Challenges Faced by International Students

Abhinav Sawhney













The challenge of studying in an American university begins long before actually arriving in the United States. I still remember the “International Student Section” while doing my college applications. Here my parents had to prove that they could consistently pay $40,000 per annum for the duration of my course. What makes it even harder for international students to meet such extraordinary costs is the fact that they are not eligible to any forms of financial aid. The cost of such an education puts an added amount of pressure onto an international student, the pressure to succeed and excel in his or her new surroundings. Failure would mean a waste of hard earned money.

Once the financial barrier is overcome the next challenge for an international student is to send to the American universities a set of high school transcripts and certificates that the university can comprehend. It is a requirement to convert all the course programs done in high school abroad, into an American education equivalent. This process requires the student to send in all of their high school records to an agency in the United States that will evaluate the academic credentials and give it a grade point average that can be compared to any other student in the United States. Once a copy of the evaluated version of the high school is sent back to the student, it is now the student's responsibility to make sure the universities receive these forms on time. Only now will the international application be considered. This process is both time consuming and very expensive.

If fortunate enough, the student will receive an acceptance from the university of his or her choice. At this stage all the effort put into the application suddenly feels worth it. But do not be mistaken, this is not the end of the struggle. Now begins the worry of obtaining an F-1 Student visa to study in the United States. This is one of the toughest stages of the entire transition process. A lot of attention must be given when preparing papers for the U.S visa interview. Most consulates have reputations for denying visas for trivial reasons. Most of the time appointments for visa interviews are taken months in advance. Any delay of the I-20 or related forms from the university could very easily become a cause for denial.

These were some of the challenges international students have to face before arriving in the United States. Once in the U.S a new set of challenges await them, the language barrier being one of them. A lot of the international students are not very fluent in English so they face huge amounts of trouble in voicing their opinions. Those who are better at the language face other problems such as understanding the American accent.

The question at the end of the day is, is it worth it for an international student to go through all these hardships to attain a degree in an environment far away from home? On asking a few seniors about this I received a unanimous opinion from all of them.

“At the end of the four years it’s all worth it! The friends you’ll make here will remain with you for a lifetime, the knowledge you acquire here will serve you for a lifetime.”