International students consider several key factors when choosing a university in the US, including personal attention in the application process, financial support, campus size, diversity of the student body, and recommendations from guidance counselors, alumni, and friends. While prestige is important to some families, other students prefer smaller schools that allow for a more individual experience.

1. Jason Smikle
Managing Director at fNograph
312-835-9450
jason@fnograph.com
22 INSIGHTS
How International Students
Choose Universities
in the States
Quotes from video based interviews of international students studying in the US

2. So, I think that was a really important
point in probably me almost choosing a
smaller school, like Fletcher, over
somewhere like Columbia where obviously
ten thousand people apply and that’s just
not the capability to make it as personal.
But once I’ve been here, I have found the advices
especially academic advices, it’s just a start and takes
personal interest much more so than I thought. It would
be the case.

3. All my research was based on online
comments, on ratings, from different
organizations, I don’t remember which
ones.
But basically ratings and comments and then like talking
to people that have done the similar programs. I came
with the fellowship by which 40 Spaniards are sent to the
US every year, so it’s kind of easy to access these people
and then ask them about feedback for the schools.

4. Columbia, there was none. It was very
impersonal.
The rest, as I said, I got a call from John Hopkins,
Georgetown and Tufts by current students. Tufts was
really good, I was really close to going there. It was not
my first option in the beginning, but then it was amazing.
It was really personal, the way they approach people, how
they (inaudible) all around the world. I really tell that they
really care about their students, whereas Columbia was
being impersonal.

5. I remember receiving my letter of
acceptance and then a few weeks after
that I got a letter from the International
Student Association…
They used to recruit students to write letters as part of
their “Come attend this college”. I guess it’s recruitment
drive. I don’t think that had a big influence on my
decision to go. No, I don’t think that made a difference at
all. I don’t remember interacting much with administrators
on the college site.”

6. Really, it was just you would write up a
letter, say I’m interested, and then they
would send you their application package
and that was it.
I do remember interacting more with my high school
guidance counselor. Coz she was American, I wanted to
come to an American school and so she provided us with
guidance, “Apply for USAT at this time, you must do the
TOEFL”, things like that but I feel like the decision was
mostly just mine. Yeah, it was just me.

7. The application process?
I think this would be a point for the Fletcher which is a
smaller school, but it was very personal, the people would
reply with not just “Dear student”, but “Dear Cliency, we
are really interested in your application. This is what our
school offers,

8. John Hopkins was also like that.
It certainly carries weight when those advices can go
above just generic “Dear student” or “Dear potential
student, thanks for the application and all the best”.

9. In terms of selecting a college, most of my
family is in Texas, so they all tried to
encourage me to go to one of the
universities there.
I was not interested in going to a university near any of
my family, so I found one of those big college guide
books “Barron’s” or whatever they are called and I went
through them and I didn’t find some that looked and
sounded ok.

10. And then we had a guidance counselor at
school and she told me where some of the
others who have graduated ahead of me
had gone and what schools gave the most
funding.
So when I looked at which school provide the funding
and that they were not in Texas, I decided that’s where
I’m going to apply.

11. I wrote off to them, they sent me their
brochures and they all looked very like
typical American college experiences,
beautiful campuses…
So I applied and I ended up going to the one that gave
me the most money.

12. It was also the one that had the most
international students compared to the
others.
Finances and just the make make up the school, the fact
that it was not close to family were priorities… I applied
to three; the College of Wooster in Ohio, Macalester
College in Minnesota, Brunel College in Iowa, and I can’t
remember the others. I probably applied to about five
but those are the three that I remember.

13. So an advice I was given by an uncle
before I started my college search was I
was looking at large state universities and
he told me you don’t want to go to a large
university.
I can’t remember his phrase but he said something like
“You’ll just be a pebble in this gigantic pathway, you
don’t want to be that anonymous”. So priority was a small
college. I wasn’t sure what small would actually look like,
but most of the colleges I applied to were about 2000.

14. I also wanted a college with a large body
of international students and the one that
would give me funding.
So those were the three key qualities. I probably thought
a bit about what courses they had. But then the system of
education here is very different from what I was used to.
So I don’t think whatever I researched would have been
helpful anyway.

15. When I came here I thought I was going to
be an Economics major.
And almost all schools provided had an Economics
program. So it’s not like my major drove what I selected.

16. The top three that I applied for? No, there
were several.
The other ones I looked close to was the John Hopkins
school in DC. And also, that was a double degree. The
first year would had been in Italy, they’re one of the
campuses there. And then here, and then the other one
called the Fletcher School in Boston which is one of the
top universities, so they were the ones that stood out for
me, and they’re not probably the top three-ranked
schools but the programs for me sounded exactly what I
was looking for in terms of flexibility and also yeah, still
the name but necessarily the total focus on theory and
academic brilliance.

17. I was not interested in the Ivy League
schools.
Usually, when you have Africans, this is sort of a general
statement, moving to America to school here, people are
familiar with the Harvard’s, the Yale’s, everybody wants
their child to go there because it’s prestigious.

18. The University of Michigan because of
sports, I’m interested in sports and just the
level of education that I would get in that
kind of institution.
And of course the money made me come to the
University of Michigan.

19. I didn’t talk to current students.
I talked to alumni basically. All the people I talked to had
graduated already. I had a couple of calls. John Hopkins
called me, and Tufts called me to convince me to go
there. I only talked to students I guess who were working
for these universities, because they took the initiative. I
wouldn’t have contacted them otherwise.

20. A couple of really close friends who went
to Oxford and there’s one guy in particular
who went through the whole process of
deciding where to go and could have gone
anyways...
Basically, he gave me a lot of good tips on the pros and
cons of American universities versus English and… We’re
looking at it in terms of the whole experience, not just the
curriculum… Yeah, so I did speak to some, but not a
heap. You know, probably 3 or 4, all up… Yeah, a couple
of emails, or through friends of friends, I didn’t find them
all that helpful, I mean everyone seems decided they…
Well, I believe that it is what you make it. Some people
said “Oh, it’s disappointing, it’s a bit underwhelming”.
But then it’s probably the same people who would say
that about their jobs and whatever, so… Yeah, the people
said they’re having a great time. I spoke to a few people
like that. In the end, I probably didn’t need to speak to
many as I did. I mean you just go with your gut instinct.

21. No, actually, I did not speak to any specific
student.
I think the only time that I had interaction with students of
the school was when I went off-campus to do the
orientation. So for me, it was more of reading the
brochure, and actually, I didn’t live too far from the
University of Michigan.

22. My father’s apartment was about ten
minutes from the school, so even before I
started going in there, I used to walk
around the campus.
It was a beautiful campus. It has lots of restaurants, has
lots of character… So it was more like returning back
home, if that makes sense. So I did not really talk to any
students. I knew the reputation of the University of
Michigan so it was based on that I would say versus
speaking to anybody there.

23. I talked to one person who had graduated
from that college and he recommended it
more on very practical terms -- it’s nice, it’s
safe, they give you money, you meet
people, it’s a good education…
Those sorts of very practical things.

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Jason Smikle
Managing Director, fNograph
312-835-9450
Jason@fnograph.com
http://www.fnograph.com
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