The International Student Blog

Did you know that US colleges and universities are looking for students just like you? Saturday, March 31st, prospective international students from Asia will have the chance to meet with admissions representatives live! Hobsons is hosting a virtual fair for both prospective undergraduate and graduate international students interested in coming to the US to study.

This event is free of charge, and will give students the opportunity to chat with representatives live to get important information from school across the US. Gain important admissions information right from your computer online.

If you are from Asia and are interested in enrolling in a US school, you will not want to miss this event. With over 25 schools, you can learn more about each school without the cost of traveling! Simply by registering and attending the Hobsons Virtual Student Fair, you will have the chance to win a scholarship up to $3,000 USD.

The Hobsons Virtual Student Fair will be held from 2am – 8am EST on Saturday for your convenience. To attend, prospective international students from Asia can register right online for the virtual student fair.

http://www.internationalstudent.com/hobsons-virtual-fairs/asia-vsf.php

We look forward to seeing you there!

According to the U.S. Department of Education 2011 report, there are over 6,000 colleges in the United States. With so many options, it may be difficult to find the right college or university especially if you are an international student and are not familiar with the United States.

If you are interested in studying in the U.S., the first step is to know what subject you want to study whether it is engineering, business, or science. The second step is to find out what state you might want to live in. The USA is a big country and to help you learn more, International Student provides detailed state guides for all 50 states so you can decide which state best fits your needs.

Once you have an idea of the state and subject, you can use our USA school search to look-up colleges and universities that accept international students. Once you have looked up a school, you will be able to access detailed information such as admission requirements, average test scores, number of international students, costs and more! You can also request more information from the university!

If you need further help, you can also check out the International Student Concierge. This service helps match international students to the school that’s right for them. The Concierge Service is free and once you have provided us with your basic information, colleges in the US will begin contacting you!

If you are reading this blog, chances are that you are already open to the idea of studying abroad in another country. You may be excited about the idea of seeing as much of the world as possible that you are having trouble deciding which country you should study in. So to help you decide, here are some things you may want to consider:

Where do you want to live?

During your study abroad, do you want to live in a big city with entertainments, nightlife and shopping? Or, are you looking for a small city with local charm and ancient historical sites? Are you okay with living somewhere cold or hot? This is an important consideration, especially if you don’t like cold weather and you find yourself studying in Scandinavia during the winter time.

Do you want to learn a new language?

If you are learning a new language you will obviously want to study in a country where the primary language is the one you want to learn. For example, if you want to learn Chinese, you can choose main land China, Taiwan or Hong Kong. For Spanish, you can choose Spain and a majority of Latin American countries.

If you are a non-native English speaker and you want to learn English you can narrow down your choice to the 3 primary English speaking region of the world: North America, Europe and Australia/New Zealand. Do you want to attend traditional colleges or universities or are you looking for an ESL school where you work to improve your English?

Looking to the future, what do you want to do?

Think about what your future career goals are. For example, if you want to work in a finance field you may want to study in the area where it is a financial center of the world like New York, London, Hong Kong, or Tokyo. If you love food and wine, why not study culinary arts in France? Research what universities are well regarded in your field of study so you continue to make stride to your future goals!

What is your budget?

Lastly, what is your budget for your study abroad trip? How much money can you contribute yourself and how much can you accumulate from study abroad scholarships and other financial aid? It is important to keep in mind that the cost of studying abroad is more than just the tuition fee and plane ticket. Living expenses can vary greatly depending on where you choose to study abroad. For example, if you decide to study Spanish in Latin America as opposed to Spain you will find that the living costs are much less expensive!

Once you have narrow down the country and the field you want to study in, you can more easily choose a study abroad program.

With more and more American colleges and universities looking to improve the diversity on campus, many schools are increasing the number of international students recruited. The trend of “internationalizing” their campus is not only with undergraduate students seeking their bachelor degree, but also with graduate students seeking advanced degrees. What does that mean for you? This may be the perfect time to start applying to school’s overseas!

And this trend is not looking to stop anytime soon! In fact, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, over the past year admissions of international students to US graduate schools increased by 11%, making this year the largest increase in international admissions since 2006. The majority of this increase can be attributed to China and India, with a large number of international students from the Middle East and Turkey.

A unique new strategy is being employed by several university systems in the New England region of the United States to recruit and maintain an actively growing population of international students within their states and on their campuses. Many colleges and universities are now working with independent firms by outsourcing the actual job of locating and recruiting international students interested in studying abroad in the United States to consider applying to, and attending, their school campuses.

One such independent and for-profit company is Navitas, which is currently working to recruit international students interested in studying in New Hampshire and Massachusetts’ area universities. This for-profit venture in education has resulted from a growing concern many state universities simply don’t have the financial budget to take on more direct international student recruitment efforts, despite their desire to bring greater diversity (in both revenues and perspectives) to enhance the overall quality of education and cultural competency on their respective campuses.

To learn more about this new prospective avenue for recruitment to a U.S. university, interesting issues raised by pursuing such an avenue, and to learn more about the specific organizations being hired by American colleges and universities to recruit international students interested in studying in New Hampshire (as well as other U.S. states) check out http://www.npr.org/2011/03/16/134585499/U-S-Schools-Hire-Companies-To-Court-Foreign-Students.

InternationalStudent.com is proud to announce our brand new service for International Students all around the world. Our palm reading university matching service has been months in the making, as we have been working with some of the worlds leading palm readers to refine the technique so international students no longer have to think about what schools are right for them, our service will pick them based on your palm readings.

We have pioneered the technology that will allow students to submit pictures of their hands to our expert team, and we will review the pictures and then suggest the best schools in your specific region based on your palm readings. We are launching the service today, which will be free to all students, in the hope that students will no longer have to think about what schools to choose, and their let destiny take charge.

Mr Mason, International Director at InternationalStudent.com said , “The new service will revoluntionize the international education arena for both students and educators. No longer will students need to worry about finding schools, but let our experts do the hard work based on their palm readings”.

Please visit our website for more information about how to submit your photos to the new service and for further details!

Picture courtesy of http://www.zodiac-signs.org

As all the media publicity starts to die away after the recent thwarted terror attacks in London, and the attack that took place in Scotland, I wanted to touch on the subject of how this will affect international education and students going to the UK to study.

From our recent newsletter that we sent out, we have highlighted a story showing a school in the USA who are still planning to partake in their study abroad programs to the UK, however I am sure there are probably just as many people that are looking and willing to cancel their travel arrangements.

We all know that the only way to combat terrorism is to stand up to them, and not let them affect our daily life – and the reasons we have terrorism are too deep to talk about in this posting. But I would be interested to hear from international students around the world and your thoughts on how the terror attacks are changing things for them. Are you planning to keep away from the UK as it has been hit twice in as many years, are you not bothered and still want to study there.

I would also like to hear from any study abroad or international education specialists who may read this blog – what do you think about the attacks? Has it changed anything?

Please post your comments…..

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