College preparation part 4
In the past few years, I have seen an increasing number of international students studying at Carnegie Mellon. Several of them were taking my courses, but I found that some were NOT prepared for college study. Among the most obvious things that I have observed was the lack of maturity and the ability to adapt to new environments.
Students who are not matured enough to be responsible for their college study often failed in their first year. Besides the English language deficiency, many do not have good reading skills to meet the reading requirements at college levels. One student admitted: “In my country, all I need is to learn from the textbooks, but here besides the textbooks, there are so many reading assignments. I cannot finish them because the time to use a dictionary to check for vocabularies already consumes most of my time. In my country, we only have one exam at the end of the year, and I have a lot of time for other activities. But here, there are so many quizzes and tests every few weeks, that put a lot of pressures on me.” Another student lamented: “There are extra tutorial courses to ensure that students will pass tests and get good grades, but here, you have to study on your own. I have to put a lot of efforts without much help, and it is difficult to catch up with the fast speed here.”
Many students told me that they wished they know more about “how to study” in the U.S. so they can prepare better. A student lamented: “I was the top student in my school, but when coming here, I am at the bottom. I put a lot of time in studying but could not catch up with the rest of the class.” The problem is when students fail in the first year, they lose confident and often carry that negative feeling to the next. Many develop a fear of study and a bad feeling about their ability to learn and often carry this feeling in life too.
The first-year of college, especially in a foreign country, is full of challenges that go far beyond studying. The issue of homesickness, loneliness, not staying in touch with old friends, not making new friends, and difficulty in adjusting to a different culture, create a lot of stress. Unfortunately, most students tended to keep their feelings about the difficulty of college to themselves. A student admitted: “I have difficulty to sleep because I feel stress all of the time. I do not want my family to know about it. My parents spend a lot of efforts to support me to come over here to study, and I do not want my mother to worry. But I feel overwhelmed with so many things to do but cannot do anything. I am losing control, and my study suffers…”
All students told me that they had guidances to prepare for the admission to U.S. university, but no one addressed the “college readiness” issue that requires much more than just passing tests and filling application forms. A student explained: “There is a “competition” among some families on where to send their children to study. That put a lot of pressures on students on which schools to attend. Many parents want their children to go to top universities regardless of their ability to study. The problem is to get accepted to these prestigious schools is NOT easy, but to do well there is much more difficult because of the pressure and competition among the best students.”
Several students told me that they do not know about planning a career, selecting courses, developing skills, set up learning goals, “how to study” in U.S. schools, and how to live independently from family. One student admitted: “I missed home very much. At home, my parents take care of everything. All I have to do is study. But here, I have to do everything from cooking to do laundry, and much more. I am not prepared for it.”
Being an advisor to many students and based on what they told me, it is important that all students who are planning to study oversea must receive career guidance and college preparation as early as possible. Before they even start applying to study abroad, parents need to help them to develop good studying skills, build their confidence in their ability to live independently. Students who came from a “protected” family often have difficulty to adjust to a new life in a new environment. The fact is not many parents are aware of these problems because their children would not tell them about their problems that they face.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
