Foreigners find challenges and home at Midd

Author: Joseph Bergan

If you were driving on College Street on Thanksgiving evening you would have driven through a somber Middlebury campus, dark save for a few lit dormitory windows. While most Americans gather away from school to carve turkey and shop at 4 a.m., international students often stay on campus, living in a secret holiday that the Americans know nothing about. Thanksgiving Break is one of the many moments that highlights the different lives American Middlebury students and international Middlebury students lead. All students must deal with BannerWeb registration forms, class evaluation forms, add/drop cards and alternate pins, but for international students, when the College forms stop, a whole new process of dealing with visas emerges. As the College grows into a more internationally minded instutition, we see that the road home is not just a four-hour drive to Boston.

Sorry, Admissions office, but the choice of Middlebury for anyone outside of a intellectual ski bum seems to be questionable. Four years in the mountainous Vermont climate only to be rewarded by little name recognition nationally and a liberal arts education which will only help us closely analyze just how hopeless we are in a job market. If Middlbury is such a tall order for a student from California, then why would a student from Chile ever step foot here? Surely it would be better if they just stayed in their host country, and studied something like business or engineering at the school that is probably free. The Middlebury Campus delved into the issue of international students and why they schlep their bags across continents and jump borders to spend four years in our little hamlet.

The Enlightenment

The Admissions process

While the College's reputation has long been upstanding within the international business community, it still remains somewhat unknown to many international students who, before beginning their college search, were often aware only of larger public schools and those in the Ivy League.

As many schools within the United States continue to debate the merits of college rankings, the steady rise of Middlebury in national rankings - particularly its position as the fifth-best liberal arts college according to U.S.News & World Report - has made Middlebury significantly more well known outside of this country.

"I heard about Middlebury from those rankings," said Yu Wang '10 of Beijing, China. "Actually, the only thing I knew was that the ranking was pretty good."

Wang said that after reading the rankings, she learned more about Middlebury from swimming and diving head coach Peter Solomon and Associate Director for International Admissions Barbara Marlow.

In addition to rankings, students who attended English-speaking international schools often learned of Middlebury through their college counselors, as in the case of Juan Diego Farah '10 of Lima, Peru and Nick Alexander '10, an Australian citizen raised in Jakarta, Indonesia.

"Middlebury was a school with a good reputation that gave me an excellent financial aid package," said Farah. Although his guidance counselor convinced him of Middlebury's prowess, Farah was pretty alone.

"To tell you the truth, nobody I knew had ever heard about Middlebury," he said.

Although Middlebury may be difficult to find on the international scene, students who find their way into Middlebury's application process discover a helpful admissions staff that responds to all questions and concerns.

"This was the most responsive school I applied to," said Mwaki Magotswi '11 of Nairobi, Kenya. "They really seemed to want me to come, especially when Dean [of Admissions] Bob Clagett came to my school."

A warm reception is not for a lack of effort. From the moment of admission, the office for International Scholars and Student Services (ISSS) is busy sending out information to admitted international students, as well as U.S. citizens who live abroad, regarding student visas and cultural and educational differences. Information is provided before and during International Orientation regarding the liberal arts education Middlebury provides.

The Middlebury system needs a thorough introduction, as a liberal arts education is often as foreign to international students as baseball.

"International universities often are totally different, so we just try to help them understand what the heck is going on at American universities," said Associate Dean and Director of International Student and Scholar Services Kathy Foley-Giorgio.

While Alexander knew he would not be attending an Indonesian university, Farah and Wang both stated that the college education they would have received in their home countries would have been much different, as it is more focused on a specific career than Middlebury's liberal arts education. This liberal arts experience was the reason why Annabelle Fowler '10, a British-Ecuadorian dual citizen from Quito, Ecuador, decided to come to Middlebury.

"My other choice was an English university where you have to apply directly to your area of study," she said. "I felt that as a 17-year-old I really wasn't sure about what I wanted to study, and I did not feel ready to confine myself to a specific concentration at the time."

The Golden Ages

The College Years

Many students interviewed found Middlebury to be easier than universities in their own countries, but not in the area of homework.

"American students work much harder than I expected," said Wang. "Academics here aren't as hard as China, if the effect of a different language is excluded."

"Professors back home try to flunk students, while professors here help you out," said Farah, though admitting that it is somewhat of a generalization.

