The International Student Blog

Chances are, you are already in the final stages of making sure everything is in place for the new semester – but there are always the last minute things you need to prepare and we hope we can help with some guidance and assistance. Our checklist of things to do:

Student Visa – by now, your student visa should be all confirmed and ready for you to enter the USA, but you should also spend some time to make sure you understand your visa, what you can and cannot do when in the USA with regards to working and much more….

Health Care – probably one of the most important aspects for any international student, but one that is often overlooked or students are not concerned about it. Most schools will offer health insurance which you can purchase, or you can find your own insurance plan if you want to save some money.

Travel Arrangement – making sure you have all your travel booked and ready before you leave will help reduce your level of stress when you land, and make life easier for you. If you have not booked your flight yet, you can still do this and there are some great deals around if you book last minute. You also will want to make sure you have booked and made arrangements for your first few nights after you land – as most of you will not arrive and head straight to school. You can find great resources for making your travel plans through our travel center.

Communications – an extremely important point (that a lot of people overlook) is how you will communicate with your family and arrange things when you have landed. You can take your mobile phone from home, but this will be very expensive. Your best option is to purchase an sim card to use immediately when you land – this will make arranging things locally much easier (as you will have a local number for people to call you) and coupled with a calling card, you can easily call your family anytime you want.

Familiarization – you are going to be traveling and living in a foreign country, take some time to understand the culture and lifestyle. This will help you to acclimatize better to your surroundings and hopefully things will not be so much of a shock when you first arrive.

We also recommend that you start planning ahead early – so:

1. Meetings: know when and where you need to be, a great tip it so make a timetable or keep a calendar and put all your important dates and times in there such as the start of your orientation so you know where you need to be and at what time.
2. Make Copies: always make 2 copies of all your important documents, keep one with your family back home and take the original and 1 copy with you.
3. Passport Photographs: you will always need passport photos for things such as ID cards, so best to take some with you so you are not trying to find a passport photo booth with thousands of other students.

If you have any other hints, tips or good advice for new international students, please post your comments below!

Continuing on from our series of posts that are addressing concerns and issues from our Facebook international students, this post is concentrating on how to save money buying college textbooks.

College textbooks are an everyday item that you will need for any course that you take, and depending on your course the costs can certainly mount up. Luckily, thanks to our friends over at Edvisors, they have created this fantastic new eBook which provides an overview for students on how to search and find cheap college textbooks.

The eBook is free and will certainly provide you with some excellent tips and hints on where to find the very best deals and the cheapest prices.

>> Download the Cheap College Textbook eBook here!

If you have other ideas and suggestions on how to get free or cheap textbooks for college please post your comments and suggestions below.

The eBook is available in Abode PDF format, and you will need to download and install the appropriate PDF reader in order to view this document. You can obtain this from the Adobe website for free.

After sending our email to the members of the InternationalStudent.com Facebook group asking for feedback on what you wanted to hear and read more about – we have our first posting covering one of the topics – Fraternities and Sororities.

We are covering this topic via a guest post from Elena V, who responded to our email with a great viewpoint on Fraternities and Sororities from an international students standpoint. Her post follows:

Being an international student I frequently interact with the members of these groups and it seems to be both a fun and exciting experience, however, I’d not recommend an international student to join one in their first year of studies.

First of all, sororities ( I will speak about them because I am a female so it’s easier for me) have their own culture and it’s very American. I live in the South and here people are not generally very receptive of foreign cultures or are not aware of international developments all over the world. It could be hard to become one of the “sisters” right off the bat, because activities and events conducted by an average sorority imply prior knowledge of American culture and expectations.

We, international students, have a tiny bit more to accomplish during our years of study than an average American student- 1) learn foreign language 2) adapt to the local culture and lifestyle 3) make new friends 4) excell acdemically and socially 5) personal goals

A social sorority might help initially as a friend-making mechanism, but later it will take time for things that don’t matter as much in the long run. (Functions, volunteering, tailgaiting, bake sales). Yes, volunteering is important, but the thing is you have to pay a membership fee to do that.

However, major-related fraternities and sororities can be a wonderful addition to the resume and can bring important contacts into the horizon. Instead of being a part of a big group with many interests, I’d join a smaller one with a focus on something that matters to me. My friend Anna from Spain joined a Tennis Club and an Advertising Club, both of which involved people with similar passions.

Joining groups is a must for an international student, I myself am a part of the Student Ambassador Program and it helped me to meet some wonderful students and their parents. Moreover, now I know there is a network of American students that can help me with advice, rides, or other college-related issues.

Before you make a decision to join a fraternity or a sorority, think about these things: 1) is it worth your time and money? 2) will it bring good dividend? 3) will it take your time from other activities, such as classes?

Thank you to Elena V for providing us with a great insight into her thoughts and views about Fraternities and Sororities for international students. Elena has also asked if other international students could post their comments with their views – so please let us know what you think.

If you would like to find out more information about Fraternities and Sororities, please check out the Wikipedia Sorority and Fraternity Page

With the new year only weeks away, a new semester will start for many students – some will be returning back to school and for others it will be a start at their new school. To help you with this, we have provided a checklist of things you need make sure are in place for the new semester:

1. Check/ Book Flights
Check and reconfirm your flights for your trip over. If you have not booked a flight yet it is not too late and it could actually save you money as Airlines tend to put sales on after Christmas.

2. Arrange Accommodation
When you first arrive, make sure you have accommodation during the first few nights.

3. Finances/ Student Loans
Make sure all your finances are in order – if you still are short of funds, you can still apply for an international student loan

4. Student Health Insurance
While some schools will automatically require you to enroll in their insurance plan, other schools will leave this up to you – and most schools will not allow you to register without proof of insurance. Save yourself time and hassle by applying now, so that you have confirmation ready when you arrive to register for classes.

5. Stay in touch
Being in a foreign country can be daunting, so make sure you have a way to either call home or for home to call you with an international calling card or sim card.

6. Ask Questsions
You will most likely have lots of questions, hopefully your international student advisor will have answered them all and they are the best person to talk to. However if you want another perspective try international student forums for information and to talk to other students.

…..and the most important thing is to have fun and enjoy yourself!

As you head back to school there are always things that you put off doing, or simply forget about entirely – well now you can do them last minute and we have some great resources for you….

International Student Loans: Student loans for international students studying in the US or Canada, and for US students abroad. Apply online for up to $30,000 per year.
International Student Insurance: Student Secure is comprehensive health and travel insurance for students outside their home country, meets most school requirements.
International Calling Cards: Keep in touch with your family and friends with low cost international calls from your mobile or home phone
USA Sim Card and Mobile Phones: Stay mobile with a sim card or mobile phone for the USA and get a local US number to cut your roaming charges…..

and with any new school, or back to school experience, its a time to make new friends:

-Join our Facebook Group and introduce yourself to our current members

-Participate in our Forums and chat with other students