afford students the opportunity to go abroad has made the practice more popular, Vargas said.
Julia Reiger, Trinity '06, is volunteering at an orphanage in Salvador, Brazil through a program called Cross-Cultural Solutions.
"Brazil is amazing because it [is] full of friendly people and natural beauty.... I loved getting to know a new culture, struggling with a new language and making new friends," she wrote in an e-mail.
Time abroad after graduation also provides an opportunity to put the skills learned in the classroom at Duke into practice, recent graduates said.
Danielle Reifsnyder, Trinity '06, is a Fulbright scholar currently working in the Laboratory of Protein Physics at a research institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"I decided to apply for the Fulbright because it would provide an experience that would be the culmination of my double major in chemistry and Russian at Duke," Reifsnyder wrote in an e-mail.
Her time spent abroad has provided her with a new outlook.
"Working in a foreign environment... is able to give perspective on the work I do that I couldn't get in my native country and culture," Reifsnyder said. "Everyday, I see differences and similarities in how people go about their work that make me question how I do mine."
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