myUface Blog

We here at myUface want to take a moment to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving.  And, as Thanksgiving is a holiday that encourages all of us to take a moment and reflect on the wonderful things we’ve been provided in our lives, I want to share something I’m thankful for, that helps explain a little bit the spirit behind this website.

I am extremely thankful for the fact that I was born in a country – through no merit of my own! – where it was very easy to keep informed about colleges and universities.  When I was 17, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and I certainly had no idea where I wanted to go to university.  I was very lucky that in the U.S. universities bend over backwards to reach out to students.  Every day it seems I got lots of mail from universities advertising their programs.  Then, at school, we had guidance counselors whose job it was to help us find colleges and apply to them.

At the time, of course, all of this seemed normal to me.  When I worked abroad, though, I got to see how difficult it is in some countries to find out about universities and apply to them.  In some of the countries I have worked in, students have to be extremely dedicated in order to have a chance at getting into any university, and they certainly don’t have someone assigned to help them.  For them, the thing I took for granted – having lots of universities contact me and show interest in me – is almost impossible.  I was constantly amazed  by the maturity of the students I met.   Had I been faced with such difficulties at seventeen, I very much doubt I would have succeeded.

So I am thankful for the accident of being born in a country where my lack of drive did not penalize me.

And this is a large part of the reason why we created myUface.  We hope that through this website we can make it easier – even just a little bit easier – for those hard-working, dedicated students abroad to find the university of their dreams.  We hope we can extend the benefits we enjoyed as American students – the benefits of having universities contact us, reach out to us, compete over us - to students from the rest of the world.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Your academic record does matter.  However, most universities will also consider your work experience, recommendations, essays, test scores, and other factors.  Just because you don’t have perfect grades does NOT mean you won’t be of interest to U.S. universities.  At the same time, you may want to work extra hard on the other aspects of your application in order to compensate for an average academic record.

This week is International Education Week, and you can take advantage by learning about the array of events going on around the world.  IEW events are great places to learn about U.S. universities and academic programs, and to meet and network with other students who may share your interests.

You can read about IEW here, and an online directory of events is here.  You can also contact your local US Embassy, or check their website.  Finally, your friendly neighborhood Education USA Advising Center should have all the information you need to take advantage of International Education Week.

Take a moment and read this article about Abilene Christian University and its decision to integrate mobile technology – iPhones and iTouches – into its classrooms.  Fascinating, huh?

A few points:

• this is the kind of innovation that goes on all the time at U.S. universities, and makes them the best in the world
• notice that such innovation doesn’t only happen at the big famous schools everyone has heard of.  How many international students have heard of Abilene Christian University?  If this mobile learning trend succeeds, my guess is this university’s profile is going to go way up.

What do you think?  Can you imagine learning with an iPhone?

Today on our tour of U.S. States:  North Dakota, the Peace Garden state.  Hey, that sounds nice!  Who doesn’t like peace and gardens?

The rugged wilderness of North Dakota

Activities

Once again, we’re in a state where most of the activities involve putting on a good pair of boots and going out to see Mother Nature in all of her glory.   As this list of activities from North Dakota’s tourism site shows, there are A LOT of different ways you can experience the beauty of North Dakotan wilderness.   North Dakota offers more opportunities than most states to see nature via horseback or motorized vehicle (such as an ATV, or All-Terrain Vehicle).  The state offers a unique chance to see a lot of untouched wilderness – it is the 19th largest state, but is has the 3rd least amount of people.  This means a lot of empty space.

Extracurricular activities

Sports and outdoor activities.  That’s what you can expect the focus of extracurricular activities to be.  Of course, like every other state, universities in North Dakota will have all the usual activities too (drama, debate, etc.).  But if you go to North Dakota and fail to experience the out-of-doors, you’ll be missing out.  Expect a special emphasis on winter sports such as skiing, hockey, etc.

Social Activities

Universities in North Dakota will offer a very eclectic mix of social activities.  The universities will be in medium-sized towns with all of the amenities, so if you’re a lover of all things urban, you’ll be able to survive.  At the same time, the universities will be home to many students from rural areas.  The mix of rural and urban student populations creates a good mix of activities and perspectives.  Contrary to any stereotypes Americans might hold about North Dakota, universities in the state boast the full range of cultural facilities, including art museums, theatres and concert venues.  In short, you won’t find a lack of a social life to be a problem.

North Dakota has art museums, and don't let people tell you differently!

