International Transfer Advise

For this blog entry I would like to write about some of the challenges that transfer students and especially international students might face when they come to a University in the United States. Since I am an international student myself I had to face some challenges so far and I would like to share some information and advice with everybody, hoping that they are beneficial for some of you.

I am studying in the United States since the Fall of 2008. After having applied for my undergraduate degree I was told from the beginning that I would be able to receive transfer credits for previous course work, however I never imagined it being such a long and tiring process. In my case I only had an equivalent of an American high school degree, except the fact that my degree was one year longer than the typical American high school degree. Therefore I was told to receive credit for this additional year. In order to be able to receive credit for anything it is of importance to have course syllabi, course description and anything other detail like books, or letters from previous professors that might help to give somebody else an idea of what you have covered in previous classes. This goes not only for classes of a high school degree, but moreover classes from international bachelor degrees. Due to the fact that some international bachelor degrees are only 3 years in duration than the 4 year bachelor degrees in the U.S., it is highly beneficial to try to get each much transfer credits, not only to save time but also money, which if you are paying international tuition fees can be quite a lot.

As mentioned before, keep all your records from previous classes, or some times professors even let you write your own course description if you are not able to get them from your previous institution. If you do that, be precise and list for how many hours you had this class, what topics you covered and how exams looks like, the more information the better! Once you have gathered all your documents be sure to know who in your institution is doing the evaluation of these classes. In most cases you start with the international office at your school (this is the link to IUPUI's international office http://international.iupui.edu/ ) Most often though since they are not experts in these classes that you have taken in different areas, they or you will transfer your materials to the department that can actually award you credit for it. Be aware that sometimes this can take a very long time and often professors in the department are busy and it is not their priority to review course syllabi from other countries and evaluate them. Therefore, I would make sure to ask people in the department to find out prior who is in charge of evaluation and who has done it before. Further, it is also great to schedule an appointment with the professor to be able to talk to them in person, explain your personal situation to them and also give them some detail about the classes. In my experience this always worked well and it seems that they were more willing to work on this for you than if you were just a random student sending them an email with lots of documents.

Once you know who is in charge of evaluating always make sure to stay in contact with them and touch base with them if you don't see any changes made to your record. It is always good to contact them after some weeks have passed by just to send them a little reminder so they are not forgetting about you.

In order to know if you have received credit for your classes you would see the classes added to your academic record. Usually the professor submits their request to the registar office, who is putting it on your record. Sometimes it can happen that they charge you a posting fee, which is can vary but is around $20 per credit hour, considering international fees that is only a fraction but since you already completed the class in your home country, the professor sometimes can indicate that they should not charge you for any posting fees.

In case you are not ending up the credit that you feel that you deserve and that you have worked for there is another way of demonstrating proficiency in areas, by taking a CLEP or Dantes exams, which is a test that lets you test out of basic introductory college classes (such as math, biology, sociology, psychology and English just to name a few). For more information there is a link to the website http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/about.html and it is always good to check back with the department to make sure that they are excepting credit coming from tests like that. But to my knowledge they do, since those tests can be taken by anybody. Furthermore, those exams usually cost $120, which again to international tuition are very cheap and can definitely save you a lot of time. Another way to receive credit is, by using your advantage of another language. I was able to take a German class, and after the successful completion of this class I was able to receive 6 additional credits for advanced placement credit.

In my case, I was able to finish my Bachelor degree in less than 3 years, and I was able to overall receive probably receive 2 semesters worth of credit. It is definitely worth a try and even though it can be time consuming and frustrating at times, the reward can definitely be worth the effort!

Katrin  Moesler
Peer Advisor

Social Networking Etiquette

As mentioned in a previous blog, social networking is becoming more and more useful for college students to network and make career connections. But while using these business networking sites, what is appropriate behavior to use and not to use?

I recently found this article about social networking etiquette:
http://www.cio.com/article/493176/Social_Networking_Etiquette_How_to_Introduce_Yourself_and_Others_Politely

Sometimes when social networking, you may question what the appropriate way to make connections is and this article helps to answer a lot of these difficult questions. The article answers questions such as how can you politely decline friend requests? How can you effectively introduce yourself to someone who doesn’t know you well? How can you connect two of your own connections?

Continuing, the article mentions that one of the most common dilemmas that arise when using social networks is who you should or should not accept as your “friend” or who you should or should not “connect” with. This is quite a dilemma because who you are friends with and connecting with can say a lot about your character. This article gives great tips for dealing with these dilemmas. For example, the article suggests deciding on a “friend” strategy for your social networks, and communicating this strategy with your potential contacts. For example, if one of your colleagues requests you become “friends” on Facebook, and your strategy is to only “connect” with colleagues through LinkedIn, you can politely say to them that you value the working relationship that the two of you have and consider him/her a friend, but that you only connect with colleagues through LinkedIn, and you would gladly connect with them there.

