Resources for International Students & Families
Wilson Common at the University of Rochester, designed by I.M. Pei (貝聿銘)
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Third Culture Kids (TCKs)
We’d love to introduce the concept of Third Culture Kids (TCKs) to both students and families. A cross-culture young adulthood matters. And cross-culture mobility brings TCKs unique characteristics, challenges, and benefits.
We want to understand our TCKs first to better prepare them for the new cross-culture new journey in the college. [last update: 08/10/2021]
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Demonstrated Interest, Early Decision vs Early Action
International students oftentimes know the importance of GPA, class rank, and standardized test scores very well, but may or may not understand the role of “demonstrated interest“ (DI) well and how to show the efforts of genuine interest (EGI) properly.
Among all possible EGIs, applying early is the most important one. Wanna know more? [last update: 08/22/2021]
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Deconstruct Rankings
Rankings are handy references for students and families to jump into the college search work quickly. But do you know the methodologies behind rankings? Have you ever heard of criticism towards rankings and thought about it?
Besides, how about Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL)? [last update: 08/05/2021]
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Liberal Arts Education
What is a liberal arts college and how does liberal arts education in the U.S. look like? What are liberal arts colleges’ academic consortia and how do they work?
Could a student still attend a LAC if he or she is very interested in STEM majors? If so, how does this work? How about for pre-med students? [last update: 09/17/2021]
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Medical Schools and Career Path
Is it possible for international students to become medical doctors in the U.S.? If so, how could the possible trajectories be, and how does each stage look like?
What are BS/MD and EAP programs? Why are they competitive and what exactly are the benefits of choosing such a program? [last update: 08/17/2021]
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Financial Aids for International Students
This is a big and important topic for all international students and families, so we try to provide concise, data-driven, and up-to-date information. So let’s first talk about the Cost of Attendance.
We also provide some data points, resources for scholarships, and a list of popular U.S. Accredited universities abroad. [last update: 08/23/2021]
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F-1 Student Visa Holders
Learn more about U.S. Student Visa, new policies since COVID-19, visa interview preparation, and some special circumstances you might encounter during the visa interview.
For current F-1 visa holders, keep in mind to fulfill the “full course study” requirement. [last update: 08/08/2021]
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Optional Practical Training
Understand the terms of OPT, CPT, and OPT STEM Extension, as well as some key points to apply for and stay active for these major-related practical training opportunities before or after you get a degree. [last update: 08/09/2021]
@ International Students
Wherever your home country is, find a nearby EducationUSA Advising Center https://educationusa.state.gov/find-advising-center and check their Free and In-depth online or in-person events https://educationusa.state.gov/find-event.
Third Culture Kids (TCKs)
CCKs conception, a chart from Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds. As a then-time international student, a college admission counselor, a first-generation immigrant, and a parent of a Chinese American, TCKs and CCKs are the topics Amber cares about most when working with kids and young adults.
Third culture kids (TCKs) are people who were raised in a culture other than their parents' or the culture of their country of nationality, and also live in a different environment during a significant part of their child development years. The concept of TCKs was first coined by researchers in the 1950s. The most famous book on TCKs is Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds (2009 Revised Edition on Amazon) by David C. Pollock and Ruth Van Reken.
International students are not the traditional TCKs but they belong to a broader cross-cultural kids (CCKs) category, especially for international students who come to a foreign country to receive K-12 and undergraduate education, let alone their years of English immersion preparation in life and academics. Here are some resources to learn more about TCKs.
Finding a Place for Third-Culture Kids in the Culture, published on The New York Times Style Magzine (2020)
Third Culture Kids: Citizens of everywhere and nowhere, published on BBC Worklife (2016)
Third Culture Kids: the impact of growing up in a globalized world, TEDx Talk by Ruth Van Reken (2015)
Third culture individuals are particularly adept at building relationships with other cultures while not possessing a cultural identity of their own. There are evident benefits and challenges for being TCKs:
Benefits: expanded worldview; third-dimensional view of the world; interpersonal sensitivity; cross-cultural competence, or cultural intelligence.
Challenges: confused loyalties; painful awareness of reality; ignorance of home culture; difficulties with adjusting to adult life (feelings of rootlessness and restlessness can make the transition to adulthood a challenging period for TCKs).