Tourist Sites

We’ve already mentioned the nature, but it’s worth mentioning again.  I’d also like to put a word in for the culture in North Dakota – it is at the same time the state with the largest church-going population in the U.S., and a state with a large Native American population.  As such, it really offers a very unique view into several different American subcultures.  If you’re interested in experiencing new cultures, it’s an attractive choice.  And let’s not forget Theodore Roosevelt National Park, home to some of America’s great vistas.

Wow. Enough said.

Weather

Are you by any chance familiar with the Billy Joel song, “I Go To Extremes?”

Darling I don’t know why I go to extremes
Too high or too low there ain’t no in-betweens
And if I stand or I fall
It’s all or nothing at all
Darling I don’t know why I go to extremes

Little known fact:  it was written about the weather in North Dakota.  OK, not really.  But it could have been.  North Dakota, according to Wikipedia, “has some of the most extreme temperature variations on the planet.”  If, like Billy Joel, you go to extremes, this could be the place for you.  Having said that, North Dakota’s heat waves last only a day or two according to this site on North Dakota’s weather.  In fact, if you are interested in studying in North Dakota, but are scared by the weather, visit this site and it’ll cheer you up.  You can learn that

Winter is the grandest season of all to many North Dakotans. It is the season for snowmobiling in open and uncrowded fields, for such vigorous outdoor recreation as ice skating and ice hockey, for basketball, and for visiting with friends and neighbors. There is no medicine like a crisp North Dakota winter morning to put spring and vigor into the steps of old and young alike.

And also that

North Dakota’s delightful summer season is at its best in June, July and August, and is perfect for all outdoor activities. The days are warm, sometimes even hot, but nights are one-blanket cool for restful sleep.

Can I come too?

Cost of Living

Here’s some good news. It costs roughly half of what it would take to live in New York to live in Fargo, North Dakota (51.2%, to be exact). And salaries are only 24.8% lower.  Translation:  it’s a good place if you’re on a tight budget.

Source is here.

Notable Universities

Here’s a list of North Dakota’s fine universities.

Posts in this Series

1. Choosing a University in the U.S.: North Dakota (This post)
2. Choosing a University in the U.S.: Minnesota - 12 Aug
3. Choosing a University in the U.S.: Alaska - 31 Jul
4. Choosing a University in the U.S.: Utah - 24 Jul
5. Choosing a University in the U.S.: Colorado - 21 Jul
6. New myUface Guide and New Series - 20 Jul

In honor of those international students who are arriving in these weeks on U.S. campuses, I though I might post this excellent introduction the a subject all international students should be familiar with:  culture shock.  Enjoy!

The goal of the myUface blog is to collect, in one place, useful information for international students interested in studying in the Unisted States.  For new visitors to the blog, I wanted to create a quick list of the highlights from previous blog posts.

• We started out discussing the benefits and disadvatages of studying in the U.S.
  
• We talked about how you might go about looking for a U.S. university.
• We started a podcast.
• We looked at the idea behind financial aid and also provided you with loads of advice on how to find some.
• We explored university rankings and their limitations.
• We provided summer and fall timelines for preparing an application to a U.S. university.
• We shared our perspective about how to prepare for visa interviews.
• We began to look at the fifty states and what it might be like to study in each of them.
• We discussed how you might handle rejection by a U.S. university (and we hoped you wouldn’t have to).

This is just the beginning.  We’re going to keep sharing as much information as possible in the hope of helping you attain your dream of studying in the U.S.

Please remember to share your questions and comments with us as often as possible.  You can leave a comment on any blog post, and you can always e-mail us at blog@myuface.com.

Yesterday we shared a brief excerpt from Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat, in which he talked about the skills you need to succeed in a globalized world.  Today, I’d like to share another excerpt, in which Mr. Friedman discusses the ways in which U.S. universities support exactly these skills.

Before I do, and for the benefit of those interested in the ongoing debate about globalization (what it is, whether it’s good, etc.) I want to mention that Mr. Friedman certainly has his critics (for example, here).  Nonetheless, his views are valuable at the very least because they represent a strong current of thought regarding globalization and its impact.

With that disclaimer out of the way, here is Friedman on U.S. universities (with a big assist from Bill Gates):

It is a truism, but the more educated you are, the more options you will have . . . “Our university system is the best,” said Bill Gates.  “We fund our universities to do a lot of research and that is an amazing thing.  High-IQ people come here, and we allow them to innovate and turn [their innovations] into products.  We reward risk taking.  Our university system is competitive and experimental.  They can try out different approaches . . . It is a chaotic system, but it is a great engine of innovation in the world . . .”

“America has 4,000 colleges and universities,” said Allan E. Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education.  “The rest of the world combined has 7,768 institutions of higher education.  In the state of California alone, there are about 130 colleges and universities.  There are only 14 countries in the world with more than that number.”

