I came to Los Angeles in July 2017to begin a 15-month USC TESOL program.
After completing the course, I received my TESOL Master degree in December 2018 and applied for a one-year OPTHe is still based in Los Angeles.
In less than three years, I went to school, interned, found a full-time job, and stepped into the workplace.
The development of network information, such as various microbloggers in North America, Europe, and Australia, and youtubers have given everyone a certain understanding of the special group of international students.
My experience is actually a microcosm of the life of most international students, and I know that each one is a very precious gift.
If you wantLearn about the details of campus life in the United States or off-campus, as well as how to find a job during the OPT period, how to integrate into the job and seek better job developmentThen let's take a look at my story.
It all started with that flight three years ago...
USC Trojans Statue.
The plane was already slowly descending, and the city below was clearly visible.
The thought of starting a new life in this land after that, I had mixed feelings in my heart.
But one of the strongest thoughts at this time is: I hope Los Angeles will not be so hot! I have to carry my luggage, take the car to the dormitory, and go to the supermarket to buy necessary items, and if I do these operations in the hot temperature, I am sure that I will collapse.
Fortunately, the gust of wind out of the cabin made me feel that the heat in Los Angeles was dry, and although the sun was very strong, I didn't sweat a lot.
After arriving at the dormitory and settling in a bit, I began to look forward to the first day of school in three days.
The mood of the first day of school has been experienced many times, and this time is no different.
Thinking about what will happen to the new classmates, whether the course load will be heavy, whether the professors will be strict, whether the spare time will be boring (which turned out to be a very stupid idea)··
The first class was basically carried out in a relatively relaxed atmosphere, everyone introduced themselves to each other, taught the syllabus of the course, and assigned some reading tasks for the next week.
With some time left, I took a brief stroll around the campus.
Compared to some universities like the European Estate, the USC campus in the heart of the city is actually not large, after all, every inch of land is valuable.
The buildings on campus are all brick-red, and one of the libraries is often used as a filming location for movies and TV shows. Everywhere you can see ornaments composed of gold and red, two representative colors, andStatues of the famous trojan and tr**eler (mascots).
Foreign universities pay great attention to campus culture, and each university will have its own exclusive representative color and mascot, such as the bruins bear at UCLA and the Standford tree at Stanford University, which are all spiritual symbols of a school.
If the new students have time before the start of school, it is best to let the seniors lead them, or follow some student organizations to do an orientation on the campus, which is of great help to understand the geographical location and main functions of each building on the campus, the history and culture of the school, and some living facilities around the school.
Tsundere's tr**eler statue (it's the official mascot!) ）
Compared with the learning mode of "usually leisure and retirement, and the final exam is better than the college entrance examination review" in college, the learning rhythm of graduate students is still relatively tight.
Like I mentioned before,I only have classes three days a week, so I'm worried that my spare time will be boring.
Later, I found that this worry was too muchNot only do you need to read at least five articles of literature to produce a good article for a small essay or forum from time to time, but when you need to complete a large program, all the vacation time is used for group discussions, reading literature, making various PPTs, and preparing presentations.
Later in the course, because of the need to combine practice with theory, each of us was assigned to primary and secondary schools, junior high schools, high schools, and community colleges according to our research direction to audit courses, interview students, and obtain some data, so we had to stay in the probationary school for at least one day.
We teach small class sizes (as most graduate professional courses should be).In the process of writing, the professor will also make some academic suggestions for your article, and everyone needs to make an appointment with the professor to discuss the ** chapter, and then go back to revise it.
In this way, the fantasy that you can go shopping at major malls in your spare time, check in many attractions, and eat all kinds of restaurants has been shattered.
Now, when I pass by the library, café, and study room, and see students finishing their homework or group discussions with sad faces or emotions, I will recall the time when I spent time in the library until midnight because there were not enough references, in order to write a theoretical analysis, make a good class presentation, and stay in the library with my classmates until midnight.
Although it is a bit hard, since I have a dream to study in such a distant place, I am really sorry for the high tuition fees and such a superior learning environment if I don't get some grades.
Overall, the quality of USC's TESOL program is relatively high.
