The first week of classes

Those of you who have enrolled in an overseas university now feel excitement, uncertainty and bit of nervousness: that moment you’ve thought about for years has arrived. You will now study in an overseas university!

You want things to go well. You’re not sure how things will go. You want to make good first impressions on professors, peers and others than you encounter.

First things first: relax. You got in to the school and program you wanted to attend. If you didn’t get in with your first choice, you got in with your second choice. Or third choice. Don’t worry about what you didn’t get now; focus on doing the best you can with the opportunity that you have. You hit your target. Life is good.

Things will seem new and disorienting. You will feel confused from time to time. You will make mistakes.

It’s OK.

If you don’t understand something, ask for help and/or insight regarding what confuses you. You may feel a bit embarrassed about this, but never mind that.

By asking, you’ll get the problem sorted out more quickly and more thoroughly than if you just muddle along on your own. Here’s a pro-tip related to this point: when you ask for help, ask for a simple, straightforward solution to the problem. But don’t stop there; also ask why it this process has been built in the way you encountered it. The reasoning matters because it can help you to develop insight that you can put to use in understanding other encounters. Becoming more insightful and autonomous will build your confidence.

So… who do you ask? Probably the first and most reliable person to ask is a Chinese student who has attended this university a year or longer than you. Better still, find a Chinese peer who attends the same program that you do and talk at length with this person about how things work in the program. Pay keen attention to the surprises and frustrations that this person encountered during their first year (or two) in the program. By talking with someone in Chinese, you will avoid confusion about language and cultural tendencies.

While doing this may seem to solve the problem, it will not solve the next problem. To deal with that one — even before you encounter it —track down an “insider.” An insider might be an administrative worker in the department where you attend classes, a teaching or research assistant with knowledge of the systems operating in the department where you have enrolled or even a faculty member associated with this department.

While the peers in your cohort, and even those in the cohorts ahead of you, have relevant experiences about taking courses, managing workloads and avoiding problematic personalities, insiders know the department from an entirely different perspective. These persons know how systems operate and the reasons why faculty and administrators designed these systems.

Gaining insight and understanding about such systems can help you to anticipate and sidestep potential problems. Using insider knowledge can help you to “settle in” to the situation while living and studying abroad; life becomes less confusing and feels less random. This will help you to establish a workflow. Getting into a workflow will help you to manage energy more effectively.

If you find that you genuinely enjoy spending time with one of these insiders — especially those who with more experience than you in your chosen field or a wide range of related fields — begin to cultivate this person as a mentor. Mentors help us to “see the path forward.” I have found that spending time with mentors and seeking their guidance has allowed me to see work in a broader, more systematic perspective. Moreover, mentors have helped me to avoid pitfalls and seize opportunities. Managing a mentor across a language barrier or sociocultural divide will add a layer of complication to the process, but insight and generosity coming from the mentor will usually overcome such obstacles.

For instance, a person that I served as an undergraduate thesis advisor during the years when I taught in Zhuhai at the United International College stayed in touch with me after she enrolled in a U.S.-based master’s program. I helped her to manage some administrative and sociocultural difficulties that she encountered. During her graduate studies, she connected deeply with one of her professors in this program; he played a crucial role in guiding her transition from student to professional. When she became a professional, she connected with a senior worker in her field who helped to provide coaching and feedback on her work, which helped to expand her client base.

You won’t cultivate a mentor during the first week of classes, but start looking for this connection right away.

Of course, while looking for capable and generous people who might become mentors, you will also encounter people and situations that complicate your path forward. For instance, you might take an elective course that you thought would add to your professional skills, but after sitting through the opening class meeting, you realize that this course does not fit your professional aims at all. I recommend that you drop the course. Look for a course that meets the professional aims that you have in mind. You can “shop around” during the first two weeks of class meetings. To speed up the process, you could meet professors during office hours to discuss your professional aims, to read over the course syllabi for classes you have considered taking and narrow the set of possibilities down to two or three options. Do note: seeing a professor BEFORE enrolling in a course taught by that professor is completely acceptable. However, do your due diligence: find out when the professor has office hours and visit each professor during her posted office hours.

Another typical first-week problem is this: you might take a required course — let’s say Econ 101 — from a professor whose lecturing style seems abrasive or confusing. If this happens, drop the section of the course taught by this professor. Then enroll in a section taught by a different professor. Typically, for large lecture-style freshman/lower-division courses, universities will offer more than one “section” of basic courses. Changing professors is not only acceptable, It’s a standard practice in most overseas programs.

Finally, I will mention that many courses—especially professional courses (e.g., business school class) and lab-based classes—will require students to form work teams. While you will probably want to work with Chinese students to avoid language problems and embarrassment, I strongly encourage you to form working teams with students who share your profession aims.

First, doing so will force you to listen to more English and speak in English. These two practices will help yiou to improve your written English. Second, working with people focused on similar career aims will help you to learn about that field as it is practiced overseas. For instance, your teammates will mention types of jobs that will fit your interests and skills. Teammates will mention companies that offer jobs in your area of interest. You will converse formally and informally about work and preparing for your careers, which will build up a body of examples that you can refer to during job or internship interviews. And when you feel confident enough, you can share your insights and ideas with the work team. By presenting your thoughts, you will learn to think more clearly and gain valuable practice in presenting your ideas to others.

When I taught at The University of Southern California, I saw many Chinese mainland students miss opportunities to deepen their educational experiences while studying abroad. However, with a few simple adaptations you can avoid these shortcomings.

I will have more to say about the early days of your overseas studies experiences in next month’s column.