United States

Making friends at university can seem daunting, since most of your high school friends will have gone on to other colleges or other occupations, or are even in an entirely different country. As an international or native student, you can position yourself in a good place to make friends simply by being open to new experiences, attending new events and by starting up a conversation with a passer-by. Here are a few tips to get started:

1. Participate in orientation week events

When considering prospective universities, testimonials from fellow students can bear a significant weight on your final decision. After all, who better to evaluate an institution’s teaching, social life and amenities than the students who are experiencing it first hand?

Knowing how much time you will have to interact with members of staff at your prospective university is an important factor to be aware of. 

You will want to know how much time you’ll have talk about your progress, what opportunities you’ll be given to ask questions during lectures and how much participation there will be in discussions. 

Based on the answers of more than 200,000 students across the US in the 2019 US Student Survey, we’ve put together a list of the universities that provide the best opportunities to interact with faculty. 

Looking for a prospective university requires balancing a number of elements: teaching quality, career prospects, location, size and the opportunity for socialising. While it is crucial that you place teaching quality and course content at the top of your priority list, it is also important that you take into account a university’s social scene. 

As an international student, there are so many different processes you’ll need to understand and navigate when applying to universities in the United States. Here’s a breakdown of the three most important aspects: admissions, funding and visas.

The international community at Harvard University adds another dimension to the educational experience. The diverse network allows for the views of students to be challenged and debated along a wide range of perspectives.