<p>Would you choose a US college or university that no one in your home country seems to have heard of? If yes, what factors might attract you to that school in the first place, especially if it were unfamiliar to you, too? And what factors would be likely to turn you off or scare you away?</p>
<p>Yeah no one has heard of my future university in my home country, it is basically unknown. A few peers know about it, but for the most part it has been through me. Main factor was of course financial aid, if it did not offer financial aid I wouldn’t have applied in the first place. I liked the student culture there, the location, and the fact that attention is really personalized. I was able to meet two admission officers when they came to my school, and they told me quite a lot of positive aspects of the university. They would always promptly answer my emails, and if they were not available it sent me an auto message. Again, if the university did not offer financial aid it would have scared me from applying in the first place. Perhaps a second one would be the school culture, especially if it is extremely religiously conservative. Another one might be location, I didn’t want to go to schools in Wyoming or North Dakota. However, it was alright if it was rural, but a few hours away from cities.</p>
<p>Thanks, danheran. That’s really helpful. Congrats on getting financial aid, which is always a challenge for international students. How did you hear of Trinity U. in the first place … was it when the admission officers came to your school?</p>
<p>Yeah an admission officer came to my school in late 11th grade. I saw the university and liked what it offer. Another admission officer came in early 12th grade and then I was convinced that I really liked it. A girl from my school was going to apply, but she forgot there was a supplement the day the application was due. Another girl applied without asking financial aid, and was rejected. I just want to state that I was first wait listed. I then sought CC for help, and I maintained constant communication with my admission officer throughout the month of April, updating her with my most recent grades, accomplishments, and internships. CC was really helpful getting me off the wait list. But, initially my hopes were not too high in late April. It was about 5 days before May 1st, that the admission officer called my cell phone and told me of the great news. I was left speechless, and it was one of the best days in my life.</p>
<p>By the way, thank you for your message :)</p>
<p>Oh, I just want to add that the academic level of the student body was also important to me. I am one of those people that is motivated by how hard their peers work. That isn’t to say that I do not work if the rest of the people do not work. It simply motivates me to perform better.</p>
<p>That’s great news, and I’m really happy that CC helped you to get off the wait list. Most international students seeking financial aid from US colleges and universities have no idea how difficult it is to get it. Colleges set the bar so much higher for international students needing aid than they do for full-pay internationals. Unfortunately, however, many of the international students I’ve worked with only want to attend schools in the U.S. that they already know about. Sometimes these are world renowned institutions (e.g., Harvard, Yale) but sometimes they are schools that are largely known for other reasons like athletic success (or “My second cousin went there”). So it’s a shame that some international students overlook many fine schools simply because they’re unfamiliar (of course, domestic students do that, too … but typically the domestic students are familiar with a broader range of colleges, even if not broad enough).</p>
<p>Yeah that is true. My initial first choice had been a large public school in the South, since my brother went there. He told me how great it was and that he enjoyed it there. I applied once I had joined CC. I started to learn about these “LACs”, that were so foreign to me then. I started to learn about the small classes, and personalized attention offered there. I asked my brother and he told me he had a lot of TAs, that often were bad teachers. Of course, the personalized attention was not the main reason I applied, as I noted earlier. However, little by little I started to not like it as much. I was eventually accepted to the Honors College, which had that small personalized feeling. However, when I asked them questions often times they were a bit vague, and almost robotic. They also didn’t even make financial aid decisions until May!</p>
<p>No one in my home country (Germany) has heard of my college (Bryn Mawr) either. Name recognition has never been a big issue for me because people in Germany generally don’t care much about which university a college degree is from. (Almost all universities here are public and at about the same level academically. We don’t have a Harvard but we don’t have a Southern Arkansas State either.)</p>
