As a high school student in Egypt, Omar Bishr has announced at some universities in the United States, but not get one. So Plan B went on: Apply for a community college in the USA. And then transfer it to a four-year institution.Today Bishr, 19, second-year Business Administration student at Santa Monica University, a community college in California. He holds the leadership position on campus, as the captain of the water polo team, and is on the transfer form - he hopes to attend the University of California at Berkeley."SMC is literally my home," Bishr said.In the years 2014-15 studied 91,648 international students - according to the Institute of International Education - 9.4 percent of all international students in the United States this year to community colleges.Some community colleges have large international students developing devices for some of the biggest obstacles facing this population, including acclimatization to a new education, housing and campus system.Learn what is expected.One of the initial challenges facing international students is learning to navigate a new education system."I think probably Community College is the least well understood because it is a unique form of an American institution," says Heidi Russell Kalkofen, an international student coordinator at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland.For example, Zia Dar, a second-year university student in Business Administration of Technology in Montgomery of Pakistan, says a difference that has seen how the tests are structured. Dar, 22 says, taken in the American trials that tend to four or five chapters cover the penalty of material, during tests that took in Pakistan usually a whole book of 12 chapters at a time.To facilitate this transition, some community colleges offer special guidance for international students.Montgomery College International Student Orientation Mandatory for students who are on F-1 visas largely by returning or recent international graduates and includes activities such as a sketch of how Americans and a bingo game where students have information, says Russell -Kalkofen.
Houston Community College offers a number of international students' orientation each year. The school has praised the largest international student population of any community college in the United States during the last decade, according to IIE data; In the fall of 2014 they took 5,441 international students participating in the HCC.[See community colleges with more international students.Bianca Schonberg, director, international students studying abroad and studying abroad at HCC, says that compulsory orientation usually takes four to five hours and will include presentations covering a myriad of topics such as health insurance and Mentoring services.Some colleges, such as Green River Community College in Auburn, Washington, provide advanced training on topics related to the orientation of the original beyond.New Green River International students participate in a necessary program called Foundation for Success. Students meet with mentors, most of whom are current international students and who visit weekly sessions, covering topics such as study techniques and personal health and safety cover.They also participate in fun events such as cooking classes, says Wendy Stewart, vice president of international programs and expanded learning at the Green River.On the other hand, Green River students take a required preparation course called International Student University Experience, focusing on US classroom skills and expectations, such as learning to read a program and the importance of participation in Class, says Stewart.
And because many international students are interested in the F-1 visa community, some colleges in the community - including SMC and Green River - can be transferred to a four-year institution, students with international academic advisors who can help To them on the right path transmission.[Avoid making three international students of transition cases.]Obtaining a place to liveMany colleges and universities in the US Year olds have student residences, but this is not the case for many colleges in the community. To get a home is another challenge of the international community students face, say some students.A number of two-year schools have dormitories and apartments built to help meet this need. About a quarter of public community colleges offered at university residences in 2014, according to a recent report from the American Association of Community Colleges.In Green River, both international and national students can apply for accommodation at the Campus Corner Apartments. Approximately 80 percent of the 340 students living in the complex, internationally, says Stewart.Once they arrive, they get new international students a collection team from Rio Verde, the sheets, a towel, a laundry detergent and other household items they contain in order to help them work out, Stewart says.Find the community"One of the biggest challenges is finding friends, because if you come as an international student, you do not have anyone," says Carlos Peñuelas, a student at the University of Santa Monica Business Administration in Mexico. "You have no family, you have no friends."
Experts and students agree that participation in the Campus is one of the best ways to combat the loneliness that international students can take after the initial excitement diminishes.[See five options for international research students at US community colleges.]Peñuelas, 21, says it is a handful made during the first semester and friends in the class, but when he participated in the meetings of Theta Kappa Honor Society Phi - an organization of students with more than 400 members, says Peñuelas, who Feeling has really started, Hoy Peñuelas is the president of the SMC Phi Theta Kappa chapter.Schonberg, HCC quickly expresses to international students the importance of participation on campus.During the orientation Schonberg says: "We really urge students involved." He adds: "We do not want our students to go to class and go home."
Community Colleges work to support international students
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