Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Moving your entire life from one city to another can seem daunting but imagine moving everything to a new country or continent. While the experience brings countless challenges, it is also equally rewarding. Balancing personal, academic, and extracurricular commitments paired with social challenges can be overwhelming. I feel for you, my fellow international Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) students. So here are some anecdotal tips on how to succeed in university (as an international student):
- Be yourself: Never shy away from sharing your experiences with others. As an international student, you carry unique stories and perspectives that you can leverage during social and professional scenarios. During club and co-op interviews, interviewers want to know you better, and being able to share those one-of-a-kind stories sets you apart.
- Participate in extracurricular activities that you find worthwhile: Not only will you have something that takes your attention away from academics, but you will also be able to meet a community that shares similar interests and can motivate you to succeed in whatever venture you pursue.
- Converse with students who aren’t international students: For many, it can seem more comfortable to establish a social bubble with other international students because it makes them feel at home. Break through that comfort zone and expand your network beyond that. Students within the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) community are incredibly open-minded and welcoming. I attribute a big part of my pleasant experience as an international student in AFM to the people I’ve met and how they were so helpful in enabling me to transition smoothly to an unfamiliar environment.
If you implement these tips with 100% effort, you’ll make significant progress in succeeding professionally and socially as an international SAF student.
(source: trust me, bro).