To connect TCKs, college applications, and college transitions for international students in a practical way, here are some resources we highly recommended -
Book: Survive and Thrive: The International Student's Guide to Succeeding in the U.S. (on Amazon) by Tina L. Quick, a TCK and an educator.
Book: The International Family Guide to US University Admissions (1st Edition on Amazon) by Jennifer Ann Aquino in Singapore.
Third Culture Kids – From Overseas to Undergrad - a superb blog post by another IEC who works with TCKs and international students. It talks about the college fit, wanting to transfer, and reverse culture shock when starting the new college life. A must-read!
Demonstrated Interest, Early Decision vs Early Action
Demonstrated Interest (DI) & Efforts of Genunie Interest (EGI)
Demonstrated interest in how colleges assess how interested a student is in attending their school.
Read this great article What is Demonstrated Interest in College Admissions and How Do I Show It? (2011) from Bucknell University.
Another article What 'Demonstrated Interest' Means in College Admissions (2018) from US News.
Besides applying early, taking the official college tours (not “stealth“ visits without the official tours nor sign-in at the admission offices) in person or virtually, attending college online events, checking in at the schools’ booths at college fairs are also effective EGIs. DO NOT bomb admissions officers with repeated emails and calls.
Visit the college virtually when the pandemic makes the in-person visit impossible, try YouVisit and YOUniversityTV.
Read the latest NACAC's annual State of College Admission report and learn Factors in Admission Decisions (2019).
We have pasted a screenshot from this 2019 report, which contains data from 2007 to 2019, and highlighted DI with two types of letters of recommendations and class rank (see the chart on the right). Please note that this chart includes both domestic and international students.
Based on an older same NACAC report in 2017 (if the link expires, you can download it here), we can learn more details in factors in admission decisions breakdown by international freshmen and all freshmen.
DI is more important for international students based on the 2017 report (2016 survey data). It’s 49.8% considerable important or moderate important for international students first-time freshmen and 49.2% for all first-time freshmen that include more domestic students.
The Common Data Set (CDS) initiative (a collaborative effort among data providers in the higher education community and publishers) sends a comprehensive questionnaire to higher ed institutes.
In the survey, the C7 question is “Relative importance of each of the following academic and nonacademic factors in your first-time, first-year, degree-seeking (freshman) admission decisions”.
Though not all the schools participate in this voluntary initiative, and the rating could be subjective, it provides some reference.
You should be able to find the latest answers to CDS questions at the CollegeBoard BigFuture school profile page, Applying section, under “What’s Important?“ (see the example of UCONN’s answer to the CDS C7 question).
*EGI - Signing up the school’s mailing list. As an ex-data scientist who once did tons of consumer marketing email campaigns, Amber wants to remind the students that, marketing emails sent from the admission office could be traced back easily to learn who opened the emails, clicked the links, stayed on the web pages, and unsubscribed from the mailing lists.
Early Decision (ED) and Early Action (EA)
Now that we know the role of demonstrated interests and what efforts of genuine interest (EGI) could be, we could give it a try. Among all possible EGI, the most important and evident one is to apply early when the school provides such an option. There are several choices for early applicants and different schools. [more to come…]
Read this article on CollegeBoard to learn the difference between Early Decision (ED) and Early Action (EA).
As ED is binding, a student can only apply to only one ED school and must attend the college if accepted as an ED applicant, which could be unfair for international students who still want to receive financial aids. Please note that the binding applies to institutes outside of the U.S. as well, this CommonApp Early Decision Agreement has clearly stated this.
EA is non-binding, yet the applicant pool is bigger as one can apply for more EA schools, thus a bit more competitive than ED, but still shows DI compared to a regular decision (RD) application.
Single-Choice Early Action (Restrictive Early Action) is non-binding like an EA application. Yet one who applies in this way, cannot apply to any other school early. A few highly selective schools like Yale and Princeton do this.
Applying early is an excellent way to show EGIs, while this needs a strong and completed application package early at the same time. Whether it is a good strategy to apply early, just from an admission likelihood perspective, read Jeff Levy’s annual report based on CDS. You can compare the Early Decision and Regular Decision acceptance rates and make an educated decision.
Deconstruct Rankings
USNews & World Report (USNWR) Rankings
Learn more about the USNWR Ranking Method from their official article How U.S. News Calculated the 2021 Best Colleges Rankings.
Outcomes (40%) - graduation and retention (22%), graduation rate performance (8%), social mobility (5%), and graduate indebtedness (5%).
