First day at my new college.
As promised I’m back and ready to dive head first into details about my decision and the process I took when I decided to migrate for school. From young I knew that I wanted to attend school outside of Barbados. You see, my mom left Barbados to work in the US when I was quite young and I grew up saying I never wanted to attend university at home because I basically lived next door to it. However I would say that I really decided to take moving for school seriously when I applied for community college.
Wanting to be an obstetrician for as long as I could remember I decided that whatever subject I pursued would have to be transferable. I even took courses which were not apart of my degree at the time and was unable to get credit value towards my GPA but that didn’t matter. I’ve been volunteering all my life and that kept on throughout college which is always a plus on college applications. During my volunteer experiences I realized my dream career would be one that allows me to have way more hands on and one on one experience with people. Hence me choosing to go into nursing with my second choice being that of social work.
Then came the daunting process of finding a school. I really wasn’t too hooked up on where I applied to (country-wise). So applications were sent to universities in England, Iceland and CUNY colleges in New York (which to be honest was the most tedious of the three countries, some advice call CUNY a lot and stay on top of things to get stuff going). Surprisingly to me I got into both universities I applied to in England, the University of Iceland and the community colleges I wanted in New York.
Process of elimination had now begun… England though it would have been fun I had no close relatives and then the expense was not something I wanted to really put my family through. Iceland was HIGH on my list. I was really into this idea for school especially since finances were slim and I just needed to show I was able to cover living expenses for the the first year as tuition is free. But I would have to spend my first year learning the language. Back then this played a huge role in me choosing New York, along with the fact that I had family I could stay with and friends everywhere so I wasn’t totally alone.
With the choice made I had no time to waste. I had to get financial certificates filled out saying how I would afford school and living expenses for two years. With that taken care of I received my I-20 from the school which literally got to me on my birthday (July 27th), my visa appointment was the next day and I had to be in the US by August 1st. Some advice try not to cut it as close as I did.
Now don’t be fooled this process is not over night and especially with applying for schools in New York it can be quite aggravating at times. Whether it be the frustrations of going back and forth to previous schools (in my case secondary and community college) to get transcripts sent or the CUNY process which takes forever and each time you call you get a different answer to the same question, just remember this is just the beginning of your new journey and IT IS WORTH IT so stay the course.
I’ve battled with wanting to write a blog for just under 4 years now. So why now? Well first maybe I should have started this saying I’ve just graduated with my RN degree (my second associate) so there is a little break before starting on my Bachelors.
Finally it dawned on me, why not share my experience being an international student with you guys. I mean how many times have you had a question or query and googled it but couldn’t find the answer, annoying right?? Here, the plan is to go thru my experience from beginning till end. But not only answer questions based for international students but everyday college students as well. We’ll start from why I chose to migrate for school and go from there. I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts, ideas and experiences with all of you. I hope you guys get involved, let me know what you think and what you would like me to write about.
IamNatarie 