Of the many things Lin Zhu, 22, has learned and loved about the United States — wide open spaces, the beach, diversity and dogs, definitely dogs — one thing has fascinated her more than the others.

Data.

“I’m a really big fan of ‘Freakonomics,’” said Zhu, about the popular podcast and book that explores statistics, data and everyday common routines. “I like using data and statistics to try to explain issues that don’t really look relatable on the surface, but there’s actually a link underneath.”

Zhu wants to use data to link cultures in an increasingly globalized world. She credits her Mandarin-only speaking parents with supporting her to learn English and move from Tianjin, China, to the U.S. to attend college.

“Actually, my family doesn’t really speak English, so it is a really big change for me to go and study in the United States and go outside of China,” Zhu said. “My mom is working in Indonesia, so she is a very smart and independent woman who is not afraid to pursue her dreams even though it might be far away. So that also inspired me to study here and pursue my life here.”

California schools

She first attended Pepperdine University before transferring to the University of California-Berkeley, where she will start a job with Berkeley as an international program coordinator.

“It’s definitely something that I have been passionate about since I was a child. I love learning different languages and love learning about different cultures,” she explained. “I’ve been on a couple of international programs myself. I visited the U.S. and I also was able to visit Germany and learned German on a scholarship from the Goethe Institute.”

The Goethe Institute is a cultural and exchange organization that promotes the German language worldwide. She is eager to organize similar cultural programs and “help students have a really good experience here at UC Berkeley.”

Hello, Malibu

When Zhu started her international student journey in the U.S., she landed first on the beach in Malibu, where Pepperdine is located.

“In Malibu, mostly no one walks in the street. It’s mostly driving and beaches,” she said of the wealthy southern California town. Moving nearly 630 kilometers (400 miles) north to transfer to Berkeley, which lies on the east side of San Francisco Bay where it is often damp and foggy, was not only a change in the weather.

“The whole academic atmosphere is definitely more competitive here and people are definitely more focused or they have much more emphasis on grades,” she described. “And there’s definitely more stressed-out students, I would say. But it’s also just a great experience for me to try to learn how to cope with the change and how to cope with the stress and things in life.”

Self-motivated

Professors at Peppedine, a small university of about 3,500 students, were more likely to remind classes about the test next week or an upcoming assignment. Instructors at Berkeley leave that up to the individual.

“At Berkeley, we sit in a classroom full of people, like, maybe 200 or even up to 500 students,” Zhu explained. Professors “will not really remind you of anything. ... So it is up to ourselves to check the syllabus, to do things ahead and just have a lot of self motivation.”

It came as a surprise when she happened to look at the back of the astronomy syllabus to discover a reading list that was supposed to be completed before class.

“At Pepperdine, the professors will actually remind you in class or through email versus here,” she said. “It’s all up to yourself to discover that there even is an assignment.”

Setting up a life

When she looked online before moving to the U.S. for advice from other international students, she found setting up one’s room to be a common dilemma. Zhu says a quick run to the local big-box store solves that.

What surprised her was the difficulty of “trying to set up a life here. For example, getting (a) Social Security (number) and getting a driver’s license, setting up banking accounts and then credit cards and phone lines.”

But curiousity, calm and patience — virtues she uses to describe herself — help her persevere.

“When I go to a restaurant, I like to order different stuff every time, just so I can try everything,” she said.

“And I’m not very, like, quick tempered. I’m pretty, like, patient and calm and I don’t yell. I don’t really get too intense about things or too urgent about stuff. So I think when I’m around, people might be more relaxed and laid back,” Zhu said.

Karaoke app

But let her near a karaoke app called Quanmin K Ge (pronounced choo-an min kay guh) and Zhu is very animated.

“There’s a lot of Chinese songs you can get, English songs or even Korean songs ... yeah, it’s pretty fun,” she said. She listens to books in the car on Audible, too.

If she were to strike it rich, she said, she would focus on a very American love.

“I really love dogs even though I didn’t have a pet growing up. I really love dogs and I was looking at the news that a lot of dogs are up for adoption and if they’re not going to be adopted, they will be, like, I don’t know the word ...” she said.

“So I thought that would be really great if I could give money to shelters and then just like help people know, like foster. There’s a great benefit to fostering animals,” she said.

It’s tough to gain admission to Yale University, and it’s getting even tougher for international students as standout students from around the world set their sights on Yale.

The Yale Dale News, the campus newspaper, takes a look at the situation here.