The professors themselves are very good, they take care of each student, and the academic advice they give is very professional and useful.
The curriculum is arranged in a very equal distribution of theory and practice, and each student has the opportunity to enter the classroom of an American school to experience the application of the educational theory of their choice in the classroom.
There will also be seminars by some famous teachers or sharing sessions by well-known alumni in the college, so that you can learn about many current news of education majors, which is convenient for future employment choices.
Classes are given to children at the probationary school.
In fact, although the learning process is a bit hard, everyone still knows how to make fun out of hardship.
From time to time, the college organizes some gatherings, you can eat pizza with the professor, share the food you bring from home, talk about life and ideals.
In the metropolis of Los Angeles, you can still find many night-time restaurants or food trucks that are still open when you go out late at night.
I remember many times after a group discussion, a few of us in the group would call an Uber and go to Shaanxi Liangpi near the school or a bowl of wontons to warm up.
When everyone gets together and puts aside the worries of studying, shares their interesting stories at the dinner table, and chats about the recent gossip, the joy and satisfaction are very unforgettable.
But here I want to mention the issue of securityMany metropolises are not safe at night, especially in the downtown of Los Angeles, where there are many homeless people and tent areas. Do not walk alone in these areas at night unless there is a car or several people acting in a group.
Although most homeless are friendly and do not interfere with the river water from passers-by, there are always some unscrupulous people or people who are overly excited by the effects of drugs to make some frightening behaviors.
For your own safety, try to avoid walking alone late at night.
A joyous gathering after the panel discussion.
In addition to studying, food, clothing, housing and transportation are also important parts of happiness indicators.
I will share some tips on life with you from my own experience, hoping that international students can experience the joy of living in a foreign country in addition to studying.
The first is the question of housing.
When I first came to Los Angeles, I didn't have a good rental time, and I went through three upheaval moves in the first month of my arrival, and every time I walked on the street with my baggage, I always had the illusion that I was a refugee in the United States. Unaccompanied and sweaty, and there is no signal on the mobile phone, it is really helpless to the extreme.
Therefore, students must arrange their own accommodation before coming, and only when they have a place to settle down can they do the rest of the work.
There are many off-campus student apartments near universities like USC, which are well-equipped (most of them bring their own furniture, so you don't have to worry about installing your own furniture), very safe (students are required to move in), and they are all within walking distance of the school.
For example, the apartment I lived in before was a small community of its own, with study rooms, gyms, hot spring pools, small restaurants, billiard halls, free dinners distributed one day a week, and a 30-minute school bus to and from school.
A lot of my classmates also live here, so sometimes you don't have to go to school for group discussions, you can just meet in the discussion room downstairs.
This type of apartment can be requested online in advance, or you can renew the lease with the seniors, which may be cheaper than the official ones.
Therefore, when you first arrive at the school, you can choose to rent a student apartment, and then you can choose an apartment or a single room close to your place of work.
Interior view of the apartment I stayed in before.
Before I came to the U.S., my mom stuffed almost half of my suitcase with all kinds of seasonings, pickles and snacks in order to make me feel the taste of home food in a foreign country.
When I desperately dragged this overweight box overBut when I saw the same products as my treasures in the major Chinese supermarkets, I almost fainted
If you study in Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, and other areas where there are many Chinese, you will find that there is not much difference between eating and China.
The Chinese district plaza is full of food
Restaurants large and small not only have a full range of domestic cuisine, but also Korean, Japanese, and Thai food.
Bubble tea shops and dessert shops are also new stores in China, and branches here will open soon.
While there are many kinds of restaurants, if you eat out every meal, your monthly living expenses will disappear at a bizarre rate.
At this time, it is necessary to awaken the soul of the Chinese little master in the body of each of our descendants of Yan and Huang, and do it ourselves.
Two months before my departure, I followed my mother to frantically tutor a few home-cooked dishes, not for the color and flavor, but for the shape to be satisfying.
After coming here, after buying a week's worth of ingredients at a Chinese supermarket, you can go home and try to cook some dishes slowly.
This way you will not only indulge in the satisfaction of "why am I so virtuous", but you will also save a considerable amount of money on living expenses.
