Having endured a decade and a half civil war while growing up in Liberia, Alphanso Appleton says his interest in a career in health care eventually took him to the other side of the globe — to Grossmont College, a community college in the San Diego area. Appleton, now a public health major, says the school’s health sciences courses and the city’s coastal living were key factors in his decision.
“As a surfer, the ocean has been a place of solace,” Appleton says. “This is important for my mental health; especially being from a fishing family, the beach is the closest thing that reminds me of my family.”
The U.S. has more than 1,000 community colleges nationwide, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. With so many to choose from, experts say it is important that students find the right community college fit for them.
[Read: What International Students Should Know About Community College Admissions.]
Here are three ways prospective international students can start their community college search:
— Look for schools with an international students webpage.
— Find colleges that help international students transfer.
— Contact current international students.
Look for Schools With an International Students Webpage
Not all community colleges have a separate webpage for international students, but those that do may provide some insight on how much they seek and support students from different countries.
For example, Midwestern Career College in Chicago “has an entire section of our website dedicated to international students,” says Jihoon Doh, an international student adviser at the school.
The MCC webpage features information about the school’s English as a Second Language program, programs for international students such as Understanding U.S. Culture, and how to connect with an admissions counselor through phone, email or Skype.
Sally Rubenstone, a senior adviser to College Confidential and a former admission counselor at Smith College, a four-year school in Massachusetts, says a simple Google search — using the keywords of “international students” plus the name of the college — “can be a valuable way to gauge whether or not a school is committed to those from beyond the U.S.”
She says sparse or hard-to-find information on a community college online “could translate into insufficient support for international applicants, while clear and extensive information should serve as a wide welcome mat.”
For example, she says the website of Riverland Community College in Minnesota highlights the fact that international students pay the same tuition as Minnesota residents.
“The detailed webpages for international candidates, which even include information about airport pickup, are a sure sign that Riverland is eager to expand its international student body,” Rubenstone says.
Other examples she cites include Paradise Valley Community College in Arizona and Kirkwood Community College in Iowa. Paradise Valley’s website includes extra help with topics like succeeding in visa interviews. Kirkwood’s site not only showcases the various services offered for international students but also the school’s Global Learning department, which seeks to engage every faculty, staff and student in an intercultural experience as part of their time at Kirkwood.
“I feel it’s especially welcoming for international students when an institution encourages all of its community members to better understand diverse backgrounds,” Rubenstone says.
Find Colleges That Help International Students Transfer
Another way to start the search for the right fit is to consider community colleges that help larger numbers of international students transfer to four-year institutions. This is an important factor to consider since most international students are likely attending a community college in order to transfer to a four-year university to earn a bachelor’s degree.
[Read: How International Students Can Transfer to a U.S. University.]
For example, “For 29 consecutive years, Santa Monica College has transferred more students overall to the University of California than any other community college,” says Pressian Nicolov, dean of the international education center at the college.
He says at the end of spring and summer 2019, 467 international students who were still residing in California transferred to four-year schools in the California State University and University of California systems.
Vietnamese national Summer Le transferred from SMC to the University of California–Los Angeles and will begin this fall. UCLA has been her dream university since high school, she says. When she initially Googled the community college that would be the best to transfer to UCLA, Le says, “Santa Monica College appeared as the first result.”
Bryan Lam, international student specialist at Grossmont College, says students should look for schools that have guaranteed transfer agreements. These are formal agreements between the community college and another institution that allow a student to transfer to a four-year university after completing a required set of coursework that meets minimum GPA requirements.
“An example is if you get an associate’s degree at Grossmont College, you are guaranteed admission into Arizona State University,” Lam says. “In the California community college system, there is a program called Associate Degree for Transfer, which guarantees that you will be admitted to a California State University institution if completed.”
Cascadia College in Washington has guaranteed transfer agreements with 20 four-year universities across the U.S. and Canada, Lisa Lyman, the school’s assistant director of international programs, wrote in an email.
“About 50% of our international student graduates transfer to the University of Washington campuses, and another 20 to 25% transfer to the University of California system. The rest transfer to universities all over the U.S. and abroad,” Lyman says.
Contact Current International Students
Experts say other international students who have taken the community college route can be a great resource. Prospective international students can turn to online forums like the one focused on c ommunity colleges on the College Confidential platform, as well as social media.
“Prospective international students can learn a lot about the college experience by connecting with current students at their school of choice,” says Talia Popovski, managing director of international student recruitment and global engagement at Valencia College in Florida. She says the school manages a Facebook group and an Instagram page for international students; the Facebook group is active and has more than 4,000 members.
“It’s common for prospective students to ask questions about housing, roommates, teachers, courses and life in the U.S. in general,” Popovski says.
[Read: What to Know About College Admissions Forums.]
Grossmont College similarly has a social media presence. “Instagram is great to see how campus life is; Facebook is good to see how students communicate with each other or how the school communicates to its community,” Lam says. “YouTube shows the stories of individual students as they go about their day.”
Students should also check Reddit forums and WhatsApp groups, he says. The platform of choice is usually regional, Lam adds, “so a person in China would most likely use WeChat to research; students in Brazil would use WhatsApp to find groups and to connect with other students; Line is a pretty widely used app in Japan; KaKaoTalk is big in South Korea.”
Both Lam and Doh say while such resources are helpful for getting general information, international students should not rely solely on them to make their decision.
“I’m a big advocate of using social media to discover information,” Lam says. “One caveat is that we currently live in an ever-changing world with rules and restrictions changing at a moment’s notice, so it is wise to speak with a school representative about the nitty-gritty of the application, transfer process, rules and regulations.”
Finding the right community college fit requires some time and effort. Appleton recommends that prospective international students prepare to do thorough research using all available resources.
“Grossmont College for me has been a home away from home,” Appleton says.
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Ways International Students Can Find the Right Community College Fit originally appeared on usnews.com
