Forget adjusting to the culture and the language. The biggest challenge for international students in Boston is to find a job.
By Marilia Gordinho
Babson College campus
International students from all over the world come to study in the United States every year. In 2008, almost 624,000 students enrolled in American universities, 31,683 of those in MA.
Many of them come hoping to get an internship or a job during or after college. But that is not always what happens.
The unwelcoming environment created by security measures and anti-foreigner attitudes after 9/11 have made the life of international students in the U.S. much harder.
The country became much stricter. And when it comes to getting paid for working, the options for international students are limited.
For example, while many American students work part-time jobs to pay for school, international students aren't allowed to do so.
Berklee College of Music campus
Working on Campus
Among the few options available is working on-campus.
"It helps a lot in terms of getting established in the states as a foreign citizen," said Jonathan Levy, an international student at Berklee College of Music, who was born in Japan. He lived his whole life there, but attended American schools. His parents are from New Zealand and Australia.
"It is legal, you get paid and it also opens up opportunities to be able to show people your work ethic because you can't really do that if you are an international student."
Larissa Lopes da Mota, an international student from Brazil at Babson College, also works on-campus. But instead of getting a paycheck, she has a fellowship.
"I work with faculty in some projects and do some research. I don't get paid, but I have a discount on my tuition," she said.
But sometimes getting a paycheck from the college is not enough. Most colleges in the Boston area pay from $8 to $10 per hour and the students are not allowed to work more than 20 hours a week.
Most of the time, international students have to rely on their parents or other funding while in the U.S.
Internship
Another option is doing an internship for college credit. But while some employers have no problem in hiring international students, many prefer to hire American students.
Casey Brennan is the Insights Coordinator at Cone Inc., a marketing company in Boston. Last fall it was her first time hiring an international student to intern at the company.
She said the biggest hurdles international students face during the interview process is proving their language and writing proficiency.
"Although I didn't experience anything that was negative in a major way, it is the smaller mistakes that can be made that a supervisor must be conscious of when working with an international student," she said.
She also said that proofing any writing to ensure correction of language errors is one task that was more important for her when working with her intern.
But she said her experience was positive overall. "Our intern was able to bring an interesting perspective to her work," she said. "There is a common drive among students who are willing to relocate for their education."
Larissa Lopes da Mota
Mota wasn't able to find an internship for this summer in Boston. She ended up with an offer from Johnson & Johnson in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and is going to move back there for three months.
"With the economy the way it is it has been really hard, especially for international students to get something in Boston. For that I'm more than happy to have this opportunity with J&J," she said.
She said she will receive a "very good salary" for Brazil's standards, but "if you convert to dollars it is not on the MBA standards," she said. "But it is an amazing company."
Even though she is not going to be working in the U.S., she believes working for an American company will help her. To know why, watch the video.
Jonathan Levy
Levy also had a hard time finding a job in Boston. He wanted to work as a musician, but said the music scene in the city is not very strong. That's why he decided to move to Los Angeles after graduation.
"During the international orientation, they say gigging is completely out of the question," he said. "They tell you that if you are caught performing or getting paid for anything, the schools officials are obligated to report you. They try to scare you in that respect but at the same time it is a music school and you get experience by playing with people."
He said he has been gigging for free because it is illegal to get paid.
"It is really hard because you don't know how far to go and it is not something that is widely advertised about where the line is and if you cross it, what are the penalties. So I try to be as careful as possible about it."
Levy said being a musician in Boston is not the easiest thing. To listen to him explaining why, watch the video.
According to NAFSA, the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers, international students contribute more than $1 billion to the local economy in Massachusetts, not only through the money they spend on tuition and living expenses, but also with their skills.
Attracting international students to the U.S. and giving them an opportunity to stay after receiving a degree is a step that will help the U.S. companies and communities remain competitive in an increasingly global economy.
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It was a lot easy before 911 for international students for sure, but now a days it can still be done, it just takes more effort to find a job after studying and graduating in your chosen profession. I believe that most people in America and around the world understand that a few have made it hard for the many as is always the way with most things and just because you are of a certain ethnic background doesn't make you a terrorist. Keep your chins up internationals.