When rising junior Natalie Weissinger was growing up, she often heard stories about her mother’s time studying abroad in Japan as a Baylor student.
She marveled at the images these stories conjured in her mind — the historic sites, the amazing food. But more than anything, the older she got, the more Weissinger thought about how the experience shaped her mom’s outlook on life.
“She told me it expands your perspective so much,” Weissinger said, “and you’ll never live the same way when you come back home. Your perspective is just so different, and you realize how big the world is.”
It will come as no surprise, then, that she wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps when she enrolled at Baylor a couple of years ago. Even still, Weissinger wasn’t ready for how much the experience would mean to her.
Now a rising junior majoring in professional selling, she spent part of last summer studying abroad through Baylor’s Business in Asia program before completing an international internship in Singapore. During her four weeks abroad with fellow Baylor students and faculty, she traveled through Japan and South Korea before interning overseas for another month.
The experience made her more confident, she said, giving her the feeling she is even smarter and more capable than she realized. She was also impressed by the level of access she got to the professional world she will soon be a part of. In one instance, she was able to attend a client meeting at the bank UBP in Singapore.
“It was one of those moments of like, ‘Oh my gosh, how did I get here?’” she said. “I knew I would do work and it would, 0f course, expand my perspective so much, but I was not expecting that.”
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For Weissinger and many other students, those opportunities are made possible through Baylor’s McBride Center for International Business, which oversees global engagement programs for the Hankamer School of Business. Through semester-long study abroad programs, short-term international experiences and global internships, the center prepares students for careers in an increasingly interconnected world economy.
Dr. Dawn Carlson, Baylor’s H.R. Gibson Chair of Organizational Development and director of the McBride Center, said the University has spent recent years intentionally expanding the range of global opportunities available to business students.
“When I started about four and a half years ago, it was Europe and it was only Europe,” Carlson said. “And what we wanted to do was go, ‘OK, Europe is awesome, but what are some other opportunities?’”
Since then, the center has added programs in places like Singapore and Tokyo while continuing to expand into new regions, including South America. The goal, Carlson added, is to send students to every continent.
“The world’s becoming more global, and we see that every day,” Carlson said. “Baylor’s staying relevant — they’re realizing that their students have to have a global perspective before we get out.”
Making Study Abroad Accessible
The McBride Center offers a wide range of programs that vary in length, cost, and focus, including semester-long study abroad experiences, faculty-led summer and winter programs, international internships, and shorter opportunities designed to fit students’ schedules.
What’s more, Carlson said the center is constantly working to make global experiences accessible to as many students as possible.
One of its newest initiatives, Embedded Development Through Global Engagement (EDGE), is designed to lower costs by combining coursework during the semester with shorter international travel experiences over spring break or in May. Students also receive support before departure through orientation meetings, training sessions, and guidance from both Baylor faculty and international program partners.
For students like Syrit Bansi, who graduates in December 2026 with majors in finance, management information systems, and international business, the structure and support made studying abroad feel more manageable.
“Every time we had questions or whatnot, everyone at the McBride Center was very open to talking to us and answering our questions and being there,” Bansi said.
She spent the spring 2025 semester studying and interning in London through Baylor Business in London, where she worked for a startup clothing company while taking courses that counted directly toward her degree requirements.
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In other words, the experience helped keep her on track academically while also expanding her career opportunities. It also helped Bansi add a third degree — international business — while still graduating early.
Fueled by childhood trips and a fascination with British history, Bansi wanted to study abroad in London for as long as she can remember. But once she arrived in the United Kingdom, the experience became even more fulfilling than she expected.
During her internship, she worked with professionals from multiple countries and quickly learned how cultural differences shape communication and business practices.
“I got to learn how to adapt very well to different settings,” she said.
This immersive experience, she added, “will definitely help me in my career when trying to have mature conversations with people from other places in the world. I feel like I can talk to anyone.”
Lessons for Life
Carlson said a McBride experience can significantly shape students’ professional confidence and future career plans.
“We have students come back and say, ‘I never thought I could have a job internationally,’” Carlson said. But like Weissinger and Bansi, students’ experiences abroad elevate what they thought was possible.
In recent years, the McBride Center has placed additional emphasis on international internships, which Carlson believes can give students a distinct advantage when interviewing for competitive jobs after returning home.
“Now they have something really fascinating to talk about,” Carlson said. “They have a really unique experience that the interviewers aren’t seeing in every other applicant.”
But students said the benefits often extend well beyond resumes.
For her part, Weissinger said one of the most meaningful parts of her experience has been the relationships she formed abroad. She keeps in touch with the students from her program, and she doesn’t see that changing anytime soon. Bansi said the experience pushed her toward a new level of independence and confidence.
“I didn’t like doing things alone,” Bansi said. “But now I feel so comfortable exploring a city by myself or sitting alone at a restaurant.”
Both students acknowledged that studying abroad can initially feel intimidating, especially for students traveling far from home or entering unfamiliar cultures. Their advice is simple: Do it, because you’re far more capable than you realize.
“I think being uncomfortable and being nervous can often lead to the best experiences,” Weissinger said.
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Bansi echoed that sentiment.
“If you are always in a place of comfort, you’ll never grow as a person,” Bansi said.
Carlson said those moments of growth are part of what makes international experiences so transformative for students. One faculty member recently told her that nearly every graduating senior from a recent study abroad cohort described the experience as their most memorable part of Baylor.
“That is one consistent answer we get,” Carlson said. “‘What had the biggest impact? What was most transformative?’ And it was a global engagement, studying abroad kind of experience.”
For Weissinger, the experience reinforced a lesson she now shares with students considering whether to go abroad.
“The best things can come out of pushing yourself,” she said. “You’ll look back on it, and the independence you gain will last with you, I think, for a lifetime.”