<p>My main concerns as I was researching colleges were academic in nature. Many Germans think that a US college education is inferior to one in Germany, mainly because many American students spend only 1/3 of their time actually studying their major, while the rest is for general education requirements or free electives. Considering that organic chemistry and linear algebra are high school graduation requirements where I am from, people don’t have a very high opinion of a college education that involves general chemistry or introductory calculus. </p>
<p>These issues were very high on my priority list as a I was researching colleges. I was looking for a small rather intellectual college that offered enough classes in my major (math) to give me a similar exposure to the field as I would have gotten in Germany and whose general education requirements were broad enough to fit my academic background. I feel that with Bryn Mawr College I hit the jackpot - how often do colleges with 1300 students have an active graduate department in math, all of whose courses are open to undergraduates?</p>
<p>P.S. The availability of financial aid was definitely a factor as well, though I was lucky that the sort of colleges I was interested in (small selective liberal arts colleges) frequently fund international students.</p>
<p>There are actually many Americans who don’t know Bryn Mawr either, although it is an outstanding college and well respected among those who do know it.</p>
<p>What sort of research (books, Internet, etc.) led you to Bryn Mawr?</p>
<p>Sally, I have a question, is this information you are collecting for an article ?</p>
<p>Great question, danhernan. I am curious too.</p>
<p>Anyway, I came across Bryn Mawr when I ran a college search on collegeboard.com. I was searching for colleges with fewer than 2000 students, a major in math and funding for international students, and visited the websites of all of the about 400 colleges the search returned. Once I had narrowed down the list to maybe 20 colleges or so, I used other online resources to get a feeling for the general atmosphere on each campus.</p>
<p>At that point Bryn Mawr was very high on my list of preferences, though I almost didn’t apply because the college funds only few international students and I didn’t think I had that great of a chance. I am glad that I gave it a shot anyway :)</p>
<p>I also want to add that how a country views American education varies from country to country. In my country, basically the general population views any university in the US as better than the ones available here. In the case of barium, Southern Arkansas State is views as inferior than the universities in Germany. From what I’ve read (I think it was an article posted on CC) there is a Korean school which is basically an Ivy prep institutions. Anything less than an Ivy or equivalent institution is seen as failure. I just want to add that going to Harvard is seen as wow, whereas Williams and Southern Arkansas are viewed as the same.</p>
<p>Wow, great discussion over here! I thought I might also have to contribute. And I am also curious why he is asking all these questions, although I really want to make my contribution.</p>
<p>Here (Mongolia) kids are starting to know about the US colleges. I have to admit that I was one of them until recently. I could get into USAP (usapglobal.org) and was set to apply to US colleges. I didn’t know there were so-called SAT exams. All I knew was just TOEFL. </p>
<p>As my major is CS, I started searching for colleges that both are good at CS and give a fair amount of financial aid to international students. During the whole application process, I was always discouraged by the fact that FA in undergraduate studies is like impossible. But, yeah, I just thought I should give it a shot just like barium. </p>
<p>My list started with MIT (which is widely known here as HYPS), Cornell (not many people know, and this is where I’m going), Vanderbilt, and so on. I was one of the top students back in HS, and so the kids were always telling me that I could easily get into MIT or wherever I want, not knowing how difficult it is for international students to get into those schools. If FA were needed, it would be even worse story. </p>
<p>I wasn’t hopeful during the whole process, though I finally ended up getting into 3 schools out of 11, each of them offering me a full ride. Well, I had great essays, plus diversity might have helped me much! Not sure, though.</p>
<p>I am just glad finally I reached my previous goal, and already set a new one!</p>
<p>Well, the definition of an unkown college is quite vague here in China, because many people here have still only heard of Harvard, Yale, MIT etc.
