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14 WEEKS | 12 CREDITS
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14 WEEKS | 12 CREDITS
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Wildlife, Sustainability & Spanish in Latin America
Craft your story about the impact that you want to make on the world while exploring the cultures, ecosystems, and diverse landscapes of Costa Rica and Baja California, Mexico. Develop your Spanish language skills, gain fundamental skills in ecological fieldwork, and explore sustainable development as you learn from professors at Colorado State University and the United Nations-chartered University for Peace. The world will also be your classroom as you embark on service-learning projects and fieldwork with local communities, nonprofits, and businesses. After the program, you can choose to continue to Colorado State with the opportunity to join CSU Honors Program, or you can take your transferable college credit with you on the next step of your academic journey.
UPCOMING TRAVEL DATES
Aug. 17 – Nov. 22, 2025
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Areas of study
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Your semester starts in San Jose, Costa Rica where you’ll participate in orientation activities to help build your toolkit for understanding the other cultures you’ll be experiencing.
Travel to the EF Campus on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica to immerse yourself in a 3-week intensive Spanish course. You’ll be placed in a language course appropriate to your skill level and will take classes with students from around the world. In your spare time, enjoy the stunning beaches of Tamarindo.
Travel to Costa Rica’s Central Valley to study at the UN-chartered University for Peace, an international institution training the leaders of tomorrow to build a sustainable, peaceful, and equitable future for all. Your course will focus on Sustainable Development and the Circular Economy and will include co-curricular field visits to places like sustainable small businesses, and industrial recycling facilities to bring your experience to life.
Dive into your Introduction to International Fieldwork course as you travel throughout Costa Rica’s Central Valley and Osa Peninsula, immersing yourself in a wide range of wildlife and ecological conservation projects at each stop. Work on projects that support sea turtle conservation and mangrove reforestation as you learn the best practices of international fieldwork.
After traveling throughout Costa Rica, settle in for your final few weeks of the program at CSU’s Todos Santos center in Baja California, Mexico, where you’ll wrap up your coursework and reflect on all the experiences you’ve had along your journey. Along with your cohort, you’ll get to experience life in this beautiful small town, while getting to know some of the people and families who have been there for generations, making it what it is today. You’ll end the program with a greater sense of who you are, the opportunities to create a sustainable future, and the role you want to play in building it
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Coursework
3 CREDITS
Jumpstart your journey with an immersive Spanish language course at our EF Language Campus in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. After being placed in the class that aligns with your skill levels, dive into coursework alongside learners from around the world and continue honing your language skills both in and out of the classroom.
3 CREDITS
This course will leverage the places you visit to introduce ecological fieldwork within the biological sciences through exposure to biodiversity, global culture, and field research. Skills and tools for conducting fieldwork and communicating findings are explored in the context of a social-ecological framework that helps students understand the relationship between society and the environment.
3 CREDITS
This course explores personal narratives as a tool to reflect upon the origin and ongoing development of your values, goals, and identities during your Education Abroad, and their impact on your academic and personal choices. We will investigate a variety of personal narratives from various cultures, creative nonfiction, and memoirs, as well as visual and oral narratives. You will explore how your story fits within potential programs of study at the university and beyond.
3 CREDITS
This course includes an introduction to the Circular Economy concept. It provides an array of case examples, a solid framework, and guiding principles for implementing it. Ultimately, the Circular Economy is about the optimization of entire processes and systems rather than single components. The transition towards a circular economy is one of the biggest challenges we face to create a more sustainable society. This transition requires an interdisciplinary approach, combining socio-technical, managerial, and environmental considerations.
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What’s included
Tuition for this 14-week program is $25,750 and payment plans are available. Your program tuition includes:
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“This experience combines every one of EF’s capabilities into one, amazing, program. I’m excited for students to take part in the full breadth of opportunities that span from language learning to ocean conservation all while developing a deep understanding of themselves and the world.”
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Markus S.
EF Program Development
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Student application requirements
Students interested in embarking on this program must be 18–22 years old, hold a U.S. passport, and be a high school graduate with a 2.8 GPA minimum by departure day in order to apply.
Admission to the Fall 2025 Wildlife, Sustainability & Spanish in Latin America program guarantees you admission to Colorado State University to begin in Spring 2026. If you choose to enroll in this program and maintain a 3.5 GPA on the program, you will be guaranteed admission to the Honors Program in Spring 2026, CSU’s enriched program of study for academically motivated students. Applications for the next semester of Wildlife, Sustainability and Spanish in Latin America will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
1. Speak with an EF Program Consultant to determine what study abroad experience is right for your unique goals.
2. Submit your application, which consists of...
Required
An application Form
Personal Statement: What we call a “personal statement” is called the “personal essay” in the Common Application. You’ll be able to type OR copy and paste your response to a chosen prompt into your application before submitting it. The length must be between 250-750 words.
High School Transcript: We’ll need to see your grades through at least junior year. Your high school transcript does not have to be official. Admissions decisions are provisional until we receive your final transcript verifying graduation.
Optional
Academic Explanations