Expert Opinion (20%) - top academics like presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions rate the academic quality of peer institutions with which they are familiar on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished).
Faculty Resources (20%) - class size (8%), faculty salary (7%), faculty with the highest degree in their fields (3%), student-faculty ratio (1%), and proportion of faculty who are full time (1%).
Financial Resources (10%) - the average spending per student on instruction, research, student services, and related educational expenditures in the previous two fiscal years.
Alumni Giving (3%) - the average percentage of living alumni with bachelor's degrees who gave to their school in the previous two years.
Student Excellence (7%) - standardized tests (5%) and the proportion of enrolled first-year students who graduated in the top 10% (or top 25% for regional rankings) of their high school classes (2%).
Criticism of rankings has been an ongoing movement in both academia and the college admission counseling field - it's common knowledge how the statistics can be “gamed” and it is not possible to come with a single number that characterizes university performance. Furthermore, the Expert Opinion arguably can be easily manipulated and include such subjective characteristics as the "reputation" determined by surveying university administrators such as chancellors or deans. Read some articles on criticism of rankings, and what happened at Reed College and UC Berkeley.
The Order of Things: What college rankings really tell us, By Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker, 2011.
Opinion: Why College Rankings Are a Joke, By Frank Brun, The New York Times, 2016.
Is There Life After Rankings? A report card from one college president, whose school now shuns the U.S. News ranking system—and has not only survived but thrived., By Colin Diver (President of Reed College), The Atlantic Monthly, 2005.
U.S. News removes UC Berkeley, 4 other schools from ranking, By Natalie Schwartz, Higher Ed Dive, 2019
If you’re still a big believer in USNew Rankings, there are a few interesting ranking lists published by USNews that we’d love to let you be aware of -
A-Plus Schools for B Students - If you're a good student with less-than-stellar test scores or a so-so GPA, these are the schools for you.
QS World University Rankings
International students and families sometimes also refer to QS World University Rankings when researching non-U.S. undergraduate programs. The QS ranking methodology is listed on their website - Academic reputation (40%), Employer reputation (10%), Faculty/Student Ratio (20%), Citations per faculty (20%), International faculty ratio/International student ratio (5% each).
Compared to the US News ranking, this method is even more skewed to big, research universities with huge research expenditures and measures schools’ accomplishments heavily by citations (when STEM areas usually yield much more citations than liberal arts and social science disciplines).
Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL)
First published in 1996 by Loren Pope (an education editor of The New York Times), the book Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges (on Amazon) explores college admissions in the U.S. and profiles dozens of liberal arts colleges that popular ranking systems don’t do justice.
Each CTCL school appeals to a slightly different type of teenager, but they all share a mission to raise students' trajectories and develop thinkers, leaders, and moral citizens. Famous alumni from CTCL include Steve Jobs (CEO and co-founder of Apple Inc.) and Larry Sanger (co-founder of Wikipedia) from Reed College, Frank Sherwood Rowland (1995 Nobel Chemistry Prize laureate) from Ohio Wesleyan University, and William G. Bowen (former President of Princeton University) from Denison University.
Liberal Arts Education
Liberal Arts Colleges (LACs) and Liberal Arts Education in the U.S.
The Hidden Ivies, 3rd Edition: 63 of America's Top Liberal Arts Colleges and Universities (on Amazon). This book defines the LACs and their goals as to “create greater awareness of the small, distinctive cluster of colleges and universities of excellence that are available to gifted college-bound students”.
The Benefits of a Liberal Arts Education published at Coalition for College shares more insights, like “You need instead an education that empowers you for success and allows you to design your own future in our rapidly changing society and economy”. Interactive instruction is heavily emphasized at LACs thus the faculty/student ratios are much better compared to most comprehensive universities. In addition, most LACs provide generous financial aids packages and try to meet the demonstrated needs for both domestic and international students.
LAC Consortia - LACs are also often associated with larger bodies or consortia. Within the consortia, students oftentimes are allowed to cross-register for courses at the other colleges and share the resources on academics, athletics, and social life. Here are a few well-known academic consortia,
The Quaker Consortium in the Philadelphia suburbs (the Tri-College consortium: Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, and Swarthmore College; and one research university: the University of Pennsylvania);
The Five College Consortium in Western Massachusetts (4 LACs: Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College; and one research university: the University of Massachusetts Amherst);
The Claremont Colleges in Southern California (5 LACs: Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, and Pitzer College; and 2 graduate schools: Claremont Graduate University and Keck Graduate Institute);
The Five Colleges of Ohio (Denison University, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, The College of Wooster).
