Study abroad is a high impact practice, touted as a tool for developing global and intercultural awareness. In 2017/18, of the nearly 350,000 U.S. students who studied abroad, sixty-five percent participated in "short-term" programs (IIE, 2018). Short-term programs are often administered as group opportunities, in which students undertake experiential education activities with fellow classmates in a host country. In this study, students from populations that have been historically under-represented in study abroad reflected on their experiences within group programs by centering their unique identities and analyzing how particular identities influenced their experiences within the group and host country. Experiences ranged from agentic and empowering to prejudicial and isolating. For example, some students relied on faculty members to mediate interactions among and between the group and host society. In some cases, instructors provided supportive facilitation while, in others, instructors avoided challenging confrontations and difficult conversations. The group itself, and the group leader, are critical units of analysis for understanding the educational and cross-cultural dimensions of study abroad.