. . . [I]n 2003, American universities reaped $1.3 billion from patents . . .

In other words, U.S. universities innovate and take risks in order to adapt to a changing world. What’s more, because of the sheer number of universities, they do so on an unprecedented scale, and in a vast array of fields.

For that reason, if you are interested in sharpening you skills in terms of innovation and adaptability, you won’t go wrong by investing in a U.S. university for your higher education.

Here at myUface, we continually recommend to international students that they give serious, prolonged thought to their future careers before they apply to U.S. universities.  Doing so will focus your thoughts during the application and essay-writing process, and lead to a better, sharper application – one with a much greater chance of being accepted?

We hear from students quite often, however, that thinking about what they plan to do so early on in their lives is a difficult challenge.  Before introducing today’s blog post, let me first of all say, that’s OK, you can always CHANGE your career plans – but it’s still a good idea to have some!

Beyond that, though, I thought it might be useful to give all of the readers of the blog an insight into where the global economy is headed, as a tool for you to use in thinking about your own careers.

The following is excerpted from Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat, a national bestseller here in the United States that introduces us all to “globalization.”  I would recommend that anyone interested in understanding the global economy today, and the direction in which it’s headed, should buy this book.  For now, I wanted to focus on two sections:  one (today) about the skills that workers of tomorrow are going to need in order to be successful; and the second (tomorrow) on the ability ot the U.S. educational system to impart those skills.

What Skills Do You Need To Survive In A Globalized World?

The way to succeed [in a globalized world is] . . . by upgrading your skills and making the investment in those practices that will enable you . . . to claim your slice of the bigger but more complex pie.

You have to constantly upgrade your skills.  There will be plenty of jobs  . . . for people with the knowledge and the ideas to seize them.

You actually want to become really adaptable.  You want to constantly acquire new skills, knowledge and expertise that enable you constantly to be able to create value . . . . Being adaptable in a flat world, knowing how to “learn hot to learn,” will become one of the most important assets any worker can have . . . because innovation will happen faster.

Atul Vashistha, CEO of NeoIT, a California consulting firm . . . has a good feel for this:  “What you can do and how you can adapt and how you can leverage all the experience and knowledge you have . . . that is the basic component for survival.  When you are changing jobs a lot, and when your environment is changing a lot, being adaptable is the number one thing.  The people who are losing out are those with solid technical skills who have not grown those skills.”

In short, it’s not enough to simply know information or possess skills.  You have to know how to be able to use those skills and apply them to new situations.  You also have to know how to learn new information quickly and efficiently.  The watchwords of the age are:  innovation and adaptability.

And as we’ll see tomorrow, these are precisely the attributes that U.S. universities specialize in cultivating in students.

In the United States, large, “public” universities – universities that are supported in part by the government – are, generally speaking, supported by state governments.  The University of Texas, for example, receives some level of financial assistance from the government of the State of Texas.  Each state usually has a few university systems – with many different campuses scattered throughout the state – each receiving state money.  In Colorado, for example, you have both the University of Colorado and Colorado State University.

Now, state governments support these “public” universities so that they might provide quality, affordable university education to residents of that particular state.  The universities, in turn, offer what is called “in-state” tuition to residents.  In-state tuition is a discounted tuition rate offered only to residents of a particular state.  Residents of another state have to pay more to attend that particular university.

So, for example, if I live in Denver, Colorado, the tuition to go to the University of Colorado would be approximately $7,000; if I live in Boston, Massachusetts, the tuition would be approximately $26,000.  THAT’S A DIFFERENCE OF $19,000 / YEAR, OR $76,000 OVER FOUR YEARS!

Holy Cow!

“But,” you say, “What does this possibly have to do with me?  I don’t live in Colorado, or any other state.  So all you’re telling me is that I’ll be stuck paying the higher tuition.  Thanks a lot!”

Not necessarily!  Some university systems have established rules that allow them to offer in-state tuition to international students.  This is one of the largest potential sources of financial aid.  As the above example shows, if you are accepted to a state university that provides you with in-state tuition, essentially you’re receiving a scholarship worth – in the above example, at least – $76,000!!!

A few things to know about in-state tuition discounts for international students:

• Not every state school offers them
• Sometimes you have to wait for your second year to be eligible for the discount
• Many in-state tuition discount programs operate like scholarship competitions, with only the best students getting the discount.  There may even be a separate application process to get the discount.

The bottom line is, if you’re applying to a “state” or “public” university – and we’ll have a post later this week on the different kinds of U.S. universities – make sure to ask them if they have a program that offers in-state tuition to international students.