Home: Welcome

EUROPE'S MOST MOVING CLASSROOM
London, Paris, Vienna and Berlin
May 18-June 16 2025

Every summer, bold college students from all over the USA choose The Catalyst to realize their study-abroad dreams.

Together, they set off on an adventure across Europe. In a month, they learn and live in the capital cities of England, France, Austria and Germany.

Their fields of study range from STEM to Business to Fine Arts and Humanities. In many cases they are first generation university students. In most cases, this is their first trip abroad.

While on The Catalyst, they complete two courses and earn 6 college credits. When they come home, they have exactly the global perspective top employers want today.

There are always reasons to say no to growth and change.

Maybe this time it's your turn to say yes?

FOUR CITIES WILL BECOME YOUR HOME

Our students have so many"pinch me" moments on The Catalyst. How could it be otherwise, when you take a whole month to learn and live in London, Paris, Vienna and Berlin? There's something special about earning a warm smile from the other locals at that little bakery in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower. How would living like a local in four of the world's greatest cities make your summer special?

Home: About

HIGH-IMPACT CLASSES WILL FUEL YOUR SENSE OF DISCOVERY

You probably attend plenty of Powerpoint lectures already. You won't on The Catalyst. Instead, prepare to walk five miles or more most days, through mist, sunshine and a blister or two. And prepare for your faculty and field visits to leave you on fire to meet every new day with passion and clarity. From Catalyst Biology to our Homeland Security course, we crisscross our cities and use their troves of secrets to develop academic themes you will never forget.

Home: About Us

IMMERSIVE LEARNING WILL POWER YOUR IDEAS

Every Catalyst day brings life-changing locations to life. You'll take one course in London and Paris. And a second course in VIenna and Berlin. Both will push you harder than you've ever been pushed before. Do you want to explore the hospital where the first PTSD soldiers were treated in 1916? Or walk over cobblestone streets next to the exact water well that spread Cholera all over London's SoHo neighborhood in the 1840s? Or stand right in the center of Tottenham FC's iconic football pitch to discuss how sports psychologists help guide safety measures in the Premier League? Our classes do these things each day.

Home: About

TRAVEL WILL GLOBALIZE YOUR PERSPECTIVE

Just like every experience of travel, The Catalyst is always about mobility, change and growth. From arrival to departure, you will be traveling in some way every day. At first, The Catalyst helps you get your legs as a traveler. Bu then it's you navigating subways and busses. And it's you booking your own flights, train tickets and tram rides. Meanwhile: new accents, languages, foods, dress and customs become familiar and even natural. In one month, you go from being a beginner to an expert traveler; someone ready to face new adventures and new places.

A BOLD COMMUNITY WILL BOOST YOUR GRIT.

The Catalyst is not meant to be an easy program. You are likely to feel a huge sense of accomplishment and pride after you do it. Because like all travelers, you are going to face moments of real adversity. Maybe you and three friends will just miss your overnight train to Vienna? And of course your phones will be dead. But one of you will ask at the train desk for directions to the bus station. And then the magic of a travel pivot will unspool. Years after doing The Catalyst, our alumni tell us that it was the trains they missed and the phones they lost that taught them lessons they think back on all the time in their professional lives. Lessons about grit, tenacity, and sticking together through adversity are not always what our classes teach. But they are lessons all our students learn.

THIS SUMMER WILL MAKE YOU GLOBALLY EMPLOYABLE

The US Department of State tracks what employers want in new hires. So do the faculty who teach on The Catalyst, some of whom consult for Google, Microsoft, Air BnB, Adobe and Prudential. These sources tell us the same thing. That global experience is a requirement to being hired today. Why? Because global experience means you are curious. It means you can solve problems and rely on your grit. It means you have empathy and self awareness. It means you were brave enough to leave your home and walk out into the world. You are a word citizen, confident and unafraid.

100% of our alumni report they were asked about The Catalyst in a job interview.