After I graduated from middle school, I moved to an international school in Beijing where they had the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. When I talked to my parents about my college options, they said I could either stay in China and take the 高考 (gaokao; the National College Entrance Examination), which is like going through hell, or I could go abroad to the US or the UK. Throughout my three years in high school, I thought about it. At my international school, I really liked to work with teachers and students from all over the world. So then I decided that I want to study abroad. After the Liberal Arts College Tour in Beijing where I met Vassar’s Admission Officer Sarah Fisher, I started looking into Vassar, and then I applied. In high school, I didn’t speak English quite well at first. I had to catch up with all the classes. The IB course is not exam-oriented; it’s more like you do investigation on your own and go to class, which involves personal growth. At that time, I wondered if it’s just systematically better than the Chinese educational system. After I graduated from high school, I really thought I grew up a lot, not only in terms of knowledge, but I felt like I became a well-rounded person and learned communication and organization skills. I guess I would be a completely different person in the Chinese local system. When I first came to Vassar, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. However, my first-year writing seminar Education Opportunities in the US helped me realize that I enjoy looking at educational issues and reflecting on my
own experience. In my second and third years, I took classes in the Chemistry Department and learned I am also interested in STEM. I still wanted to be in the lab, but I didn’t want to be a lab nerd, so I’m taking both Science and Humanities classes as an Education and Chemistry double major. Most of my friends are people whom I live with or take the same classes. It’s not a big campus, so whenever I can always find anything I need. For example, if I have questions about biology class I want to take, there is always a friend who can answer these questions. I think building friendships is very crucial in college life. And I’m glad that I have a lot of good friends who helped and inspired me. You know, having friends is an indispensable part of life. In addition to friends, all of my professors have been really nice and supportive. Thanks to all the support from friends and professors, I don’t feel like I’m any different from people here. Same goes for my identity; I don’t feel like my identity has changed since I came to the United States. I still identify as an international student, but I also feel like I’m part of the bigger Vassar community. Being an international student is just one side of my identity. There are some assumptions people make about Chinese students. “Oh, they are good at math and they always sit alone.” I want to emphasize that these are all just stereotypes. International students are quite a diverse community, and we really want to make friends with everyone. That’s what a lot of my friends and I are doing and I’m really proud of that.
photo courtesy of Naike Ye
photo by Yvette (Yijia) Hu 55