Academic Success Tips (Especially for International Students)

Ask advisors and instructors for help if you need it. Asking for help is not seen as failure, but is seen as responsibly taking initiative.

Sit toward the front of class or in the chair offered to you by an advisor in their office. The first row of seats or office chair will be placed a polite distance from the lecturer or advisor so sitting there will be far enough away to show respect. Sitting in the front of class correlates positively with academic success.

Plan more time in your academic schedule for rest and sleep than you might have at home because continuous adjustment to new situations requires energy.

Expect a syllabus in each class. When asking for a clarification or an exception to an academic policy, request a written copy. Official decisions are most often based on written documents, rather than on relationships or on verbal agreements.

If class times and availability allow, schedule classes and meetings for high energy times, rather than for low energy times, such as customary nap time after lunch.

Go to class, study groups, and meetings precisely at the time specified. At U-M, classes begin 10 minutes after the hour designated in the Time Schedule. Being late is considered rude and others may not wait for you.

Abide by the registration deadlines published in the Time Schedule each term or on course syllabi. Exceptions are made very rarely, especially after deadlines, because this is seen as unfair to students who did follow the specified timelines.

When receiving information that the listener does not like, or when receiving an unfavorable decision in the US, the receiver is expected to respond neutrally, with restraint, and to challenge the situation only on reasoned grounds. The receiver of bad news is not expected to respond emotionally and personally, but cognitively and impersonally.

Students may be asked to contribute to setting objectives for a course, or goals for a group to meet. Students may critique each others papers or assign grades to each others daily class participation.

At the university, decisions are considered official when in writing.

An advisor or professor during office hours may say "hello" when you arrive and immediately ask the purpose of your appointment. There may be few preliminaries in the conversation; the advisor is being efficient with time, not rude or hurried.

Answer frankly and honestly. If you cannot make an appointment or report back to an advisor on a particular date or if you cannot lead a class discussion or make a presentation on a particular day, tell the advisor or professor. Do not agree to a schedule to be polite.

Choose clothes to keep warm, and choose brightly lit areas for study to avoid climate or few hours of daylight from negatively impacting your academic achievement.

Expect culture shock, a normal period of distress and frustration, to follow the first excitement of being in the US. Culture shock may last a year or recur. Make new friends in classes, in your department, and where you live, while maintaining ties to your home culture, to adapt comfortably to U-M.

Adapted from: McLaren, Margaret C., 1998. Interpreting cultural differences: The challenge of intercultural communication. Norfolk, UK: Peter Francis Publishers.