FAQ ICDS
Do I need a visa to travel to Costa Rica?
What kind of immunizations are required for students going to Costa Rica?
Who will pick me up at the airport?
What is the city of San José like?
What would the weather be like during my stay in Costa Rica?
How will I obtain credit for the courses taken?
When will I get my family placement information?
Do I need to be fluent in Spanish?
Do I need a high grade point average to study abroad?
What is the weekly class schedule like?
It is necessary to have a valid passport to travel to Costa Rica. To enter Costa Rica, American and Canadian students --as well as those of a few other nationalities-- only need a valid passport. Upon arrival, Immigration will grant a three-month tourist permit, which later will be changed for a student visa through the Office of International Cooperation at ULatina. Students who are citizens of and have passports issued by other countries may need to obtain a tourist visa at the closest Costa Rican consulate before entering Costa Rica. If your nationality is other than American, please contact us as soon as possible so that we may consult with the Costa Rican Immigration Office about any special requirements.
No immunizations are required to enter Costa Rica. However, we recommend you to get some kind of flu vaccine before leaving the US, as both spring and fall semesters run completely or partially during the country's rainy season (May through November), which is the time when lots of viruses are in the air and most of people catch bad colds and the flu. Costa Rica has suffered from sporadic outbreaks of dengue fever in recent years, especially in coastal areas. Dengue is transmitted by mosquito bite, and there is no vaccine. Some precautions to avoid exposure include, but are not limited to, wearing appropriate clothing to cover one's body and using mosquito repellant containing "deet" to diminish the risk of contracting the disease.
When ICDS receives your arrival information confirmation, arrangements will be made for a ICDS (or ULatina) staff member to meet you outside the baggage claim area of the airport for the ride to the ULatina campus in San Pedro, where a member of your host family will be waiting for you to take you home.
San José, the capital city of Costa Rica, is a city of 1,300,000 inhabitants (about one third of the country's population), with an area of 4,959 km2 and an altitude of 1.125 meters (3,691 feet). It is a cosmopolitan city with many cultural and recreational activities, cinemas, shopping malls, museums and so on. The city is small enough to cover on foot, and walking is an option against the traffic jams downtown. San José is located in Costa Rica’s Central Plateau (Meseta Central), a high altitude plain right in the middle of the national territory, and it is surrounded by the neighboring cities of Heredia, Alajuela, and Cartago. It is also surrounded by beautiful mountains and volcanoes (Irazú, Poás and Barva), and it is only one hour and a half away from the Pacific coast, and about three hours from the Atlantic coast by car.
The urban transportation system is quite efficient, and you can take a bus to just about anywhere in the country. Fares are pretty inexpensive.
The climate in Costa Rica is tropical, with two seasons per year --the dry season (verano) , running from December through April, and the rainy season (invierno), May through November. The temperature varies according to altitude. It ranges from 30°C (90° F) on the coasts to near freezing at the highest elevations, like Mount Chirripó, where is not unusual to have morning frost and sheets of ice on the lakes. However, the average temperature in San José is approximately 75° F (24°C) all year round. The dry season (December through April) is characterized by clear skies, sunny days and breezy weather, and through the effect of the north winds, temperatures can be quite cool in the Central Valley and surrounding mountains, specially in the evenings in December and January. In general, there will be sunny, warm mornings and sometimes rather chilly evenings. The characteristic of the rainy season (May through November) is warm and humid mornings with pretty rainy, and sometimes stormy afternoons and evenings. The weather on both coasts and the lowland plains extending towards the Caribbean is rather hot and humid all year round. Bring light clothes for the day and a sweater or light jacket for the evenings, as well as raincoats or umbrellas, which you may need May through November.
For more details about Costa Rica, you might wish to access the official page of the Costa Rican Tourist Bureau at www.visitcostarica.com.
ICDS and its partner Universidad Latina de Costa Rica will issue an official grade certification one month after completion of the program, which will be sent to the home universities or to the people and organizations previously indicated by the students. Credit will depend on each school's requirements. Schools holding institutional agreements with ICDS grant credit directly when they receive the official transcript. Other schools require their students to submit the course syllabi of the program they intend to take at ICDS for approval for credit transfer purposes previous to the beginning of the program.
Students need to consult with the Registrar's Office of their home institution in order to find out what the policy is in this regards.
Based on the information provided by the students on the housing form, ICDS will place participants at the homes of carefully chosen Costa Rican families and will e-mail each student his/her host family information two weeks before the beginning of the program.
