Benefits of being an International Student
When an international student is in an unknown country to study, there are many difficulties he will meet. The difficulties in which the international student finds himself will help him train his abilities.
Personal Experience
Before I came to the U.S., I did not know what my major would be. The major was accounting, which was chosen by my parents. They told me the accounting major would make it easy to find a job after graduation from the university. I accepted their decision and chose accounting to be my major. However, after I took the course of accounting, I hated that major because I found there were many things I needed to remember and understand, other than calculating. So, I told my parents that I wanted to change my major to Math because I liked calculating. My parents agreed with my decision because they thought their kid grew up and knew what he wanted to do in the future.
Life Skill
After I came to the U.S., the first difficulty I met was how to take care of myself when my parents were not there.
Most international students do not cook or do housework in their original country. After coming to the U.S., most people know how to cook and how to clean the house.
In China, most students who prepare for going abroad to study don’t know how to cook, move or do housework. After coming to the U.S., the Chinese students acquire the ability to cook and move. They know how to package their things when moving from an apartment to another apartment.
My friend TianYuan Shi told me: “ I did not know how to cook before I came to the U.S.. But, right now, I know how to cook delicious food and how to package my things before I move from my old apartment to another apartment because my parents cannot come to the U.S. to help me do everything, and they have jobs in China.”
What makes the Chinese students learn these skills?
In the U.S., if the bill includes the labor cost, the fee will increase. Here is an example.
My friend wanted to move from the Illinois to Florida. Driving would take 17 hours. That was not including the breaks. My friend and I went to borrow a truck and a trailer for his car from U-Haul. He wanted a person to help him move, and he asked a U-Haul worker.
“Could you help me drive the truck form Illinois to Florida?” my friend asked.
“Yes. But that will be expensive,” the worker from U-Haul answered.
“How much if you guys help me move?” my friend asked.
The worker used a calculator to calculate something for several minutes. Then he said: “Well, I live in Illinois. If I drive the truck to help you to go there, I will drive that truck back from Florida to Illinois, so, it will be $4800.”
I was surprised at that price. My friend asked again: “If I drive the truck to go there, should I return that truck to this town? If not, how much will it be?”
“If you drive there on your own, you don’t need to return the car back. You can leave the truck at U-HAUL of Florida. Then, the price will be $1200 including the truck and trailer.”
After my friend thought a few minutes, my friend finally decided that he did not want to hire the worker to help him move. The labor cost was so expensive. Without the help from the U-Haul, the cost is $1200. With the labor from the U-Haul help to move, the cost increased by $3000. My friend thought that it was not worth it to ask a worker to help him move because he thought the $3000 could do many other things, other than hiring a worker.
How did he finish his moving? I helped him move from Illinois to Florida. After the experience of helping him move, I knew how to drive a long distance and how to move which were experiences I would not have gotten in China.
So, the Chinese students do not do everything by themselves in China because they can hire a worker to help them. However, in the U.S., hiring a worker will cost much more money than not hiring a worker. The Chinese students do everything by themselves in order to save money. In this way, Chinese students can learn some news things which are good for them.
Patience
After dealing with life problems, there is a new difficulty the Chinese students need to face. That is patience.
In the U.S, making an appointment is a normal thing. However, when Chinese students have just arrived in the U.S, they don’t understand the concept of making an appointment. If Chinese students want to see their instructor in the colleges or universities, they would go to the instructor’s office to see if the instructor is in the office or not. In the Chinese students’ mind, they think that the instructor should be on the campus all day. If there was a question the student wanted to ask the instructor, going to see the instructor would help solve the question.
However, in U.S, when the student meets important people like professors and doctors, the student must make an appointment. Sometimes, when sending an e-mail for making an appointment for a professor or doctor, and they do not reply immediately, Chinese students need to learn how to wait and be patient.
Staying in the U.S.
After Chinese students have studied in the U.S. for 2 or 3 years, they need to think about their future. After Chinese students graduate from the universities, they should make a decision — to stay in the U.S. or go back to China. Most Chinese students will figure out how to work in the U.S. and get a H-1 B visa.
When Trump became the president and changed the policy about H- 1 B, everything became different. The United States Congress published the policy ‘H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2017’ in January 20, 2017. The purpose of that policy was to protect the place of work for the citizens of the United States.
“The policy establishes an H-1 B visa allocation system, with first priority reserved for aliens who have earned an advanced degree in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) from a U.S. institution of higher education.”
This information shows that the people who major in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) can get an H-1 B visa easily because the United States needs those talented in those fields to stay here.
The major of most Chinese students is STEM related, so they have a chance to get an H-1 B visa easily. If the Chinese student got the H-1 B visa, they would have an opportunity to stay in the U.S.
The stress of life in the U.S. is not as bad as in China. Like Yang Lang (media mogul, TV host, often called “the Oprah of China”) said, the salary of Chinese students who just graduated from the university is $400 a month, and the average rent is over $500 a month. If somebody wants to work at a big city like Shanghai in China, the rent would more expensive than $500.
According to this chart, the people whose major is computer science can earn $30,000 when they graduate from a university in the U.S., so every month, they can earn $2500. The salary of people who have just graduated from the university in the United States is five times greater than in China.
In addition, in Yang Lang’s speech, she also mentions that if Chinese people want to buy a flat in a city, they must work 30–40 years to afford it. A house is more expensive than a flat in China. So, some Chinese want to get H-1 B and stay in United States because they can earn more money and buy a house in the U.S..
