The College Process: AISG Perspectives

The decision of where to apply for college is something all students feel anxious about, especially without the opportunity to get a first-hand experience.  AISG provides annual college visits where many colleges from all over the world give spiels about what their colleges can provide and what is required for application. However, it is safe to say that not every college that AISG students hope to attend will visit, which makes the process of selection more of a challenging task for new seniors.

Over the summer, many rising seniors participated in college tours around the world, consisting of walks around campus, input from current students, and information about the application process. However, AISG students often come from a different situation when applying internationally. Unless a student has a home base in the U.S., China is quite far away from many of our students’ first choices for college. This makes it difficult to find time for touring, and learning through a website is not always ideal for choosing where you want to live and study for the next four years.

“As an international student living in a foreign country, the desire to return home is undeniable,” said Italian c/o 2018 alumnus Marco Fiorito. “For many of us, this results in pursuing higher education in our home countries… Personally, living in China made travelling more attractive to me; experiencing new cultures and seeing new things always gave me something to look forward to. Wrestling between the desire to return home and to see new places, I chose a city that was undeniably European, and yet that I had never visited. The bias that living in China produces varies from person to person, each finding their own way to channel the experience and using it to guide their university choices, some finding that they prefer going home.”

“Living in China made me realize that I didn’t want to be at a small school. I wanted more freedom to meet new people and be able to go out and do anything I wanted to,” said alumni Elly Atwood. “I also looked for colleges that were in cities that weren’t too busy and too loud. I would definitely say that I had many interesting experiences living internationally, but it also helped me realize what, exactly, I didn’t want to continue experiencing for the next four years.”

As well as distance proving an issue, living in China can put an interesting perspective on the way students view colleges. Efficiency and accessibility of things like WiFi without a VPN, or the ability to drive, seem like everyday normalcies for people living outside of China, but are factors that plays into the selection process. Personally, I enjoyed the campus and environment of every college I visited, but I was apprehensive of whether it was my own bias that made me see the American colleges I visited in a better light.

“I like the idea of having more freedom in college. I also like how the States, for example, is less crowded and I would have more liberty to be independent,” said Senior Amanda DaCosta. The idea of having unlimited access to everything online and other benefits of schools outside this country definitely impacts how I selected which colleges I wanted to apply to.”

“It is easy for me to say that my experiences in China allowed me to have a clearer mindset surrounding what type of school I wanted to apply to,” said alumnus Ryan Bott. “I believe that these experiences are necessary even if they may bias the application process. I think being where I am [The United States] and knowing all the things I liked/didn’t like about China and living internationally in general influenced and helped me to select only the schools I knew I could succeed in and actually enjoy.”

College is a stepping stone towards your future, and everyone will have different experiences that shape how they will pursue their academic future after high school. Living in a foreign country can teach students new skills that will help them excel in college. These skills can range from techniques for learning a new language to maintaining an open mind towards new experiences. Personally, If I hadn’t had the experience of being dropped into a new environment where I needed to fully engage with a new culture, I don’t believe I would be as open to major changes as I am now, and college will most likely be a major transition for every student.

“I think that it depends on what culture you are coming from,” said counselor Julie Lindsay. “It depends on if you are approaching your college search from the perspective of being accustomed and comfortable in that culture, with all the customs and conveniences, or if you are approaching it from having been in international schools your whole life. Whichever way you approach it can determine the extent of bias you have over the college search. For example, if you are from North America, when you land, you often breathe a sigh of relief in terms of how convenient everything is in some ways. On the other hand, if you are applying to an American school having never lived there, there may be issues with the transition and adapting to a new environment.”

Although our college choices may be more complicated than those of some students living in their home countries and choosing to attend the school two towns over, our experiences living in China may give us a broader perspective as we make our choices, and a ready resilience next year when we begin the process of adapting once again.