Student Success

1. NC STATE UNIVERSITY Student Success Office of International Services (OIS) http://www.ncsu.edu/ois OIS@ncsu.edu

2. NC STATE UNIVERSITY Student Success • What is student success? • How do you know if you are successful? • Whose responsibility is success? • How can you achieve success? • What do international students especially need to know to be successful? • Cross-cultural Implications You need to know

3. NC STATE UNIVERSITY Cross-Cultural Communication The body speaks! Use your senses! 1. Touch Are you comfortable holding hands with another person while you engage in conversation? …Bow, Kiss, Shake Hands 2. Eye contact Do you find someone suspicious or hard to read if they don’t look you in the eye when you speak? 3. Gestures What do you think when someone gives you the ‘thumbs up’ or their palm? 4. Personal space Do you find a person cold if they stand at arm’s length from you when engaging in conversation? 5. Timing matters Do you take offense if someone continuously interrupts you? 6. Sense of smell Does it bother you if someone has a personal smell and does not perfume their body?

4. NC STATE UNIVERSITY Cultural Distinctions How do you see yourself and your place in society?

5. NC STATE UNIVERSITY Cultural Distinctions How do you define time?

6. NC STATE UNIVERSITY Cultural Distinctions How do you communicate?

7. NC STATE UNIVERSITY Cultural Distinctions How do you look at power distances between people?

8. NC STATE UNIVERSITY Cultural Distinctions How much control do you have over your life?

9. NC STATE UNIVERSITY Cultural Distinctions How do you think about things?

10. NC STATE UNIVERSITY Practical tips for Success • Making Friends with Americans • Finding a job on campus • Looking for Financial Aid • Improving one’s English ability (“naturalness”) • Improving Cultural Competency • How to talk to your advisor/professor • Asking for Help vs. Self-reliance (Responsible) • Top Ten Mistakes International Students Make

11. NC STATE UNIVERSITY Top Ten Mistakes International Students Make • Hang out mostly with compatriots • Avoid Americans (spend too much time at the library or at home) • Don’t ask for Help when they need it - don’t communicate problems early enough • Say, “Yes,” when they don’t mean it • Don’t have enough fun (travel, play, sports) or take enough cultural risks (too shy)

12. NC STATE UNIVERSITY Top Ten Mistakes International Students Make (continued) • Work without authorization (off campus or more than 20 hours per week, etc.,) • Don’t cite written sources appropriately • Take short-cuts in their research, writing, homework – or try to “help” others in the group • Have unrealistic expectations of how Americans should behave – too many preconceptions or generalizations • Have unrealistic expectations of themselves and having unrealistic priorities (e.g., too busy)