Women’s colleges in the U.S. are often time LACs. And the most famous ones are The Seven Sisters, among which, only five are active women’s colleges (Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Wellesley College, Bryn Mawr College, and Barnard College).
Liberal Arts Education & STEM Education
The Best Liberal Arts Colleges for Medical School is a great article that talks about how liberal arts education prepares students for medical school. This article also shares some data insights from leading LACs in terms of medical school acceptance rates of their alumni.
3-2 Engineering Programs are dual-degree programs that are completed in five years. Students spend the first three years at LACs for the liberal arts bachelor’s degrees, and the last two years at research universities for engineering major studies and engineering bachelor's degrees. The dual-degree agreements are pre-made between LACs and universities.
College Lists Wiki has a page for 3-2 Engineering Programs but some schools listed might not participate in such programs anymore. So please read this page with precaution.
Such a program usually costs less money as LACs are generous with need-based scholarships. It’s a program that prepares the students to be more well-rounded in both the liberal arts and engineering fields. Though transfer admission to engineering partner universities is not guaranteed, there are usually a few engineering partners for the student to try.
There are a few leading research universities providing such 3-2 Engineering Programs. They’re California Institute of Technology, Washington University at St. Louis (check the Affiliated Schools), Columbia University (check the latest Liberal Arts Affiliates and Requirements), and Dartmouth University.
Though LACs are traditionally strong in liberal arts majors, there are a few LACs specializing in engineering (this list could be a reference but some are not small LACs). For instance,
Harvey Mudd College - a part of the Claremont Consortium;
The Cooper Union - locates in New York City and grants degrees in art, architecture, and engineering;
Olin College of Engineering - allows cross-registration at Babson College, Wellesley College, and Brandeis University;
Barnard College - 34% of the Class of 2021 were STEM majors (~ 26% nationally), Barnard celebrates all things STEM on campus and has a Barnard Year of Science (BYOS);
Lafayette College - offers engineering programs within its liberal arts setting;
Bucknell University - features both engineering and management programs;
Kettering University (used to be a part of General Motors Institute) & Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology - these two are not LACs but they share many characteristics like the above-mentioned schools as private, small, STEM-centric schools without doctorate programs.
Medical Schools and Career Path
There is no such thing as a bachelor’s degree in medical science in the U.S., which is different from many other countries like UK, Canada, and China.
One does NOT have to receive medical training in the U.S. to practice as a doctor in the U.S.
There are different careers for those who received medical training in the U.S., a career could be patient care centric, or medical research centric, or little from both.
College Studies that are related to Medical Science in the U.S.
Pre-med majors and courses. This article Which undergrad majors are best for med school? published in 2021 on the American Medical Association (AMA) website is a good one for starters, STEM majors are obviously popular ones, while many medical schools students also hold a bachelor’s degree in social science and humanities (Read this article on How to Choose a Pre-Med Major from PrincetonReview). And Pre-Med Worksheets for The Official Guide to Medical School Admissions help pre-med students to prepare for their coursework and extracurricular activities in high school and college.
An interesting article on how tech changes medical research (and possibly medical practice) - How Artificial Intelligence is Changing Radiology, Pathology. [more to come…]
BS/MD Program: A typically 6-8 year dual-degree program that has been constructed by undergraduate universities in partnership with some local medical schools to provide high school seniors with conditional acceptance into medical school. The two degrees, Bachelor of Science (BS) and Doctor of Medicine (MD) are offered to students who successfully graduate through both undergraduate schools as well as medical schools.
Most of such programs are open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents only, sometimes prefer to in-state or neighboring state residents. This is because that many medical school partners in those BS/MD programs belong to the public universities in their states and are funded largely by the state government. Therefore, BS/MD programs are NOT good choices for international students unless the students fulfill the citizenship requirements. Canadians sometimes are considered but it highly depends on the program.
Todd Johnson, as an expert IEC in this field, has a book BS/MD Programs-The Complete Guide: Getting into Medical School from High School which he updates annually and sells on Amazon.
