EducationUSA | U.S. Campus Culture – (July 2017)

it is my pleasure to welcome viewers to today’s education USA interactive series

web chat on u.s. campus culture my name is Alfred ball representing education USA in the Bureau of Educational and

Cultural Affairs at the United States Department of State Education USA is the department’s network of international

student advising centers in nearly every country of the world are more than 550

dedicated academic advisors help international students and their families learn about the admissions

process to US universities advisors provide accurate comprehensive and

current information about the full range of academic programs offered by the more than 4,700 accredited US higher

education institutions today’s interactive webinar is part of the series aimed at providing prospective

students and their families with up-to-date information about current topics related to US higher education

throughout the program our panelists will answer questions that viewers post in the education USA interactive chat

room at education USA dot state gov slash interactive just click on register

at the bottom of the chat box to join the conversation you can also pose your questions on twitter using the education

USA hashtag many international students and their parents wonder what it is really like to study at a college or

university in the United States today’s online discussion will allow you to ask questions about daily academic and

campus life at US universities and learn about what US universities are doing to welcome international students as we get

started we want to send a special greeting to the students and parents who are gathered in viewing groups at

education USA advising centers joining us on camera during this hour will be

students and parents at the American Center in Moscow welcome Moskva we look forward to

hearing from you throughout the program today we are pleased to have joining us in the studio Alena Park Alena is an

international student from Moscow who is now attending Duke University where she is in her senior year study

public policy on campus Alena is a member of the Model UN team and the

student life programming committee seated next to Alena is Sean II Sean is

an international student from Singapore who graduated just one month ago from Washington University in st. Louis

Missouri he majored in international and area studies specializing in conflict

and democracy in East Africa while on campus his extracurricular activities

included performance or slam poetry as well as being a member of a fraternity

we have several other speakers who are joining us remotely Michael Wilhelm is

the associate vice chancellor of international programs at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and is

directly responsible for education abroad international student and scholar services and the English as a second

language program joining us from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania is Emily Markham Emily is assistant

director of global engagement at LaRoche College in Pittsburgh in this role she leads and supports various international

education initiatives and campus programming efforts designed to build connections between scholars on campus

and with the Greater Pittsburgh community welcome to all our panelists let’s get started let me start with you

Alena and Sean what was it like when you first arrived on college campus Alena

thank you all for the introduction my experience arriving at Duke was somewhat of unique I had somewhat of a miscellany

perspective because the year before I was actually able to do a summer camp

for prospective students a lot of whom were international so I was familiar with the campus and once I arrived there

was also an orientation for international students like me to get us acquainted with each other and the

campus and as well as organized trips to banks target the Duke Lisa services and the like okay so it wasn’t completely

new when you arrived yeah it was very comfortable convenient for me okay Thank You Sean so for us for myself it

was actually something of a new experience this was my second time in the United States

I’d been to California and the West Coast before but only for vacation and there were a lot of little things to adapt to it

wasn’t a total surprise because I speak English as my native language but in terms of just maybe the social life and

social expectations there are a lot of subtle differences people in Singapore are a lot less friendly than in the

Midwest for one I think Washington University did a really good job of preparing us for life in the u.s.

because there were a lot of orientation programs one and a half weeks worth and

I think those were really instrumental in kind of getting me settled and getting started thank you very much very

interesting so let me turn to Emily

Emily what what do schools do to facilitate the arrival of international

students I so it really starts with the

recruitment effort and we do try to prepare students from before they arrive on campus with background information on

what to expect when they arrive with the pack but the campus is really like and then once they arrive we do have a great

orientation session where they get to meet other students and meet with our global engagement and our international

student services staff and it’s a way to you to learn about culture on campus

American culture what it’s like at lelouch we are very small liberal arts school based just outside of Pittsburgh

so we’re in more of a residential neighborhood but we’re very close to the city center so we provide them with the

background on that area and what’s what it’s like to go to school as well as some information about their immigration

status and you know as an international student coming to school for the first

time what that experience might be like including academic standards and in other aspects of campus culture thank

you very much Emily just to follow up being a smaller school does that is that different from an experience a student

would have it at a much bigger school likely yes so even from my own personal experience

I went to a smaller school so that’s kind of where my experience lives but I

would imagine that larger schools while they do provide similar types of opportunities through orientation and in

preparation what’s nice about laroche is that it is such a small and more

intimate environment that you have the opportunity to really build great relationships with the staff and and

fellow students and despite being such a small school we have a very large

international student population about 20% of our student population is international so it really had kind of a

global atmosphere when you step on campus thank you very much very interesting now let’s take some

questions from our online viewers so for the students this question is directed

at the two of you here what was the biggest difference you experience between classrooms in the United States

and where you’re from so in Russia and Singapore start with you absolutely so I would say

that the biggest difference was classroom participation I think in Singapore that is something that happens

but I think it’s much less of an expectation than it is in the u.s. in the u.s. on there especially in smaller

classes you’re really expected to speak up if not you’re going to lose a bunch of marks and that can be a significant

chunk of your grade like forty or fifty percent so that was probably one of the biggest changes and I’m not someone

who’s naturally very outspoken so it took a while for me to get it adjusted to that but honestly if you talk to your

professor about it and about your different cultural expectations they’re willing to accommodate you a lot of the

time okay but nice to hear alena so I definitely agree with you on the

participation point it is much less than expectations back and home for me – and it’s like – a while adjusting to the

fact that not like as much as half of your grade can be just participation

however the biggest difference for me was how approachable us professors feel in relation to teachers back in Russia

for example do sponsors a faculty lunch program where you can get you can actually get university to pay for you