This year is my second year at Mount Holyoke College and my third year in the States. Yet even after so much time here, there are still moments when I realize how culturally different Americans are, and I feel like screaming, “I don’t belong here!”

I contacted my friend Dmitry, who is finishing his third semester as a Fulbright Fellow at Iowa State University, to ask him how he was feeling about American academics so far.

We both went to university in the same city in Russia, so I thought it would be fun to compare notes.  As it turned out, we didn’t always agree on how the American style of education is different from what we’d experienced before, or why.

Here’s our conversation on:
- Classroom behavior
- The relationship with professors
- Personal conversations
- Homework and grading
(click to jump to that section)

On classroom behavior

Anna: I will never forget when in my first year in the U.S. a girl sat next to me in the front row of a morning class and, as the professor was speaking, put her breakfast on the table and started eating. First, she peeled an egg. Then she spread jam on her toast slowly. I thought to myself: “Oh my god, I hope the professor won’t notice!”

It felt so awkward to me and all I wanted at that moment was for the professor not to notice her eating. Later I learned that in an American classroom eating and drinking are totally acceptable and it doesn’t upset me anymore when I see Mount Holyoke students eating their breakfast or lunch in class.

In one of my classes at my Russian university I felt thirsty and went to get a drink. I wasn’t even going to drink it in class; I just put it on my table. However, when the professor noticed that, she paused to scold me. Yes, right in the middle of her lesson!

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Being a student in the U.S. is different in a lot of ways than what I experienced back in Russia.  Classes are taught differently, schools are run differently, and grades are doled out differently – some for the good and some for the bad.  Here are the top 10 things I’ve had to adjust to as a student in America.  Would they be as different for you?

1. Your grades are private

Louis Shackleton bucks the trend and posts his first semester grades

While in the U.S. students’ grades are not revealed to the whole class, in Russia it is the opposite. It is common for a Russian professor to announce students’ grades publicly in the presence of the whole class. It is also common for Russian professors to put a list of students’ names and grades next to the names on their office door, so everyone at the university can see the students’ grades.

» Read more about why Americans don’t share their grades publicly

2. Your parents are not involved in your academics

Another policy in line with the previous point is the habit of colleges in Russia to call or write letters to students’ parents if students do not do well academically. This is what American students would probably take as a violation of their privacy.
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Question #3 in our Q&A event comes from Joseph who asked:

how is academic and also how can l get a scholarship to study.

Comparison of a lecture classroom (top) and a seminar classroom. (Creative Commons photos by Flickr users Mira and Marcus Ojeda)

Classes are generally taught either “lecture-style,” which means the professor lectures the whole time, or “seminar-style,” which means most of the class is devoted to discussion.  You’ll probably find that intro-level classes are more likely to be lecture classes, while higher level classes may be more discussion-based.  Classroom participation often makes up a percentage of your final grade, even for lecture classes.

We’ve discussed in the past some things that might be different in the U.S. education system compared to what you’re used to.  In particular, you’ll probably have assignments due throughout the semester, rather than one single final examination at the end (although final exams are still important, and stressful).

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There is an undeniable excitement about coming to study in the States – one reason why some international students do it – but it’s not all excitement.

You're about to hear the truth about schoolwork in the States...

Yes, it is America. Yes, it is the land of freedom. Yes, it’s the place where different cultures clash…and live together in peace. However, you guys might agree with me, it’s not easy to leave home, to leave the security of being surrounded by the family, friends and people who loves and care about us.  And doing it raises some questions:

Is it worth it? Can you rise up to the expectation? And are you competitive enough to survive America?

You might be sitting in front of your computer watching a show or a documentary about America, which tells you about the breathtaking view of skyscrapers in the Big Apple, New York City, the beautiful warm weather in San Diego, and the huge parties along the beaches of the Sunshine State, Florida.

Just so you know, it’s all true and they did not lie to you. I remember I had an adrenaline rush the first time I visited Times Square in NYC. I can’t find any words in the dictionary to describe how I felt at that moment. Someday, when you get lucky and go there, you will know what I mean.

Beaches are the best. We do party and we do have lots of fun with friends.

Unfortunately, TV and movies never show the other side of what students have to do to survive America.

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There’s a great discussion happening on Quora between a group of Singaporeans discussing what it’s like to study in the U.S.

A lot of what they talk about we’ve discussed before, such as trying to fit in but maintain your home culture, or being in a minority ethnic group for the first time.  But these two stood out to me as things we haven’t really touched on:

1) Transitioning to American English

Hongwan Liu writes:

Singaporean English is so completely different from American English that using what we think of as ‘English’ would be an insurmountable communication barrier to Americans, yet we know no other way of speaking English. The need to learn a new way of speaking doesn’t really occur to you till you actually arrive in the US, and when it finally hits you, it suddenly becomes a struggle to speak what is technically your first language. I must say the American accent is really unnatural to me: it took me the better part of 3 years to achieve an accent that is not really American, but at least not placeable as being clearly foreign.

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Creative commons photo by Flickr user Chapendra

These are my favorite two posts from last semester.

The first one is a compilation I liked since it breaks the stereotypes and stands up for an ideology that had been falsely attacked.

The second one is a post from Jamie that I found particularly helpful and I think a lot of college students may have done so too.