Some private schools that offer BS/MD (or BS/DO) programs are listed (++ denotes international students are considered and + denotes Canadians are considered). These schools might be more approachable for international students and out-of-state U.S. applicants. Pitzen College (BS/DO, CA), George Washington University (DC+), Howard University (DC++), Nova Southeastern University(BS/DO, FL++), Mercer University (GA), Spelman College (GA), University of Evansville (IN), Boston University (MA++), Bard College at Simon's Rock (MA), Drew University (NJ), Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ), Caldwell University(NJ), Saint Peter's University (NJ), St Bonaventure University (NY+), Adelphi University (BS/MD & BS/DONY), Hofstra University (NY), Hampton University (VA), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY), Rochester Institute of Technology (NY), Siena College (NY), Syracuse University (NY), Yeshiva University (NY), Union College (NY), University of Rochester (NY++), Case Western Reserve University (OH++), Drexel University (PA), Wilkes University (PA), Washington & Jefferson College (PA), Brown University (RI++), Baylor University (TX), Rice University (TX), University of the Incarnate Word (BS/DO, TX)
Learn more on DO and the differences from MD from this article on Mayo Clinic.
Early Assurance Program (EAP) - EAP is a way for a student to guarantee a spot in medical school early on in his or her undergraduate career, often prior to even taking the MCAT exam. Learn more about EAP on ProspectiveDoctor which also lists some programs. You can also cross-check with schools that provide BS/MD programs, and there are similarities.
Sometimes MCAT could be waived (but keep in mind that those EAPs are very competitive for admission), which makes the programs essentially the same as the BS/MD programs, except the guarantee is given not at the beginning of college enrollment.
Pre-health Colleges Page on Spotlight Schools powered by CollegePoint.
Medical School Chance Predictor on ProspectiveDoctor - a great and free tool to make an educated guess on the odds of getting into medical school.
MCAT, USMLE (Board Exam), and NRPM (The Match)
Term definition and Consequences
Before medical schools (4-yr or more): The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is taken by prospective medical school students.
At medical schools (4-yr or a little more for most people): The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE, also known as the Board Exam) is a three-step examination program for medical licensure in the U.S. Students need to pass Step 1 after their second year and pass two Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) and Clinical Skills (CS) exams during the fourth year.
Some BS/MD programs waive the MCAT tests, some still require a reasonable MCAT score for conditional acceptance to the medical school.
Students get their Doctor of Medicine (MD) when they fulfill the degree requirements by the medical schools and pass Step 1 and Step 2 exams in USMLE.
After the medical schools (usually 2 or 3-yr for one residency): The National Resident Matching Program (NRPM, also known as The Match) is prepared for medical school graduates. They need to successfully find a residency training program but it’s not 100% guaranteed because there are always more applicants than positions. Students need to pass USMLE Step 3 after the first year of residency. Once the students finish their first residency and pass USMLE Step 3, they obtain their licenses as practicing physicians in the U.S. Some specialists need to participate in one or two more residency programs for additional training.
International students could practice medicine in the U.S. as an international medical graduate (instruction from AMA official website) as long as they fulfill the medical degree requirements (the school must be searchable at the World Directory of Medical Schools database), pass the Board Exam within 7 years, and complete an accredited residency training program in the U.S. or Canada. Some articles for the references.
International medical students could take Step 1 or Step 2 CK outside the U.S. physically, and international medical graduates who seek entry into U.S. programs of Graduate Medical Education (GME) could apply for a J-1 or H-1B visa that permits clinical training to provide medical services.
Why America Needs Foreign Medical Graduates, an article published in The New York Times in 2017.
According to the Fact Sheets published by the Migration Policy Institute in 2020, nearly 29 percent of all U.S. physicians, 22 percent of nursing assistants, and 38 percent of home health aides are foreign-born; together, foreign-born workers make up 17 percent of the entire health care and social services industry.
This is not an easy journey though. Read the article Highly trained and educated, some foreign-born doctors still can’t practice medicine in the US published on Public Radio International (PRI.org) in 2018.
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Registered Nurses (RNs) & Pharmacy Degree in the U.S.
[more to come…]
Financial Aids for International Students
Understand the Cost of Attendance
Cost of attendance (COA) is the estimated annual school cost, including tuition and fees, books and supplies, room and board, transportation, and personal expenses. For international students, the tuition rate is usually higher than domestic students. And the international transportation costs are much higher. The miscellaneous costs also include visa interview costs and medical expenses (when needed) etc.
