The United States of America (USA) has the largest population of international students. More or less 700 thousands of students are yearning to continue and expand their horizon in education and experience in the U.S.A., in which 4% of the fraction is pursuing higher education; and this number is unstoppably increasing year round.
A college student needs to contemplate seriously his undertakings, for going abroad to study for university maybe the most important undertaking being an international student. Processing like VISA to obtain and some tests to pass; furthermore, once they settled in the campus, there are more challenges for them to responsibly face.
If you plan to study in United States, there’s nothing to worry about homesickness issue, because for sure, you can immediately gain new acquaintances and friends that will stick with you while you study in university. Joining a group of people composed of international peers may ward off your homesickness as you enjoy together with them; just pay attention on every activity you are going through- be aware of what is right and wrong.
In the 1st semester of college in the U.S. can be a stirring period for many international students; therefore, they have to heed some difficulties that could naturally arise. 3 of the Academic difficulties are stated at the following enumeration and there you can find solution how to overcome each:
1. New subjects – most of the colleges in United States need students to take a group of general education class, notwithstanding of their degree majors, in order to render various types of subjects. Many international students were surprised on this, since they only expect to take a single course.
Additional subjects are added to the course like history and religion, in which are usually connected to some courses. According to an international student who was interviewed by the US News that exposing her to other topics made her discover academic fervor that she didn’t knew before.
Solution: if ever you encounter such difficulty just always be open-minded in terms to courses.
2. New Teacher – two-way learning experience is usually what college teachers want for their students. So an international college student like you might see this as another surprise. In fact, teachers encourage their students to participate both in their office hours and in class.
Solution: just consider your new teacher in a new country as your cohort in learning process and not your superiors, so that you feel comfortable with them.
3. New assignments – in the United States, their way of grading the student is through tests, class participation, and papers. According to one of the international students at a college institution in Illinois that one of the toughest challenge is doing the research and the citing of sources.
Solution: ask if your school has a read- writing center, so that you can find a group of people to help you for free tutorial as well as teaching you new ideas on writing and researching; or find it in the school’s student services.