Leaving home and coming to college is a big adjustment for anyone, but imagine moving to a new country and immersing yourself in a whole new culture and starting college. That is what over 60 Linfield students are doing this year.

Finding Linfield is the first step for these international students. Most of them got here by word of mouth from a friend, family member, or some a counselor in their home country.

People ask why choose Linfield? For Jingyi Cao, ’17, from China, the size of campus, the scholarship opportunities, and the class sizes were among the reasons she chose to come to Linfield four years ago.

For Rebecca Biegger, “It was a dream to study in the US and Linfield is special with its community.” All the way from Germany, “the hardest part of being an international student is missing her friends and family from home,” Biegger said.

Linfield has a great scholarship program for the international students and Linfield is a community that they enjoy being in. For many, including Hannah Aghedo, ’19, from Nigeria had “always wanted to do my exchange year in the states and luckily for me, I got a scholarship to Linfield College.” The scholarship for international students makes their time at Linfield possible.

However, that does not mean it does not come with challenges. Being an international student comes with missing home, changes in food, being immersed in a new language, and the typical college challenges.

Just remember when you are talking to an international student that they are adjusting to an entirely different culture. Fiona Gou, ’19, “International students are not a group that does not want to communicate with local students, sometimes we are hesitating. So please give us a little bit more patience, and space. After all, everyone is trying to grow up, and it is even harder for international students in a strange country.”