Expected family contribution (EFC) is the estimate from the federal government of how much money your family can afford to pay toward your college education. Domestic students will fulfill the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) Form to calculate their EFC. Yet since FAFSA is not available for international students, EFC for international students will be the full COA in most cases.
The CSS (College Scholarship Service) Profile. Besides the FAFSA for domestic students, The CSS Profile is another way for the universities and scholarship programs to learn the financial situations (like family’s income, assets, and expenses) of the applicants in and out of the U.S. Check 2021-22 Participating Institutions and Programs on CollegeBoard and learn more on The CSS Profile for international students. The data could be entered in your home currency and CollegeBoard will do the currency conversion using their IDOC (Institutional Documentation) Service.
Please be aware of the fact that, for many universities, international students who do not apply for financial aid at the time of admission are ineligible to apply for financial aid for the duration of the course of study. So students and families need to budget for the total COA in the next four years.
Need-blind versus Need-aware. Need = COA - EFC. Read this article of Need-Blind vs Need-Aware and Meeting Full Financial Need from SCOIR. Many schools are need-aware for international students, meaning that financial circumstances are considered in the admissions process.
Certification of Finances Form (COF) - This is the institutional policy for financial documentation required for all international students. See this example of COF from Wesleyan University. Please check the Financial Aids information on the schools of interest because -
The name of such documents varies from institution to institution, and so do the details on the documents.
Some schools require to submit COF materials at the application stage. Some require only whatever is needed at CommonApp or Coalition Application during the application stage, and request COF once the student is accepted and need a Form I-20 for visa interviews.
Financial Aids Opportunities for International Students
THE BEST resource on financial Aids for international students based on the Common Data Set (CDS) Initiative data complied by Jeff Levy and updated annually.
CDS data are provided by each participating institute annually, and Jeff’s spreadsheet includes COA, the number of international students, aid policy available (need-based, merit or no aid), average financial aid award size, and percentage of international students receiving aids.
Need-blind universities for international students (read the article from Forbes) - There are only five schools in the U.S. that are fully need-blind for international students. These are Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Amherst College.
Financial Aid for Undergraduate International Students-USA (updated by the end of 2017), a Tableau map-view chart originally sponsored by College Advising Corps (CAC).
International Student Need-Based Financial Aid Resource with ~130 schools that provide decent scholarships for international students. Most of the schools are private schools or liberal arts colleges. The spreadsheet is powered by CAC.
Small liberal arts colleges with higher acceptance rates tend to be some of the best options for international students looking for “match” schools, but there are definitely other options out there. The spots are limited. Apply early is the best strategy.
Jeff Levy’s International Students Financial Aids (FA) data in spreadsheet in descending order for the Average FA Award for schools that have at least 90% international students receiving aids.
U.S. Accredited Universities Abroad
For students from a few countries like China, South Korea, Qatar, and nearby countries, it might be an economic way to study at U.S. Accredited universities abroad to save some money on tuition and international flights.
When we about American universities outside the U.S., this wiki page lists all such universities but only those U.S. Accredited count.
Association of American International Colleges and Universities - check the current member list, many are universities in the Middle East.
There are some popular ones among international students because of the partnership with the prestigious home universities in the U.S. For instance
Bard College Berlin (Germany), Georgia Tech Lorraine (France).
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Georgetown University in Qatar, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Northwestern University in Qatar, Texas A&M University at Qatar.
Rochester Institute of Technology (UAE, Croatia, China, Kosovo), New York University [Shanghai (China), Florence (Italy), Dhabi (UAE)].
Duke Kunshan University (China), Mason Korea (South Korea), SUNY Korea (South Korea).
Opportunities to Pay Less as International Students
Good Merit Aid Schools and International Students page on Spotlight Schools powered by CollegePoint.
Information on playing College Sports & Athletic Scholarships by sports type on Scholarship Stats.com
Work College Consortium - Work Colleges are an exceptional group of four-year, degree-granting, liberal arts institutions that engage students in the purposeful integration of work, learning, and service. Students are paid for their work which helps offset the cost of tuition. There are eight work colleges in the Work Colleges Association plus Ecclesia College in Springdale, Arkansas.