#1) We are Not Terrorists: Muslim Experiences on Campus, Question of the Week

#2) Guide to Getting Through Final Exams, by Jaime

Shu Wen Teo (Photo from her Twitter account, @shuwenteo)

Shu Wen Teo is a sophomore at Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire, where she studies biology (and chemistry, and business administration, and would study political science too if she had the time).  She comes from Malaysia, and in addition to keeping up her busy academic schedule, she has devoted a lot of time to helping other Malaysian students learn about studying in the U.S.

Shu Wen has participated in education events back home in Malaysia and runs the Malaysia Scholarship blog – a blog devoted to finding and publicizing scholarship opportunities for Malaysian students.

We talked over Skype recently about her struggle to adapt during her first year at Colby-Sawyer, why she’s grateful for her liberal arts education, and how studying in the U.S. has changed her as a person.

Have you had a good experience so far?

The first year, not really.  I was really passive when I first came here, probably because of the culture shock. … Then the second year I started to get active and I got involved in the cross-cultural club particularly, and promoting cultural differences in the college.

I’m looking forward to the junior year, actually, because things have been getting better.

Did you ever regret your decision to come here?

A little bit, actually.  Because the way of teaching and learning system here is really different and I was not used to it.

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Working on a class assignment

By the end of this semester I will have a total of seven graduate-level classes under my belt.

Although different professors have had different teaching styles, I think I’m finally getting used to what to expect from a graduate school political science or history class.

A lot of class discussion

All but one of my graduate school classes have had less than twenty students. Such a small class size means that participation in class discussions is often a large part of our final grade (about 20-25%). Even if it isn’t, our professors always make clear that they expect us to actively raise points and engage with one another in class.

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New Year's Eve in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo courtesy NamDao)

So 2011 has commenced. I am now onto the fourth week of my winter break here in Vietnam. Basically I am exhausted from all the travel, not to mention the tremendous amount of food I have tried to stuff myself for the last three weeks. I figured I better try to take all in, as fast as possible: the “home” food, the warmth, the rain, the exotic fruits, the incense-filled air, the unique feel of Tet holiday coming…because in exactly one week, I will be stepping on a plane that carries me back to the dry land of Santa Fe to start off my second semester at St. Johns’ College.

Actually, I am excited and a bit nervous thinking about this coming semester: excited because I miss the college and my friends, nervous because the periodic stress from first semester is still dawning on me. It is certainly not a good thought to enter the new semester with. Nevertheless, this is an opportune moment to look back at my fall semester in 2010 and review what I have done right and wrong.

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Responding to the New York Times article “The China Boom,” a Chinese student at the University of Illinois takes a deeper look at life for himself and his Chinese classmates.

For two weeks I asked other Chinese students in the U.S. to tell me about their lives. Some were acquaintances, others complete strangers. As far as they’ve told me, they aren’t “booming” at all, not even close – they are troubled, isolated or sleep-deprived.

It’s a brutally honest and insightful look at the different ways people respond to coming to the U.S., and worth a read.

As the new year approaches, we’ll be looking back at some of the best posts from the past year (well, the past 3 months, but who’s counting), using scientific criteria, like the number of views, and less scientific criteria, like my personal preferences.  So, here we go!

The top 5 most viewed posts of 2010:

# 5) Reality Show of International Students’ Life in America, by Tara

And before he knew what was happening, he found himself being secured by two policemen, hands behind his back.

# 4) Trick or Turkey: Getting into American Holidays, by Nareg

I come from a close-knit family, and perhaps especially because I am currently away from them, I’ve found real beauty in the togetherness and fellowship that forms a big part of the Thanksgiving holiday.

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Creative commons photo by Flickr user tripu

Hey, everyone! How did your midterms go? Easy A or tough B? The language difficulties may make us feel less confident than we were in our home countries in terms of academic performance. But the truth is that all international students in America are extraordinarily smart, and that is why we are here.

The most important attitude that we should always hold is that our ideas and thoughts are not worse than any native speaker although we may not speak and write as fast as they do.  See? Got some confidence?  Here are some most frequently encountered problems for international students studying in the U.S., and I will give you some advice/ tips/ tricks to overcome them!

Oh, I miss out on a lot in class, what should I do?

When English is your second language, it is normal that you may miss some things the professor says in class.  This happens to everyone, but definitely more to second language speakers.

[Read more advice about and experiences with studying in English]

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Studying in the U.S. isn’t always fun and easy.  Sometimes it gets hard – really hard, as international student Irene from Malaysia shares:

The projects are pilling up, due dates are around the corner, exams are indefinitely coming soon in 2 weeks’ time and the contents of every courses are extremely difficult. Well, everyone would say this is what a graduate life should be and it is always more challenging than undergraduate. I do agree with that but the expectation is so high here and the pressure is just so intense that there are a few people who blackout  in labs or while working on projects.

I sometimes think of my graduate program at George Washington University as a rite of passage.  It helps keep me motivated through those 12 hour days in the library, when I worry that I’m wasting the prime years of my life cooped-up in books.

Students at the Global Resources Center

I remember what my political science professor said on our first day of class: “If you’re a graduate student, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be reading all the time.”  He was talking about the trials of graduate study and his personal approach to teaching.  Of course, last week he appropriately assigned 553 pages on the comparative historical analysis of revolutionary change.

I think a lot of professors share that mindset though.  I met last April with my former Russian literature professor, who gave similar advice that, as a young man at this point in my life, I should be working my fingers to the bone.  His exact words: “Now’s the time to be like Stoltz!” – a particularly industrious, and awesome, character from Ivan Goncharov’s Oblomov.

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