10 Study Tips For Foreign Students In US

Are you planning to start studying in the US next year? Or maybe you are just looking for the best offers, grants, scholarships, and still not sure whether to take on such a challenge? While being a student is considered fun worldwide, it can be rather difficult to move to another country, especially when this country is not like yours by mentality, customs, and traditions, or even language.

We have collected some tricks that may be useful in case you decide to study at a US college or university. Some may be a closed chapter for you, some actually prove to be helpful.

 
Tips and Tricks to Succeed Studying in US

• Choose college or university wisely. We bet you think that this advice is too obvious. However, we want to warn you from deciding too fast on the educational institution in the US. The criteria you would use choosing a college or university in your country may not match the criteria for the best place to study here. Consider not only the rank of the university. Pay attention to the location and the cost of living there, internships provided by the educational institution thanks to its contacts with state and private companies, on-campus facilities, extra activities, etc. Don’t fall for a fancy name - choose what will really make you advance and build a career you want.

• Don’t forget about scholarships. We bet you would not miss an opportunity to economize a bit. What you need to know about scholarships is that it is important to apply for them in advance. If you want to catch a scholarship for 2021/2022 that covers courses starting in September-October, you better hurry now. The competition is rather tough in general when it comes to good scholarships, but everything is possible. If you are not sure you can write a quality scholarship essay on your own, it is better to address an essay writing service for foreign students to help you out. Your rivals will probably choose this way, and there is no reason to compete barehanded with experienced academic writers from SmartWritingService, for example.

• Know everything about exams and application requirements. It is really a splendid idea to address a consultant specialized in education in the US when it comes to exams and application requirements. If you didn’t grow up in this system, you would feel lost when it comes to SAT, LSAT, IELTS, TOEFL, etc. Even US students often address consultants who help them choose realistic goals in terms of colleges, scholarships, etc., and reach them. Don’t try to outsmart the system — work with it. 

• Meet new people and make connections. Ok, let’s assume you are already in the college of your dream and want to start on the right foot. No matter how difficult it can be, depending on your personality and previous experience, you have to make connections, meet people, and go outside of your own social bubble. It is very tempting to communicate only with people sharing your language and cultural background, but it is not very good for socialization and your future. Making acquaintances outside your bubble will help you both with your studies and maintaining stress in the long run. Feeling excluded can be truly painful, and though it may seem too difficult for now, you have to reach out. 

• Join after school activities. Do you like sports? No? Not a problem — there are many other after school activities. Don’t judge education in the US based on teenage serial movies. Talk with other students on campus, pay attention to the announcements, you definitely will find something worth your time and energy. Again, it is not only to make your life more fun but more likely to help you socialize. Also, you may be surprised, but it can actually help with your career. 

• Maintain your routines as much as you can. If something worked for you, try to keep it alive. If walking around the block before you go to sleep worked — keep doing it. If you started to study early and liked it – keep doing it, no matter what other people do. If you need to dress fully to be productive — don’t start following the pj-trends. The problem with today is that too many things have changed, and it is very important to keep what is left of our productive routines. 

• Request information regarding access to online libraries and other sources. You may feel like your professor is obliged to deal with it, to provide you with all the information from the very beginning, to make distance learning easier. However, professors, teachers, counselors are also in distress, and you should take care of many things yourself if you truly want to see a result. Make a list of the needed sources that became unavailable due to the pandemic and find out how you can replace them.

• Collaborate with other students. Work with other students when it comes to difficult writing assignments, challenging research, exchange of sources and ideas. You may try to form small academic help-groups. It is an obvious solution, but many students are uncomfortable asking for help from peers because they don’t want to look weak or different. Guess what? You asking for help may help others.

• Help others when and if you can (only!). We talked a lot about how important it is to help others, how socialization affects your future etc. However, especially in the pandemic situation, you need to remember a simple rule – like in the airplane, first, you need to put a mask on your face, and only later care about someone else. Assess everything based on the amount of energy you help. Don’t overdo it. Even if your life didn’t change too much with the pandemic, your mind is stressed, as it has never seen or experienced something like this before. Good luck!