Furthermore, the article also offers etiquette tips when requesting someone to be your friend. The article suggests that you should be specific when sending invitations to someone and explain to your potential “friend” or “connection” how you know them or why you are interested in connecting with them.

This article offers great advice and tips to follow when social networking. Because social networking has developed its own set of rules and etiquette, it is important to stay up to date with the latest trends in order to ensure you do not offend anyone via the web.

I hope this information helps when you are out in the social network world.

Jeanette Schoettle
Senior, Psychology Major and Career Peer Advisor
psyadv@iupui.edu

How Job Shadowing Can Benefit Your Job Search

It is always a great idea to research an interesting career choice as much as possible prior to actually working in the career. To research certain career aspirations people often use O*Net (http://online.onetcenter.org/) to look up job descriptions as well as using one of several internet sites, such as http://www.payscale.com/, to find salary information. However, even all the research and information in the world on a specific career can’t beat the knowledge gained through a simple job shadow or a series of job shadows. Job shadowing can be an extremely useful tool in verifying your interest in any career of choice. I recently came across an article from Texas State University that discussed several tips and guidelines that would be useful to make the most out of any job shadowing experience.
http://www.careerservices.txstate.edu/Students/Internships-Experiential-Learning/JobShadowing/Tips.html
I found three tips to be especially helpful in this article; do your research, network, and expect the unexpected.

Before you show up for your job shadowing experience, it’s important to do some research. One way to research a career area or organization is to ask people you already know. You would be surprised how many of your friends or family may know or work with someone in your career of interest. Another good way to research careers or organizations is a simple Google search. ONET, mentioned above is another great source for researched career data. The more you know about the job and the company before you shadow the easier it will be for you to come up with intelligent questions that will help you learn more about that person that job and that organization. Going in informed will also potentially impress your host and make them aware of how interested you really are in the area of work. Doing your homework before you job shadow provides you with a better understanding of the career area in a general way, and the job shadow experience gives you a deeper knowledge through real life experience.

The second tip I found useful is networking. You may not realize it, but job shadowing is the perfect way to get your foot in the door at a particular company or with a group of people that you may someday want to work with. When job shadowing, collect contact information or business cards from the people you meet so you can follow up with further questions after your experience. Staying in touch with the people you meet at your job shadowing experience. They may be able to refer you to others or provide you with another opportunity down the road.

The third tip I liked was that not all job shadowing experiences go the way you think they will. In many cases people job shadow and realize that the career of interest is not a good fit for them. In that case you should not make it obvious that you are no longer interested in the career, you should finish out the shadowing experience on good terms and chalk it up to being a helpful learning experience on the path to finding the career that is a good fit for you. Also, take note of the time you’re saving if you learn that early in your academic career.

You now know a little more about why it’s useful and how to prepare for a job shadow experience; now all you need to know is how to go about setting one up. This can be relatively easy if friends or family know someone in the field of interest; however, it can be tricky if you do not have that initial connection. If you do not have a connection then a good place to start is with your academic or career advisor. In addition, IUPUI students have the benefit of using the Alumni Mentor Database (which can be found at http://www.jagjobs.org/) to get in contact with graduates from IUPUI who are currently working in their field of interest.

I hope that you will try job shadowing as a way to confirm your interests, network with others and learn more about your career of interests.

Chelsey Williams
Career Peer Advisor
psyadv@iupui.edu

Social Networking: How can it be used to my advantage?

Yes, college students have been warned about the detrimental effects of using social networks. But how can social networking be used to a student’s advantage? With so many social networking sites available out in the cyber world, it would make sense for students to use at least a few of these sites to their advantage. All in all, there are thousands and thousands of social networking sites available for students to use. Some of the most popular ones include: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flixster, LinkedIn, Tagged, Classmates, myYearbook, LiveJournal, Reunion, BlackPlanet, Bebo, hi5, Yuku, CafeMom, Friendster, Xanga, ViralCommerce, AsianTown, Tickle, etc.

One of the best social networks to use to promote yourself and make connections in the business professional world is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a business oriented social networking site. It allows you to post a professional profile and connect with other professionals in your career area of interest.

