The MEMO Survey to track your progress abroad

I head off on my year abroad in just over a week days and one thing that I have had to complete is the MEMO survey which is sent out 14 days before you plan to leave.

The MEMO survey is designed to show you how the year abroad develops you as a person. The year abroad is an experience that will no doubt bring many varied emotions which is bound to help you grow as a person. Essentially, this is what the MEMO survey hopes to capture.

So, you complete the survey before you leave. I did mine a few days ago and it asks questions to determine what you are like as a person. It creates a picture of your personality such as confidence, social skills, adaptability etc. This takes around 10-15 minutes. Once completed, you are given the results. The results show areas of your personality that are strong and so, what employers would like and areas which could be improved. For instance, your social skills could be recorded as red but your adaptability is green. Therefore, this shows that you are an adaptable person but feel less comfortably in social situations. None of this is bad, it just helps to show potentially where the year abroad could help you and areas to focus on while you are away.

When you come home, you re-do the MEMO survey to see how the year abroad has changed you as a person and helped you become more confident or adaptable for example. The MEMO survey results can be shown to future employers to show your skills and personality. The MEMO Survey could be used in interviews to demonstrate your personal progress.

Finally, the MEMO survey is sent by email 14 days before your plan departure date. Your university should send a link out to enable you to tell the survey when you plan to leave. It should also be completed as I was told by my university that Erasmus money would not be released to you until they had received confirmation that you had completed the survey.