Monday, September 28, 2009
schools When Getting In is the Hardest Part
Posted by Deepesh Subedi on Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 9:47 AM
I had heard that the education system in United States is the most advanced in the world. Everything runs systematically.
I logged onto Boise State's Web site on February 2, 2009. I was lost when I opened the home page. “Broncoweb” was the first link icon I followed. I wasn't able to move ahead any more because I didn't see any spot where I could look for admission information. I called one friend who has been a student in Boise State since 2008. He suggested I go to the university and talk with someone from the admissions section.
I was overwhelmed. How would I approach this? How should I tell them about my educational background? How to tell them about my status as a permanent resident of Idaho? With all this in mind I went to the university.
It is a big compound. When I went inside the admission building I saw only native Idahoans standing in the queue for admission. That made me more nervous. Because they were doing admissions online and they were also encountering problems. I looked around to find someone there to help. But I didn't see anybody. I saw some people applying for admission online and I figured out that getting admitted online was vague and hard for me; I had never done admission online any time in my life. I didn't know that there were some people available to help with the process. So I left the queue and came home without doing anything. Now I was frustrated.
My mind started pinching me. “Why am I afraid to ask someone for help?” Again I called my friend. He repeated his first suggestion. The next day, with full courage to ask for help and get my admission done, I went to the university. As I entered I asked one guy, “Where can I go for having my admission?” He showed me the door. I entered, and then I found that I had been in the wrong spot before. The room I had been in yesterday was for applying for FAFSA (federal assistance).
One person was standing next to me with a Boise State badge hanging on his neck. “Excuse me sir, I want to do my admission online.” He then showed me the way to apply for admission. Actually, I was supposed to have my Social Security Number, Employment Authorization Card number, date of birth of my parents and tax return form. I wasn't aware that I needed those documents for admission. He told me about the tax return form. I was lost. What is a tax return form? I felt embarrassed to ask my helper the meaning. So without having any steps done for admission I returned home that day.
After some days I called my refugee agency, the IRC (International Rescue Committee), and talked with my job developer. He explained to me about tax returns. By then I already had received my application for tax returns. But I hadn't known about the importance of that application. I was about to trash it. Instead, I went to H & R block and filled out the form for my tax return. With all the documents needed, I went to the university the next day and had my admission done for $40.
I was so excited. I came home and told my parents about my enrollment at BSU. They were so happy. I called my friends all over the U.S. By that time only a few Bhutanese had entered school here. I showed my friends the way to do admission at the university. Some of my friends couldn't believe me because they were not sure that an immigrant with an I-94 is allowed admission to a university. Anyhow, I got admitted.
After some days I received a letter in my mailbox. I was supposed to show my certificates and transcripts from my country. I showed them all and they told me that they were going to verify my transcript and all those documents to make sure that they were legal and original ones.
Although I was in a bachelors program in my second year in Nepal, I didn't try for any credit transfers. I thought the subjects would be very difficult here. Actually it isn't too difficult. I was majoring in computer science while in my country but here I am planning to go to medical school. This is another reason why I didn't apply for credit transfer.
For me, being a first generation student, schooling in America is challenging (especially at the time of admission). However I learned a good lesson: “Try and try until we die.” We will definitely make it. I faced and overcome this challenge. Now it might be your turn. Be prepared.
Comments (2)
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This is difficult to critique; on the one had we have a refugee and on the other a broken educational system that is more about profit than learning. The education system in the USA being the most advanced? ha ha. Not likely, in fact, we are near the bottom of any list in any category. Of those categories, BSU is at the bottom - so basically - BSU is the bottom of the bottom. However, for this persons purpose, maybe BSU, in all its pretty glass buildings, is better than whatever was in the past. In that case, I hold great amounts of compassion for the person and I wish him or her well.
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nice clue to be prepared for admissssion for first generation students.at the end u were successed to be admitted. was nice time in the begining of admisssssssion. Well done. There are still a lot of bhutanese who have never seen a college. i encourage all of them to do in the way u have done....let them not have entry level job all the time in their life..... keep on....
Bhanu
MA
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