Learning stresses "relaxation and moderation", and some entertainment activities must be interspersed in the intense study and life to make life enjoyable.
There are so many attractions to visit in Los Angeles, such as Universal Studios, Observatory, Walk of Fame, and some cosy surrounding islands and beaches such as Malibu and Catalina Island.
During spring and autumn breaks, you can also go to distant places to have a starlight camping or skiing trip with your friends, and leave some good memories of your study abroad life.
In addition to the regular rides, you can also go to some volunteer activities.
Each university will have a volunteer organization, and there will be some volunteer activities such as taking care of dogs, helping with the kitchen in the cafeteria, and distributing food to the church.
Every time you participate, you can meet some new friends and be exposed to some new fieldsWhat's more, these experiences can enrich your resume later on.
If you are a student with your own strengths and hobbies, various club activities in the school will be the best bosom friend platform.
I once stumbled into a female choir (although I'm basically an idiot), and I learned a lot of chorus knowledge during the weekly practice and rehearsals, and I also had the opportunity to meet some famous bel canto artists, **family, it was a wonderful experience.
Attend a lawn meeting before volunteering.
In the United States, the per capita car ownership is 08, that is, only one out of every five people does not have a car.
The car is the most important means of transportation, because the living facilities are relatively loosely distributed, and it is inconvenient to go without a car.
Although there are other alternative modes of transportation such as subways, buses and intercity trains, these modes of transportation are far less convenient than in China, and there are often some dangerous people on buses and subways after dark, and safety cannot be guaranteed.
I once took a bus with a female classmate at 8 p.m., and the drop-off point happened to be under a relatively dark and remote bridge hole, full of homeless tents.
The short 100-metre walk left us feeling more like sneaky thieves, and we never dared to take the night bus again.
There are not many international students who buy cars when they first come, firstly, they do not have the budget in this regard, and secondly, the process of buying and selling vehicles is more troublesome and tricky, and it is easy to be an unlucky "pick-up man".
Therefore, when you are on campus, you can choose Uber and other online car-hailing services, and you can share the fare with friends and classmates for long-distance rides.
When you start working later, you can get a driver's license, go to a regular dealership, choose a used car or lease a new car.
Hideaway Catalina Island
At the end of their studies, one of the most discussed topics was "Do you want to use opt-in?" ”。
OPT stands for Occupational Practical Training, which is a legal work period of one year to three years set by the Ministry of Education in order to enable international students to have practical experience.
Generally, liberal arts majors are one-year and stem-certified majors are one-year opt-out and two-year opt-extension, for a total of three years.
Most students choose to use this benefit, and if the employer is willing to sponsor your H1B (work visa) during the OPT period, then there is a chance to get a lottery to get a longer work permit until you get a green card.
However, OPT's job options are only for jobs related to the professional content, so you can only find the right one when looking for a job.
At the end of the program, I was inclined to use OPT, so I started to look for some companies to do unpaid internships to accumulate some work experience and prepare for the job search in the future.
As for Unpaid, it is because you can't get paid for your part-time job while you're in school, otherwise it's a violation of the law (if you want to do paid work while you're in school, you need to use CPT for students).
Since I majored in education, I found an American educational institution in Hollywood, which mainly engaged in international exchange programs, such as vacation internship programs, summer camp programs, and inter-school exchange programs.
My role is to reach out to schools in the U.S. to investigate which schools offer these programs or are interested in cooperating with them. There are also companies that connect with the United States, and arrange students who are interested in overseas internships into the internship programs of these companies.
Although this internship is not paid, frequent participation in the communication affairs of these projects can greatly improve various communication skills and outreach skills, and you can understand what the process of a project is from the beginning to the final completion; You can also get to know some of the best people who are engaged in this business, which builds up connections for later career development.
Therefore, for students who want to use OPT, this kind of internship needs to be planned in advance, otherwise it will be a great obstacle to job hunting if it is really the recruitment season.
In the process of internship, it is time to start applying for OPT.
Generally, the application must be started within 90 days before the end of the program, and after 60 days after graduation, you will lose your eligibility to apply for OPT and must leave the United States.
