Obstacles to Study as an International Student in U.S

By Abdullah

Many international students have considered U.S colleges and graduate schools as the opportunity for a bright future, and many of those students who are in the U.S or abroad planning to go to the United States soon would face many obstacles. Here are the obstacles and difficulties that international students would face before or after being in the United States:

          1)      English Proficiency: English proficiency is one of the obstacles that educational organizations in United States require international students to prove their English proficiency by taking whether International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). International students are required to take one of those tests which cost between 170 and 210 dollars in order to get a high score on one of them and then apply to a university to get an admission. However, foreign students whose native language is not English would have to study English in one of the English as Second Language schools (ESL school), and that would be hard to find an appropriate school that may teach those English as it is supposed to be learnt. Additionally, the tuition fees in an ESL school would be quite expensive to handle for a long time period that could be more than 15 months, and there is no another choice if a student wants to stay and practice English by meeting native language speakers instead of attending classes in one of those ESL schools because not doing so would let him to be sent back to his country be the Immigration System of the United States.

          2)      Standardized Tests: International students are required to take one or more than one standardized test in order to be qualified to be admitted in an educational organization in the United Stated. SAT is one of those aforementioned tests, and Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) is one of the requirements if an American or international student wants to apply for a college. Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is a test that designed for students who want to apply for business school to gain whether master’s degree or PhD. Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is designed for undergraduate students who want to attend a science graduate school in order to get a master’s degree or PhD.

         3)      Homesick: Many international students would yearn from time to time to their home country and their families, and that would impact them negatively. Additionally, some of them would be discouraged by homesick to continue studying in the United States, and then they would go back to their home countries without finishing their studies in the United States.

Regardless those obstacles, many international students from different countries have fought those obstacles, and then they have returned to their countries handling their degrees with a pride of that achievement.