When Cheng-An “Andy” Chang wanted to arrive on campus a little before his fall 2014 semester began at Hofstra University in New York, the Taiwanese student says he reached out over the summer to his peer mentor for advice on good hotels.
“She replied a few days later and gave me a list both in NYC and Hempstead around campus,” says Chang, who graduated in May 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Video/Television and Film.
Many U.S. universities have programs that assign mentors to incoming international students, such as at the University of California–Berkeley, the University of Minnesota–Duluth and DePaul University in Chicago, to name a few.
Experts says getting in touch via email or social media with a mentor can help students prepare before the fall semester or quarter gets under way. Here are some reasons for international students to connect with a mentor before starting in the fall at a U.S. university.
[Read: 3 Ways International Students Can Find a Mentor in College.]
Make local friends. For incoming international students, mentors can often be their first friend in a new country and university.
“Global mentors selected into the program act as intercultural liaisons to the new international students to assist them with their adjustment to life in the U.S.,” says Anne Mongillo, director of international student affairs at Hofstra University. “Global mentors provide friendship and a helping hand.”
Estela Vargas Kite, international program manager in the Office of International Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University–Indianapolis, says international students can connect with their peer mentors as early as May if enrolling in fall 2018. “I encourage students to connect as soon as they are able to benefit most fully from our program,” Kite says.
At most universities, one mentor is typically matched with a group of incoming international students. However, Kite says IUPUI uses a team-mentor model where students are matched with multiple mentors consisting of American and international students. She says this allows new students to have a support team that can guide them through their first year at the school. Kite says mentors are trained to answer all questions students may have before they arrive on campus.
At Washington State University, mentors reach out to students in May, says Deborah Herlocker, international student adviser in the Global Services Department of the school’s Office of International Programs. She says mentors can address any concerns for students planning their move to the U.S.
“We’ve found that not only does it help knowing you have someone there to help you before you come, but also ‘you don’t know what you don’t know,'” Herlocker says. For example, she says a common issue that arises when new students haven’t been in communication with their mentors early is booking their flight too late, which causes them to miss the mandatory orientation and go through a different process to enroll in classes.
Herlocker says mentors are trained to help incoming students know what to ask. “Mentors share information about themselves to connect with the mentees. If the mentees arrive early, they will often meet up with their mentors as well,” she says.
[Read: Consider First-Year Interest Groups as International Student.]
Get a personal tour guide. Even before their mentees step foot on campus, a mentor can take the role of a big sister or brother by giving new international students a heads up about best spots to study in the library, for example, and best places to eat on and off campus.
“Students want to know where to find familiar comfort foods. Global mentors can do that kind of thing,” Mongillo says.
By the time international student orientation occurs in late August, new students will already have had an opportunity over the summer “to get to know someone who is excited to show them how to navigate academic and cultural adjustments,” Mongillo says.
Transportation can often be a concern for incoming international students. Herlocker says students coming from big cities with good public transportation are often a bit shocked when they arrive at tiny Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport to get to Washington State.
“They just expect that there is public transportation that will get them from the airport to town. There is not,” Herlocker says.
She says mentors work with students to learn about their expectations and needs and then address those concerns from a student perspective.
Pakistani national Hafsa Naeem says she didn’t think strangers could help her out much when she initially contacted her team of three mentors before starting at IUPUI in 2017. But her mentors happily proved her wrong, she says.
“They helped by explaining the university and public transport system to me, informing me about on- and off-campus housing options, whether there were Indian grocery stores, where they were and any other questions I had,” says Naeem, who is majoring in mathematics with minors in economics and computer science.
[Read: Buddy Programs Help International Students Settle In.]
Get ahead on the to-do list. In addition to providing campus insights, mentors can get international students started on their to-do list ahead of their departure from their home countries and offer advice on how to accomplish tasks upon arrival on campus, like setting up a bank account, buying textbooks, getting a driver’s license and finding items needed for housing.
“They are trained to answer pre-arrival and post-arrival student life questions about registration, life in Portland, finding housing, banking, cellphones, finding work on campus, connecting with departments and more,” says Jill Townley, associate director of International Student Life in the Office of International Student and Scholar Services at Portland State University.
Herlocker says mentors at Washington State are encouraged to connect early with students, “so arriving students come in with an idea of what is needed and where to start.”
Chang, a mentee who later served as a mentor for two years before graduating from Hofstra, says students should ask any questions of their mentor far in advance, such as the weather in the U.S. or list of things to pack.
Naeem’s positive experience at IUPUI led her to apply to become a mentor in November of her freshman year. Now a sophomore, she says she hopes to facilitate a smooth transition for the new international students she is currently mentoring who may be hesitant and anxious like she once was.
“I also wanted to continue to be a part of this wonderful community,” Naeem says.
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Why International Students Should Connect With Mentors at U.S. Universities originally appeared on usnews.com