This article highlights 10 ways in which you can use LinkedIn to find a job:
http://applicant.com/10-ways-to-use-linkedin-to-find-a-job/

The article stresses that social networks such as LinkedIn can be advantageous for finding a job, but you still need to work at making connections and put in an effort to personally brand your LinkedIn profile. The article also makes a point to keep your profile updated, and to not overlook anyone as a possible connection. You never know who could be your connection to finding a great job. The article also links you to a “don’t-do-it-guide to using LinkedIn.” The guide reminds you that LinkedIn is a professional social networking site; it should be used differently than how you would use Facebook or MySpace (which you should have securely locked done). You should not be posting pictures of yourself out at the bars for the weekend. You should keep your profile looking professional and post a professional picture of yourself, and unlike Facebook and other social networking sites, it is very appropriate to post your resume on your profile page. It never hurts to have people looking at your well polished resume!

So where do you start? Start by going to LinkedIn today. It is free for anyone. Then develop a LinkedIn profile of yourself. Remember to follow the “Do’s and Don’ts” when using LinkedIn. As you build your profile, you can also join groups of professionals in your area of interests. Me, I’m interested in going into the HR filed, so you can be sure that I’m a member of the local Society of Human Resources group. With a LinkedIn profile you are on your way to making some great professional connections.

This is a direct link to the LinkedIn site: http://www.linkedin.com/

Jeanette Schoettle


Senior, Psychology Major and
Career Peer Advisor
psyadv@iupui.edu

Your Inner Two Year Old Is Killing Your Search

I thought this was an interesting article about the job search process. Let me know your thoughts.

Your Inner Two Year Old Is Killing Your Search

3 Job Search Mistakes Everybody Makes

Wow! I really like this short New Grad Life article entitled 3 Job Search Mistakes Everybody Makes.

"Your personal brand is what lands you a job. Not your resume. Your personal brand should match online, offline, in your personality and in your appearance. The way you write your LinkedIn profile, what you say online, and who you meet in person are a few important aspects of a job seekers personal brand."

Have you thought much about your personal brand? What would I find if I Googled your name? What if I looked you up on Facebook. I have heard many unfortunate stories about individuals losing scholarships, job offers, and graduate school admissions because of some unfortunate pictures on Facebook. When I meet you at an event, will I remember you (in a positive way)?  Are any of you using LinkedIn to connect professionally?  (more on that in another blog)

I also like how the author addresses how much time and effort networking can take. If you want to land a job or internship, it's going to take some work. Like dating!?! oh, my!

Hope you enjoy the article. Please submit comments and questions.

~mikki

Coffee & Conversation

I went to a networking event the other day and was reminded how much work networking can be – even for me. I’m fairly outgoing and talkative, and consider myself to be an extravert. But, it’s so easy to walk into a party, social event or even a formal networking event and gravitate toward the people I know and just hide out there comfortably. Meeting new people takes effort and can be a little uncomfortable. It reminds me a bit sometimes of the middle school dance. AUG!


So, I walked into the room that morning and got my coffee (things always seem a little easier when I have my hands occupied and I can always use a trip to the bathroom as an excuse when I need a breather from conversation). I did see some folks I knew so I started there to warm up and wake up. After a few minutes, I refilled my coffee and then struck up a conversation with a woman standing next to me at the beverage table. “Hi, how are you this morning?” We spent a minute or so exchanging pleasantries and then I asked, “Tell me about your line of work?” Then, I did the most important thing one can do in networking situations…I listened! We often forget to listen and spend time thinking about what we want to say next. So, what am I listening for…is this someone who might be a good contact in my area of interest?

If you think about it, we do this all the time with friends and in social situations – look for commonalities. “Oh, you work at Starbucks…so do I!” or “You’re a psychology major…so am I.” or “You live on the south side, so do I.” When you feel you have a connection with someone it’s so much easier to continue to dig deeper for additional connections. In social situations, you’re seeking friends or a significant other. In professional networking you’re usually looking for clients, a lead to other clients, or a career connection.

After carful listening and showing genuine interest in the response the person at the coffee bar was giving the magical question was then asked to me. “What do you do?” This gave me an opportunity to quickly talk about my area of work and what I’m looking for (my 30 second elevator pitch). The first person I talked with was a perfect contact for me…the second, not so much. But by listening carefully and asking that simple question, I was able to move through conversations with people with ease and found a good number of contacts to follow up with later. One sweet person, after hearing about my line of work and interests, introduced me to one of the best contacts of the day. I was so grateful I sent her a thank you note the day after the meeting.

Networking is not always easy, but it can be fun; especially when you leave the situation with at least one good contact. For you as a student, this can happen almost anywhere: at a holiday party, back yard family bbq, a summer wedding or in line at Target.

“The way of the world is meeting people through other people.” ~Robert Kerringin