Some scholarships by Schools
The Wesleyan Freeman Asian Scholarship Program - Full scholarships for a four-year course of study toward a bachelor’s degree for up to eleven exceptionally able students annually from these countries: the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
[more to come…]
F-1 Student Visa Holders
U.S. F-1 Student Visa Applications & Interviews
Student Visa info page at the U.S. State Department’s official website. This is the single source of truth for the F student visa policy, eligibility, the application process, and costs. You can also check the current Appointment Wait Time at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in your region on the same page.
Learn Form I-20, a Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status, the redesign of Form I-20 in 2016, and new electronic Form I-20 issuance guidance on ICE.gov/COVID19.
EducationUSA is a U.S. Department of State network of over 430 international student advising centers in more than 175 countries and territories.
They provide information on a host of topics including (a) the admissions process and standardized testing requirements (b) how to finance a U.S. education (c) the student visa process (d) preparing for departure to the United States.
You can find an advising center in your region and check what service they could provide for you (see an example of EducationUSA in Guangzhou, China).
EducationUSA has close ties to U.S. Embassies or Consulates and works with International ACAC (international chapter of National ACAC) institutional members including higher ed institutes in the U.S.
Prep for Visa Interviews (third-party vendor service). Learn students visa interviews insights from ex Visa Officers at Argo Visa, read the blog article Applying for an F-1 Visa after COVID.
Argo Visa is a company founded by former Consular Officers who have conducted thousands of visa interviews in U.S. embassies and consulates around the world during their careers with the U.S. Department of State. One of the videos shared in the above-mentioned blog was recorded at Argo Visa’s info session for International ACAC members in 2021.
Case-specific Administrative Processing - this is NOT unusual for some Student Visa applicants. Read the Administrative Professing info page at the U.S. State Department's official website [more to come…].
10 Points to Remember When Applying for a Student Visa, an article on the NAFSA (Association of International Educators) website.
F-1 Visa Interview: Questions & Answers Guide for Students, an article on the Shorelight website.
Understand INA Section 214(b) Visa Qualifications and Immigrant Intent. Keep in mind that Student Visa belongs to the nonimmigrant visa categories, and you need to be prepared to prove strong ties to your home country during the interview.
Full Course of Study
For F-1 student visa holders, it is important that you understand and fulfill the “Full Course of Study“ requirement (read the official definitions on the Department of Homeland Security website). Keep in mind that, the definition could be quite different for a K-12 school student and a college student. There are also some special circumstances that you may want to pay attention to.
Reduced Course Load - International students sometimes could still legally be considered as “full course of study“ enrollment while having a reduced course load de facto due to academic difficulty, medical reasons, and/or the last semester of the program. You can search the keyword “reduced course of student“ and the college name to learn the specific requirement to learn the details. For instance, here is the Part Time Study policy page at the International Student & Scholar Services (ISSS) of the University of Connecticut.
Reduced Course Load for Academic Difficulty - This is extremely helpful for international students who need time for initial adjustment to the English language, U.S. teaching methods, or reading requirements, or improper course level placement. But there are some prerequisites and they’re more or less the same at different schools. See an example form of the Reduced Course Load Approval Request Form (revised in 2015) from the University of Kansas.
The student must attempt a full-time course load before requesting a reduced course load for academic difficulty.
The student must enroll full time and attend all classes during the first stage of classes (could be the first one or few weeks), and until he/she has otherwise received a new I-20 from ISSS granting authorization to drop below full time.
Given the nature of reducing due to academic difficulties, in general, the student must be in the first academic year of the program to qualify.
The student may only have a reduced course load for academic difficulty one time per program level (i.e. Bachelor’s, Master’s, etc.) And changing schools or changing majors does not make him/her eligible for a new period of reduced course load.
The student must maintain at least half-time enrollment after reducing the course load and must resume full-time study in the next available semester.
Online Course and Distance Learning - traditionally, students who take online courses only are not considered to fulfill the “Full Course of Study“ requirement.
However, due to COVID-19, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) modifies temporary exemptions for nonimmigrant students taking online courses during the Fall 2020 semester. You may want to read the news on July 6, 2020, from the website of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
And here is a more recent article - Can New International Students Take Online Classes published in June 2021 from US News.
Optional Practical Training (OPT)
Optional Practical Training (OPT)
Optional Practical Training (OPT) is temporary employment that is directly related to an F-1 student’s major area of study. There are pre-completion OPT and post-completion OPT. Eligible students can apply to receive up to 12 months of OPT employment authorization. However, all periods of pre-completion OPT will be deducted from the available period of post-completion OPT.