Brown may even be an unknown university to many. Besides, a lot of people simply think that students go abroad just because they are not good enough or they are unable to go to Pecking University. What nonsense!</p>
<p>But things are turning better these days. A girl went to UVa and wrote a book about her experiences and her story in the book ended in a famous company in Wall Street. Only in this way, unknown colleges can turn to famous ones to people here.</p>
<p>For internationals, this is an important question because it is hugely dependent on the perception of the college in their home country, and in the field that they wish to work is. As pointed out above, in some countries going to any US college will be seen as unusual (perhaps amazing) and be a help in the job market, whereas in others it could be seen as a route for those who are not good enough to be accepted locally (whether that is true or not). In some places there is the perception that you can get into any US college if you can pay, so all a US BA says is your parents are rich. </p>
<p>Posters on this board often chastise international applicants for not having matches or safeties. But in reality they all probably do in their own countries. Not matter how fun and ‘well-rounded’ the education may be at a US college, if it will not open doors for an international student in their own country, it is not worth the cost. All an unknown safety school will get you is debt. Amazing EC opportunities, study abroad and other things generally don’t matter. Employers will want to see top grades at a school which they view as rigerous. It doesn’t matter if this view is true or not, because they hold all the cards. </p>
<p>Having said this, I find that though the average person in the street may not have heard of your college, it’s often true that employers in specific field DO know of it, if it has respected programmes in the particular field they are interested in. This is worth researching. Who cares what your neighbour thinks if employers are beating a path to your door? Do not base your college choice entirely on the view of your school friends or family.</p>
<p>In general in the world as a whole, most US colleges are much much less well known than most Americans believe them to be. In the same way the world is much less American-centric than Americans think, because they are on average very unaware of anything happening outside the USA. All schools everywhere sell themselves as “we are very famous and our degrees will be respected everywhere/will get you any job” (of course) this is so NOT true. </p>
<p>It is also equally true that no BA guarentees you a job, and it is much more dependent on the individual. I think it is especially true of internationals that they often believe that getting into an Ivy will guarentee an extremely well paid job in the US straight after college (though some US students believe this too) with no further effort on their part. This is so untrue. Going to a US college does not guarentee a route to US residency or citizenship either! Which so many seem to think.</p>
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That is so true! Most Germans haven’t even heard of Yale…</p>
<p>A very interesting topic.</p>
<p>For me, the most important criterion was financial aid. Only after doing research on universities’ FA offers I began looking into those schools’ academics and then their other facilities for studying and living, in order not to become attached to a certain college I couldn’t get into. Because I decided not to take SATIIs, the number of colleges whose requirements I could fulfill became even more limited (schools need-blind to internationals are mostly very prestigious and have high requirements). I learned that LACs also give a lot of FA, so I found a couple of such colleges in American Colleges and Universities magazine and on collegeboard.com. </p>
<p>No one in my country has heard of the school I plan to go, Smith College, and even not all Americans know about it. I began learning more about Smith only after I got an admission letter. You see, people in my country also generally think that any university in the US is better that domestics. Their list of US universities is limited to HYPS. MIT became known a couple years ago when a guy from here got accepted. I confess, that until starting my college search, I didn’t know even one LAC, too. </p>
<p>As I have no experience yet, I can’t tell you if Smith is a right choice for me. But it’s certainly a very good place to study at. I know a lot of people who wasted their money and time on applying to the Ivies realizing, maybe, that they don’t qualify enough for them, and I’m glad I’m not one of them. But, now I also think that taking a plunge wouldn’t be bad - prestige is quiet important in my country, and I’m not very certain about my future.</p>
<p>I used to work at Smith and still live nearby. The Smith name is well known around the globe, yet it’s true that some people, even right here in Massachusetts, don’t recognize it. While I can’t say whether or not Smith will be the right choice for you, I suspect that you’ll thrive there because there are so many opportunities, and it’s a community that includes–and respects–students from a long list of nations. Let me know if you need any details on “local” life (e.g., “Should I bring a heavy winter coat?” Absolutely! Or buy one once you get here. There are actually some great second-hand shops within a short, easy walk from campus, so you can purchase a lot of what you may need for very little $$$ once you arrive.)</p>
<p>Sally -</p>
<p>Great thought provoking question here! And I love the responses. Back in the last century I did volunteer work in Caracas, Venezuela with the [url=<a href=“http://www.avaa.org/]AVAA”>http://www.avaa.org/]AVAA</a> - Asociaci</p>
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<p>Sorry, Danhernan, I didn’t see this question earlier. </p>
<p>No, I’m not collecting this info for an article. However, a number of years ago I co-authored a book for international applicants (The International Student’s Guide to Going to College in America), and I was struck by how haphazard the college selection process seemed to be for many international students --even more than for U.S. kids (where it can sometimes seem pretty random as well). </p>
<p>The book is now way out of date, so this isn’t a sales pitch. 
But I continue to be interested in the topic and in thinking up ways to direct international students to the best possible matches. As happymomof1 says, I’d like to think that international students would be open-minded about a broad range of options, but cupcake also wisely points out that there is life after college. So international students must think of the long haul and of how their degree will translate in their home country. A US education is definitely not a route to citizenship or permanent residency. Then there’s the money issue, too, which is often at the epicenter of the final decisions. Most internationals who need money are lucky to get it from anywhere.</p>
<p>So, no books or articles planned at present, but I do encourage current international students in the U.S. to consider writing one of their own at some point or to find some other way to share what they’ve learned about applying to–and attending–college in the U.S. with younger students in their native countries.</p>