International Student Handbook

Academic Advice from the Dean of the College

Dear International Student,

You will probably find out that your education here is different from what you experienced in your home country. The following recommendations are generalizations - but don't be surprised if they apply to you.

1. Aim for 3 core academic courses plus some additional 1 or 2 hour classes.
2. Balance your schedule among difficult, easier, and enjoyable courses.
3. Avoid "reading" courses this first semester - or don't take more than one. Any course that demands a lot of reading may cause you difficulty. Yes, you're fluent in English, but American English is different. Give yourself time to adjust to needing to do hours and hours of daily reading. How much reading does a course require? Ask experienced students and check out books listed for the course in the bookstore. You should also go to the department or professor for the course descriptions and book lists.
4. Think twice before you study a foreign language new to you; don't traumatize your brain with an additional language right now. This suggestion also applies to those of you coming from schools and countries where English is the first language. Not only do you have to adjust to American English; others have to adjust to your English.
5. Try to take the requirement courses first such as Freshman seminars and a couple of courses that are the pre-requisites for your intended major. It's true that first year international students often have trouble with introductory economics, biology, calculus, chemistry, and physics courses. Yet, if you don't take them in your first year, you're likely to have difficulty in arranging time schedules and designing your course plans later in the following years. For a start it is advisable to take a Freshman Seminar, and 1 or 2 courses which are pre-requisites for your intended major. The fourth course, if you choose to take it, should be any enjoyable course for your interest.
6. Take at least one course that emphasizes expository writing. Even if you had lots of writing in high school, you need some experience with American academic writing. You can also arrange to see tutors at the Writing Center or through the English Department.
7. Avoid courses this first semester that require a lot of reading and research, or that base most of the course grade on formal papers. The various academic disciplines require papers that are discipline-specific. You need time to adjust to American writing process, the editing process, the computer word processing system, and the library. American academic writing will at first seem too personal, too casual, too obvious, too simple - you need time to figure out how to find your "voice" in this new style.
8. Your first semester, take courses in which you're interested and by which you're excited - not ones your parents expect you to take. You've come all this way because we offer subjects and approaches not found in the educational system in your home country. You'll have many distractions this first semester; your courses should be a source of pleasure rather than frustration.
9. Keep in touch with your advisor and see him/her as often as you can. When in doubt, ask and do not take anything for granted.
10. Keep a study time schedule and follow it. Do not lag behind, you might never catch up!

Lloyd Michaels
Dean of the College

This was adapted from the advice to new international students from the Assistant Dean of Student Academic Affairs at Oberlin College.

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