Before starting college at Ball State, Judy Zhu went to high school from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. No weekends. No breaks. If she had a boyfriend, her parents and teachers would tell her to break up. Life, as she describes it, was a lot of pressure—all leading up to being accepted to a university.
Now, at 22, she laughs as she talks about how much going to college in America has changed her perspective on the future and her relationship with her parents.
As thousands of students start school for the first time, there are also international students like Zhu, who came to Ball State three years ago to study Business Administration. After getting her undergraduate degree in May, she now studies Fashion Merchandising.
“I was supposed to attend this program while I was a sophomore, but I’m the only child and my parents didn’t want me to go away so when I was a sophomore,” Zhu said. “I attended a study abroad group during my winter holiday where I went to the East Coast, West Coast, Stanford University, Harvard University and then I said, ‘Oh my gosh that is a culture shock, but I love it.’ Once I went back, I told my parents I must go to America.”
Last year, Zhu was one of 1,034 international students at Ball State, making it the first year that Ball State reached 1,000 students, which was part of the strategic plan. Brigit Anthrop, the International Student Advisor, said this is a major accomplishment for the school.
“We are hoping that we will maintain that and still continue to grow a little bit,” Anthrop said. “We hit it ahead of where the actual 5-year plan would end, in 2015. We’re proud of that one. When President Gora started, there was closer to 3 or 400 international students. Within a 10 year period we have really increased our enrollment a lot.”
With so many international students coming to Ball State now, Anthrop said the culture shock can really affect students making the transition to college in America.
“I think it’s a little easier for the students who have a large group from the same country, or people who sort of share a culture, because they can sort of ease the transition a little,” Anthrop said. “At the same time, that can be somewhat of a hindrance if they stick only with those students, because then they’re not really adjusting to American life, they have their small enclave of ‘we have this life and we happen to be going to school in the United States.”
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