In a school of 29,884 students, it is no surprise to see students from all over the country. But imagine seeing even more students coming from all over the world. CU is becoming a more desirable brand overseas and with the passing of a new Colorado law, this dream could become a reality.
Previous Colorado law stated that the freshman class had to consist of 55 percent in-state students and 45 percent out-of-state students. This ratio was over a three year rolling average, therefore if the ratio was slightly higher one year, it would need to be corrected the next.
However, this law included international students as out-of-state students, which would limit the amount of international students accepted at CU.
A new law may allow more international students at CU. (Courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
Kevin MacLennan, director of admissions, said that this new addition to Colorado law no longer includes international students in the out-of-state ratio, leaving more room for them.
“That provided us more flexibility to work on globalizing the campus a little bit more because we could then start to work with international students more than we have previously in the past,” MacLennan said.
There are currently 129 international freshmen enrolled at CU, not including the foreign exchange students. In order to be accepted as an international student, a student must complete the required amount of classes and receive a certain score on a wide variety of international tests. Also, students must receive at least a score of 537 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Engineering majors must score at least a 560 on the TOEFL.
With this new amendment, CU has been able to send counselors overseas to recruit new students.
“For the first time this spring, we sent one counselor internationally,” MacLennan said. “They did a circuit in China and one in the Middle East, and then this fall 2011, we actually sent two people and we did a total of three trips.”
While overseas, the counselors participate in a two-and-a-half to three week intensive recruitment as part of a college fair. There are other universities that also attend these trips with CU.
Counselors are sent to locations that mirror the student population and demographics of international students wanting to come to the United States for their higher education.
“We took a look at where a lot of our students were already coming from and we examined where the largest number of students across the world were in terms of wanting to come to the US for a higher education experience,” MacLennan stated.
International students come to CU for a variety of different reasons.
Daniel Van Lanschot, an 18-year-old freshman psychology major, is a student from Holland studying at CU and who wanted to experience a new culture.
“I came to America because I had always wanted to experience another culture and the American culture seemed like such a dominate culture in the world that I felt like I should experience it,” Van Lanschot said.
John Hines, an 18-year-old freshman open-option major, is an international student from Peru.
“I chose CU because I love to be outside and I love the campus,” Hines said.
Van Lanschot feels that not only does this campus promote internationalism well, but also aids international students while they are here.
“Their international students services has everything,” Van Lanschot said. “The instructions are clear, they encourage you to come to their office hours, if you need anything you can come to them. They make it as easy as possible for us, for us internationals.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Reporter Vanessa Harmoush at Vanessa.harmoush@colorado.edu.