Not necessarily. ICDS prefers for students to have had at least a year of Spanish at college level, as previous knowledge of the language will be helpful especially at the beginning of the stay in Costa Rica, and it will be a plus in terms of making the most of your experience. Students are required to take a Spanish class along with the topical courses. Six levels of Spanish are available and a placement test will be given at the beginning of the term in order to determine the student's level of proficiency to place him in the right class.
You need to have a cumulative GPA of 2.75 or the equivalent in your country's grading system in order to apply to ICDS's programs.
Classes are scheduled Monday through Thursday in three-hour slots, beginning at 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. and ending at 6:00 p.m. Fridays are off to give students plenty of time for studying or travelling.
No immunizations are required to enter Costa Rica. However, we recommend you to get some kind of flu vaccine before leaving the US, as both spring and fall semesters run completely or partially during the country's rainy season (May through November), which is the time when lots of viruses are in the air and most of people catch bad colds and the flu. Costa Rica has suffered from sporadic outbreaks of dengue fever in recent years, especially in coastal areas. Dengue is transmitted by mosquito bite, and there is no vaccine. Some precautions to avoid exposure include, but are not limited to, wearing appropriate clothing to cover one's body and using mosquito repellant containing "deet" to diminish the risk of contracting the disease.
When ICDS receives your arrival information confirmation, arrangements will be made for a ICDS (or ULatina) staff member to meet you outside the baggage claim area of the airport for the ride to the ULatina campus in San Pedro, where a member of your host family will be waiting for you to take you home.
San José, the capital city of Costa Rica, is a city of 1,300,000 inhabitants (about one third of the country's population), with an area of 4,959 km2 and an altitude of 1.125 meters (3,691 feet). It is a cosmopolitan city with many cultural and recreational activities, cinemas, shopping malls, museums and so on. The city is small enough to cover on foot, and walking is an option against the traffic jams downtown. San José is located in Costa Rica’s Central Plateau (Meseta Central), a high altitude plain right in the middle of the national territory, and it is surrounded by the neighboring cities of Heredia, Alajuela, and Cartago. It is also surrounded by beautiful mountains and volcanoes (Irazú, Poás and Barva), and it is only one hour and a half away from the Pacific coast, and about three hours from the Atlantic coast by car.
The urban transportation system is quite efficient, and you can take a bus to just about anywhere in the country. Fares are pretty inexpensive.
The climate in Costa Rica is tropical, with two seasons per year --the dry season (verano) , running from December through April, and the rainy season (invierno), May through November. The temperature varies according to altitude. It ranges from 30°C (90° F) on the coasts to near freezing at the highest elevations, like Mount Chirripó, where is not unusual to have morning frost and sheets of ice on the lakes. However, the average temperature in San José is approximately 75° F (24°C) all year round. The dry season (December through April) is characterized by clear skies, sunny days and breezy weather, and through the effect of the north winds, temperatures can be quite cool in the Central Valley and surrounding mountains, specially in the evenings in December and January. In general, there will be sunny, warm mornings and sometimes rather chilly evenings. The characteristic of the rainy season (May through November) is warm and humid mornings with pretty rainy, and sometimes stormy afternoons and evenings. The weather on both coasts and the lowland plains extending towards the Caribbean is rather hot and humid all year round. Bring light clothes for the day and a sweater or light jacket for the evenings, as well as raincoats or umbrellas, which you may need May through November.
For more details about Costa Rica, you might wish to access the official page of the Costa Rican Tourist Bureau at www.visitcostarica.com.
ICDS and its partner Universidad Latina de Costa Rica will issue an official grade certification one month after completion of the program, which will be sent to the home universities or to the people and organizations previously indicated by the students. Credit will depend on each school's requirements. Schools holding institutional agreements with ICDS grant credit directly when they receive the official transcript. Other schools require their students to submit the course syllabi of the program they intend to take at ICDS for approval for credit transfer purposes previous to the beginning of the program.
Students need to consult with the Registrar's Office of their home institution in order to find out what the policy is in this regards.
Based on the information provided by the students on the housing form, ICDS will place participants at the homes of carefully chosen Costa Rican families and will e-mail each student his/her host family information two weeks before the beginning of the program.
Not necessarily. ICDS prefers for students to have had at least a year of Spanish at college level, as previous knowledge of the language will be helpful especially at the beginning of the stay in Costa Rica, and it will be a plus in terms of making the most of your experience. Students are required to take a Spanish class along with the topical courses. Six levels of Spanish are available and a placement test will be given at the beginning of the term in order to determine the student's level of proficiency to place him in the right class.
You need to have a cumulative GPA of 2.75 or the equivalent in your country's grading system in order to apply to ICDS's programs.
Classes are scheduled Monday through Thursday in three-hour slots, beginning at 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. and ending at 6:00 p.m. Fridays are off to give students plenty of time for studying or travelling.