Read the full story here.

Ruth Chane, a computer science major from Ethiopia, writes about her experiences settling into student life at Whitman College in the U.S. state of Washington.

"The community at Whitman College made sure I felt welcomed even before I stepped foot on campus," she says.

Read her essay here.

In The Student Life, the student newspaper for the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five liberal art colleges and two graduate schools in Claremont, California, student Rochelle Lu writes about readjusting to her Shanghai home after spending a semester in the United States.

Read the full story here.

Cedarville University in the U.S. state of Ohio says it’s got more than 140 international students representing 44 countries.

Here, the school interviews Jonathan Sutton, director of international student services. He talks about his job and the opportunities for international students on campus.

Read the full article here.

Morehouse College, a private, historically Black liberal arts college in the U.S. state of Georgia, offers a guide for international students interested in attending the school.

Among the tips to apply and thrive at Morehouse:

• Take advantage of the school’s orientation program
• Turn to the school’s Center for Academic Success for tutoring, support and more
• Immerse yourself in campus life via clubs and societies

Read the full article here.

The administration of President Donald Trump said on Monday it will review Columbia University's federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling.

Rights advocates note rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since U.S. ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Hamas militants' deadly October 2023 attack.

The Justice Department said a month ago it formed a task force to fight antisemitism. The U.S. Departments of Health and Education and the General Services Administration jointly made the review announcement on Monday.

"The Federal Government's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government," the joint statement said.

The agencies said no contracting actions had been taken yet.

"The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University."

The agencies did not respond to requests for comment on whether there were similar reviews over allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.

Columbia had no immediate comment. It previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.

College protests

Trump has signed an executive order to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's assault on Gaza. There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests.

During last summer's demonstrations around the country, classes were canceled, some university administrators resigned and student protesters were suspended and arrested.

While the intensity of protests has decreased in recent months, there were some demonstrations last week in New York after the expulsion of two students at Columbia University-affiliated Barnard College and after New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the removal of a Palestinian studies job listing at Hunter College.

A third student at Barnard College has since been expelled, this one related to the occupation of the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia last year.

The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.

It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.

In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.

Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.

"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.

An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."

House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."

Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.

Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.

The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.

"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."

The Times of India breaks down the most popular subjects for international students to study in the U.S.

STEM and business lead the pack. Read the full story here. (January 2025)

U.S. News & World report addresses some of the misconceptions about U.S. colleges and universities, including the difficulty of getting a visa.

Read the full story here. (January 2025)

US News & World Report details the three top factors in foreign students' decision to study in the U.S. They include research opportunities and the reputation of U.S. degrees. Read the full story here. (December 2024)

A British student who did a year abroad at Bowling Green State University in Ohio talks about adjusting to life in America in a TikTok video, Newsweek magazine reports.

Among the biggest surprises? Portion sizes, jaywalking laws and dorm room beds.

Read the full story here. (December 2024)

Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health reaches out to international students by detailing the international student experience at the school.

Learn more about housing, life in Boston and more here.

China issued its first national action plan to build a "strong education nation" by 2035, which it said would help coordinate its education development, improve efficiencies in innovation and build a "strong country."

The plan, issued Sunday by the Communist Party's central committee and the State Council, aims to establish a "high quality education system" with accessibility and quality "among the best in the world."

The announcement was made after data on Friday showed China's population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, with the number of deaths outpacing a slight increase in births, and experts cautioning that the downturn will worsen in the coming years.

High childcare and education costs have been a key factor for many young Chinese opting out of having children, at a time when many face uncertainty over their job prospects amid sluggish economic growth.

"By 2035, an education power will be built," the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that China would explore gradually expanding the scope of free education, increase "high-quality" undergraduate enrolment, expand postgraduate education, and raise the proportion of doctoral students.

The plan aims to promote "healthy growth and all-round development of students," making sure primary and secondary school students have at least two hours of physical activity daily, to effectively control the myopia, or nearsightedness, and obesity rates.

"Popularizing" mental health education and establishing a national student mental health monitoring and early warning system would also be implemented, it said.

It also aims to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas to improve the operating conditions of small-scale rural schools and improve the care system for children with disabilities and those belonging to agricultural migrant populations.

The plan also aims to steadily increase the supply of kindergarten places and the accessibility of preschool education.

The Open Notebook, a site focusing on educating journalists who cover science, has complied a list of U.S. graduate program financial aid information for international students.

Read it here.