International Student Interview Report

I had the privilege of interviewing Jessica Choi, an international counselor in a small private University of 150 international students called Wilshire University & Computer Training College located in Los Angeles, California. Wilshire University & Computer Training College is an international school founded in 1989 to provide high quality English language instruction to a diverse group of students to help them improve their communicative, writing and reading skills for academic, professional and personal purposes.

I personally had known Jessica for about a year and a half as I worked in the University as an office assistant for about 5 months before I came to Azusa Pacific University. I have not talked to her after leaving the job; I was
She feels that the fact that she was an international student herself helped her to connect with the international students at a personal level. She said it was easier to relate to the struggles and hardships that these international students go through. She talked about the amount of money these students use in order for them to come to United States to study for certain amount of time. She said she feels obligated to make sure that students really get the learning done to maximize the time they are in United States. She shared how important it is to have passion for these students. She said not all students are here because they are rich. Some students have saved up their money for years so that they can study in United States for short amount of time. She said it is important to have an understanding mind to try to see things from their eyes. She also highlighted that patience is an important virtue in this career as a main person communicating with students who don’t speak English as their first language. She shared how there are times where it is extremely difficult to understand what the students are trying to say because of the heavy accent. She said that there are times she wants to ask the students to leave because she can’t understand a single word that is coming out of the mouth of the student but she said it
She stated that it is helpful for you to be a good listener. She shared times when she had difficult time understanding someone on the phone and on-line. She said the international counselor needs to have patient when dealing with students because there will be times when the language barrier will frustrate you. She also encouraged me to know what is right and wrong. I asked her what it meant. She gave me an example; she shared how there are students who will try to be friendly in a way that seems very conditional. She talked about how there was a case where a student did not pay the tuition on time was put on terminated list, the student asked Jessica if she can delay the date. She said she still needed to follow the rules even though she had personal relationship with the students. She said it is always hard but it is required to have a sense of what is right and