Regarding the content of the application, the international student office of the school will generally send a booklet to explain in detail, including the application timeline, how to fill in the application**, how to track whether the EAD card can return to China during the OPT period, etc.
There are also a lot of detailed strategies on the Internet, so I will not expand on the detailed description here, everyone plans their application process according to the timeline, you can check each other for errors and omissions when filling out the form, check the status in time, and try to fill in a stable address to avoid not receiving the card.
OPT booklet issued by the school.
Before you get your EAD card, the job search has become almost all of your daily life.
The school's job fair, the information on the recruitment**, and the contacts accumulated in the past are all good job search channels. The ideal is beautiful, but the reality is very cruel.
Due to the restrictions on status and working hours, many companies do not actually consider international students with OPT as the first choice for employees.
From the perspective of an employer, you can actually understand it.
After hiring this international student and putting in the effort of training, after a year of work, he was faced with the choice of whether or not to offer a sponsorship.
If you don't provide it, then the student will not be able to maintain the legal work status, and if you do, it will also take a lot of procedures, and some companies also have a limit on the number of sponsors.
In this dilemma, many employers will put up a "non-sponsor" sign when hiring, or tell you more bluntly "we only take citizens green card".
Because of this predicament, I experienced the painful time of attending various interviews for more than a month at the beginning of 2019 but not being able to do anything.
I wake up anxious every day, worried that I can't find a job and have to give up the precious opportunity of OP.
But you have to believe that there is no endless road, as long as you apply to enough companies, write a good resume and cover letter, and perform well enough in the interview, there will always be one or two companies that will throw an olive branch to you.
Therefore, when applying for a job, you must seek help from the school's career centerAsk them to suggest revisions to your application materials, or attend some career workshops to stay up-to-date on job postings and interview tips.
For example, a workshop once mentioned that for sensitive OPT status, in the interview, you should express to the examiner that you can solve your identity problem by retaking a degree, a PhD or other means, and emphasize your job advantages (such as bilingual), and get this job opportunity first. If the company thinks you're good enough in the future, they'll naturally consider sponsoring you.
I joined an education company in Pasadena exactly one month after the EAD card came into effect, and luckily they still had one last sponsorship spot left.
The job content is very similar to that of my previous company, so I got started quickly.
After getting acquainted with the company's various businesses, I began to follow the company's predecessors to receive some domestic study tours and training groups, and participate in the operation of these exchange programs, and the work content is very fulfilling.
A good company pays attention to the vocational training and career development of employees, so students should also pay attention to your employer after starting to work.
When you have been in a position for a long time and are already very familiar with the content you are doing, you can consider higher-level management work.
For example, when I first joined the company, I was assigned to a project team and worked as a specialist in the group, so after a long time and I am familiar with the entire division of labor and process of the project, should I consider being a program mananger to lead the whole team?
Because managers have higher requirements for the ability of managers and the ability to coordinate and divide labor, this has become a part of career development.
In the process of work, you should always think of jumping out of your comfort zone and challenging yourself to higher level abilities.
My little desk.
For students who do not provide sponsorship by the company, after the one-year OPT ends, they have come to a "stay? Or return to China for development? "A watershed.
There is no right or wrong choice between these two options, but to choose a path that you will not regret according to your own plan.
Students who want to stay should consider switching jobs to a company that can provide work visas before the end of the opt-in process, or consider other ways to stay.
Students who think that the domestic employment situation is also very good and want to return to China to work should also pay attention to the domestic talent market and recruitment information in advance, and try to make their time back to work shorter and keep the gap.
As far as the employment situation of our class is concerned, the proportion of staying and returning to China is basically half and halfEither way, there is a very good future for development right now.
I hope that students can be thoughtful when choosing and not miss the best period of career development in the past few years.
The sunset seen from the window at the end of the day every day.
This is the end of my story in Los Angeles, but there are still countless dreams of studying abroad on the way.
I think students should be grateful for the precious opportunity they have won for themselves, and be able to go to different countries to experience the customs and have a unique experience.
The experience of this article is based on personal information and is for reference only, and I hope to provide some help to students.
I wish every student a smooth study, a happy time, a smooth work, and a touch of the most gorgeous color for their youth!