Quote
"806 colleges reported offering financial aid to at least one international student for the 2011-2012 school year. Of those institutions, 350 reported offering financial aid to 50 or more students from abroad"

—

The top 10 colleges in terms of average financial aid award to international students, according to US News and World Report’s annual survey.  Yale comes in first at $53,255.

10 Colleges That Give the Most International Student Financial Aid - US News and World Report

Tags: financial aid scholarship international student
October 16, 2012
3 notes
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Want to Write for the Student Union?

We’re recruiting new writers for the 2012-2013 school year!  Here’s information on how to apply:

We are seeking talented and creative writers to contribute to the Student Union blog about international student life in the US.  

As a regular blogger, you will share your experiences, challenges, triumphs and lessons learned with other current and prospective international students.  You will have a lot of freedom to write about what is important or interesting to you, and will have an opportunity to help shape the blog’s direction and to experiment with multimedia journalism and innovative forms of storytelling.

You will also come away with a portfolio of professional writing, and we will work with you throughout your internship to help perfect your writing and storytelling skills.

Visit the Student Union at http://blogs.voanews.com/student-union for more information about what we do and to see the work contributed by our previous writers.

You must:

- Have exceptional writing skills
- Be a current college/university student (or be applying to college/university this year)
- Be willing to contribute at least once a month when school is in session
- Multimedia skills (video, audio, photography) would be a plus

We’re looking for people from a range of backgrounds, majors and degree levels (grad and PhD students included).  Last year’s writers included a high school exchange student, a community college student, and undergraduate and graduate students everything from biology to classics to journalism.  

We are located in Washington, DC, but you do not need to be local to apply.  In fact, we are looking for people from around the country who can provide a variety of perspectives.

To apply:

Submit a cover letter and a writing (or multimedia) sample to jstahl@voanews.com.  Please be sure that either your cover letter or one of your writing samples tells us a bit about who you are – where you’re from, where you go to school, what you study, etc.

Application deadline: September 24, 2012

Questions?  Contact Jessica Stahl – jstahl@voanews.com

Tags: internship writing blogger opportunity international student foreign student exchange program
September 05, 2012
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Yale engineering students in the late 1800s (look at those outfits!), including Chinese student Luk Wing Chuan (via What Was it Like to be a Chinese Student in 19th Century America? « VOA Student Union)

Yale engineering students in the late 1800s (look at those outfits!), including Chinese student Luk Wing Chuan

(via What Was it Like to be a Chinese Student in 19th Century America? « VOA Student Union)

Tags: chinese students china study in us international student history 1800s engineering
August 17, 2012
Photo
Six boys from the first Chinese educational mission to the US in 1872 - Chung Mun Yew, Liang Tun Yen, Sze Kin Yung, New Shan Chow and two unidentified others (via What Was it Like to be a Chinese Student in 19th Century America? « VOA Student Union)

Six boys from the first Chinese educational mission to the US in 1872 - Chung Mun Yew, Liang Tun Yen, Sze Kin Yung, New Shan Chow and two unidentified others

(via What Was it Like to be a Chinese Student in 19th Century America? « VOA Student Union)

Tags: china history study in us international student 1800s
August 17, 2012
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Photo
Photos from the first official program to send Chinese students to study in the US, which was in the 1800s.  This one shows Chung Mun Yew (center), who led Yale University’s crew team as coxswain. (via What Was it Like to be a Chinese Student in 19th Century America? « VOA Student Union)

Photos from the first official program to send Chinese students to study in the US, which was in the 1800s.  This one shows Chung Mun Yew (center), who led Yale University’s crew team as coxswain. (via What Was it Like to be a Chinese Student in 19th Century America? « VOA Student Union)

Tags: china history yale rowing international student foreign student
August 17, 2012
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"I remember one day I went to a doctor for an examination. The doctor said, “Ok! Now you’re here.” I thought that she said, “Ok! Now your hair,” and I immediately took off my head scarf. The doctor looked at me strangely and smiled. She realized that I misunderstood and said “No! No I mean you are in our building, in the hospital now. You are here.” I was a little bit embarrassed, but was pleased that she behaved kindly and tried to understand me."

— Solitary: Rahela’s Story of a Lonely First Year in America « VOA Student Union

Tags: english international student afghan misunderstanding embarrassment
August 15, 2012
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"

It has definitely been a difficult 2 years. I have cried tears of joy, tears of pain, and tears of disappointment in myself, in Yale, in America, in Zimbabwe. For me, college has not been a place where I discovered myself. It is a place where I lost myself to the questions in my head. If Christianity was forced on Zimbabweans during colonialism, why do people still practice it? Should I wear my hoodie tonight? Is she attractive or am I attracted to girls?

I have also constantly questioned whether studying in the United States was a good decision. Will a 4 year absence from Zimbabwe empower me to serve it better? How will my 12 engineering classes in a liberal arts school stack up against 36 engineering classes and a 1 year internship at the University of Zimbabwe? After seeing all the opportunities in the United States, and after realizing the potential that I have, will I ever happily go back home where electricity and water shortages will force me to be less productive with my life?

I have been forced to defend my beliefs and to have an opinion on some concepts that I could not have cared less about. Sometimes, I have risen to the challenge – gone ice skating, dated outside my race, danced to Katie Perry. Other times, my only comfort being the knowledge despite feelings of a loss of identity; I have still retained an ability to be vulnerable in a land where everyone is “doing well.”

"

— Just When I Learn the Answers, They Change the Questions: A Zimbabwean’s Journey « VOA Student Union

Tags: zimbabwe lgbt culture shock snow weather international student foreign student study abroad
August 01, 2012
2 notes
Link

What's the right way to greet someone? A kiss? Two kisses? A hug? A handshake?

The New York Times tries to examine the issue of how to greet someone in America, and ends up coming up with a very confused analysis.  Basically, it depends on a lot of different factors, and a lot of awkward situations arise.

I’ve had many of these in my own life.

I remember in grad school saying goodbye to a friend from Sweden who was leaving to go home.  As an American, to show that I felt close to him I went in for a hug.  He went for cheek kisses.  It was awkward.

Tags: cultural differences international student study abroad
July 25, 2012
1 note
Video

I feel like there’s something so revealing about this video.

Here’s the backstory:

For our series on how Americans feel about international classmates, Thuy (who’s from Vietnam) interviewed an American student (Alex) in her MBA program.  As you can tell, the video quality isn’t that great, and the interview was pretty standard (Alex said he likes that their MBA program is pretty international), so I wasn’t going to use it. And then the camera kept rolling as Thuy ended the interview and the two of them began to disagree over whether international students or American students should be the ones to put in more effort towards making friends.

Tags: international student friendship cross-cultural relations
June 21, 2012
Video

American students at Ohio University talk about why they do or do not make friends with international students, and how international students are viewed on their campus.

(via Why Aren’t Americans and International Students Becoming Friends? « VOA Student Union)

Tags: friendship international student foreign student study abroad fitting in
June 20, 2012
1 note

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Stories and advice about studying in the U.S. from current international students.

Visit our full site at http://blogs.voanews.com/student-union