Read the details of OPT for F-1 Students at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) office website. Please consider this page as the single source of truth and it is updated all the time.
A student only has one OPT opportunity per program level (i.e. Associate’s, Bachelor’s, Master’s, etc.) And changing schools or changing majors at the same educational level does not make him/her eligible for a new OPT opportunity.
Transferring to a Different School or Beginning Study at Another Educational Level - If a student has an active OPT during the transfer, the authorization to engage in OPT employment will automatically terminate. A new I-20 Form from the new school will be issued by the new school. So the SEVP (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) will inform USCIS of the termination date, and USCIS will terminate the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) accordingly.
Curricular Practical Training (CPT) Versus OPT - You may want to consider the curricular practical training opportunity (CPT) before applying for a pre-completion OPT. Please refer to the CPT official webpage at the Department of Homeland Security for more details. Shorelight also has a great article that tells the differences between CPT and OPT.
The Major Area of Study - The U.S. Department of Education (ED), which collects and reports data about these programs of study, developed the classification of instructional programs (CIP), see the article of CIP at the DHS website. In most cases, it’s called a field of study, a major, or a major area of study. You can find the CIP title and code on an I-20. Refer to the STEM OPT Extension section to learn the importance of CIP for some students.
Co-op Education for International Students & Curricular Practical Training (CPT)
For the main article, please check our STEM Education & Career resource page Co-Op Education in the U.S and Canada.
Employment & Unemployment on OPT
A student does NOT need to have a job offer in hand before applying for the OPT. Yet during the period of OPT authorization, a student should be working or actively seeking employment. The first day of work should be on or later than the start date of the approved EAD card.
Check the details of What counts as "employment" on OPT at UC Berkeley’s F-1 Optional Practical Training (OPT) webpage. Please note that multiple employers and unpaid employment (like volunteers or unpaid interns on the initial 12-month OPT) are both allowed as long as the employment is related to the student’s degree program.
Students on post-completion OPT may have up to 90 days of unemployment. The 90 days start counting from the approved OPT/EAD start date and are cumulative. See the Unemployment Counter webpage at the DHS for more details.
Cap-gap Extension. For F-1 students who work under the OPT EAD and have a timely filed H-1B petition with the change of status requests, if the students’ F-1 status and employment authorization would expire before the change of status to H-1B occurs (typically October 1 when each Fiscal Year starts), the students may be eligible for a cap-gap extension. See the official explanations and procedures of Cap-gap Extension from the USCIS website.
STEM OPT Extension
The official definition of STEM OPT Extension is that certain F-1 students who receive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees may apply for a 24-month extension of their post-completion optional practical training (OPT). See the official webpage at USCIS.
STEM-major official definition. See the STEM Designated Degree Program List created and updated by the DHS in May 2016. More importantly, check the Major 1 and Major 2 (Minor) at the Program of Study part of an I-20 Form to see whether the CIP (Classification of Instructional Programs) Code & Title is available on the DHS STEM program list. Read more details about the CIP of the degree programs at the DHS website.
Check the Major/Minor Code on the I-20 Form to learn eligibility for the STEM OPT extension.
E-Verified Employer - Different from a regular 12-month OPT, STEM OPT Extension requires an E-Verified employer. E-Verify is a web-based system that allows enrolled employers to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the U.S. The E-Verify registration doesn’t take too much time nor needs a complicated process (see the E-Verify Manual), yet it is absolutely required for all STEM OPT Extensions employers.
Some companies, especially in the tech industry, might provide a contractor role (through a staffing firm that’s an E-verified employer) instead of a full-time employee position while they’re in the E-verify process. This is something a STEM-major OPT job seeker could take into considerations.
Benefits of STEM OPT Extension. This is a well-discussed topic. In short, a STEM-major student will have up to 36-month OPT time to work as an F-1 student in the U.S., up to 150 days of unemployment (regular OPT 90 days of unemployment included) during the whole OPT stage, and more opportunities to enter the annual H-1B Petition lottery if he/she wants to stay in the U.S. permanently after finishing the education. Keep in mind that an F-1 student visa belongs to the nonimmigrant categories, the H-1B visa type allows dual intent (see 9 FAM 402.10-10(A) (U) INA 214(b) and H Visas at The Foreign Affairs Manual and associated Handbooks from the U.S. Department of States), which means a pathway to citizenship.