Fowler felt differently from Wang, stating that the critical thinking expected at Middlebury makes many courses more difficult than they would be at many universities abroad.

"In Ecuador, lots of learning involves memorizing and repetition," said Fowler. "At Middlebury, students have to think outside the box and be more analytical. I love it."

Bilal Sarwary '10 of Kabul, Afghanistan often felt frustrated by using English as a second language.

"I feel bad about myself when I see how good Americans are at reading and writing," he said. "I think it is just a process, a constant improvement."

International students struggle beyond the classroom as well. ISSS works closely with international students to help them adjust to the cultural differences they encounter at Middlebury. According to Foley-Giorgio, between one-half and one-third of international students voluntarily sign up to have "host parents" with whom they can maintain contact and celebrate holidays during their time at Middlebury.

"We recruit all summer within the community," she said. "It helps with the transition but we hope it will become a lifetime friendship."

Fowler found the program extremely helpful.

"My host parent was amazing, except they moved to Arizona and now I'm a host orphan," said Fowler. "The program is extremely useful for freshmen and upperclassmen."

Fowler so appreciated support from ISSS that she now serves as a Program Assistant (P.A.) to mentor incoming first-years and help them adjust to life at Middlebury.

"We had formal talks about legal issues, social security numbers, working on and off campus, etc. that were intertwined with other more fun and social activities," said Fowler

One of the top cultural issues students have to adjust to is the American social scene - specifically the drinking age. Used to moderate drinking in their home countries, many students are frustrated and upset at their inability to drink alcohol in America. In the case of Fowler, she will graduate before she turns 21.

"The drinking age does
n't really stop anyone at college from drinking, to be honest," she said. "But it is a bit extreme not to be able to have a glass of wine with a meal while at a restaurant. It's not so much the drinking control that worries me, but the places I can't go because I'm not of age. It's not much fun to go out and to be denied entrance to parties and events because you are under 21."

"It's just frustrating how, in Peru, once I was 18 everyone was like, 'have a beer, now you're a man,' and I'm back to not being able to [legally] drink here," said Farah.

The social scene does have its perks, though. Sarwary has met many friends through book lectures and other cultural events which he has taken advantage of while at Middlebury.

"This is a place where you're overwhelmed with academics but also new experiences, he said. "I think the United States is the most liberal country you can find in the world. You can practice your religion and practice any views you want. I have more Christian, Jewish and Hindu friends then I ever had before."

As the College's global reach expands, so will its culture. When the numbers of international students rise, so do the pressues of the College to adapt to students in need of services to help them adjust to a foreign American culture.

The Dark Ages

Post graduation

While most Middlebury students live by CSO-inspired mantras such as "Do what you are" and "Do what you makes you happy," because of postgraduate visa issues, international students face significantly more pressure than their American counterparts. Tugce Erten '08, a senior from Istanbul, Turkey faces those issues today.

"All international students need a visa to stay in this country," she said. "You not only need to find someone who is willing to hire you, but someone who is willing to sponsor the visa. It actually costs a lot of money and it has become more competitive every year to get that visa."

With most companies cutting costs this year due to crunching markets, the number of hires this year also is affected, with international students often the first ones to be left behind.

"Firms which had problems in the last two years are way more reluctant to hire international students," Erten said. "They train these international students and bamb, after a year, they have to leave."

For this reason, there is even more stress placed on international students.

"It is not really a good deal for a firm to hire an international student and in order to compensate this difficulty, as an international student, you have to be extra good to get the same job," said Erten.

On top of market forces and governmental policies that are out of your control, every job candidate struggles with confidence and high anxiety surrounding a job interview. Imagine for a moment if the interview is in a foreign language.

"Even though I have spoken English at school since I was 11 years old, I am still not a native speaker," said Erten. "I might say weird sentences which may make no sense at all to the interviewers since I still do not have a personal attachment to the language as my mother tongue."

The road ahead for international students is difficult, but it is not all fire and brimstone. With careful advanced planning, it is possible to tackle these pressures.

"As an international, if you are planning to stay in the U.S., it is not usually a good idea to study something that you will not be able to find a job in," said Erten. "I would advise the younger international students to consider their options early. They should try to get internships during summer time or Winter Term to get acquainted with workplace experience or possibly guarantee a job after graduation."