Yuwei Xu, a Miami University student from southwest China, always knew that she wanted to attend college in the United States; but after applying to 6 or 7 universities, she was not sure exactly where she would end up.

After getting accepted to Miami University, Xu researched the school as a prospective student and learned facts that enticed her beyond Miami's beautiful campus.

"I chose Miami because the small size of the classes and it is ranked second in undergraduate teaching," Xu says. "The one thing I really care about is the academics. I am an accounting major and the accounting department has one of the highest rankings in the U.S."

Yet, the strength of the academics was not the only factor that drew Xu to Miami.

"Another funny reason why I chose Miami, was because my city has never had snow and I wanted to pick one place that has a lot of snow," Xu confesses. "Every time it snows I run outside and shout 'yes!'"

Now, as a junior accounting major, Xu has found a perfect place as a student at Miami both in academics and in extracurricular activities—and she has seen snow multiple times.

"Every student has their own advisor that helps you succeed, I had one in the ACE program to help me pass and now that I am in Farmer I have another advisor that helps me register for classes and make sure I graduate on time," Xu says.

Xu acknowledges that she uses most of the resources that Miami's campus has to offer. From fun events to academic services that will help her succeed, Xu checks it all out.

"When I was preparing for career fair, Miami's career service helped me prepare my résumé and do mock interviews. They have helped me explore my career and look at the areas that interest me," Xu explains.

She admits that the Center for Career Exploration and success at Miami has helped her to explore the difficult field of accounting. With their help, Xu was able to land an interview after the career fair.

"At the beginning of my college years, I put all of my time into my studies but now I am a treasurer for the Chinese Students and Scholars association," Xu says of her on-campus involvement. "I think that if I want to get involved in the real U.S. society I should get involved in all of the other things, so I put part of my study time into that."

Miami's campus is home to over 400 student organizations, meaning that there is always an event going on on-campus.

"I try to attend each event that the school has—like Late Night Miami—I think it is a really good thing to do and something I would tell incoming international students to do," Xu says.

Xu's favorite event that she has attended at Miami was the Halloween celebration through the American Culture and English program (ACE). At this event, she carved her very first pumpkin!

"One of my advices to prospective students is to get involved in the campus, do not just make friends with people from your own country," Xu explains of her experience at Miami. "You have to open your mind and make friends with people from different countries, that will refresh your brain and give you different ideas from other countries. Also, that is a great way to fix your homesickness."

While Xu admits that she occasionally does feel homesick (who doesn't every now and then at college?), she says that Miami and the ACE program does an amazing job helping her feel more at home in the community.

"Every time there are national holidays in China that people take, like National Day, even though I am in the U.S. and on campus I feel like our school cares about those holidays and us international students," acknowledges Xu. "The student organizations, like ACE, will hold some events that will help us to create the relationship between the international students and the U.S. students."

While Xu loves everything about Miami, from the beautiful campus to the approachable faculty and students, she admits that her favorite thing about the school was the ACE program because it helped her learn American culture and make friends.

"Finally, I want to tell incoming students to not hesitate to ask a question," Xu says as her parting words of wisdom. "I think that asking questions is really important. So, I just want to say do not be afraid to ask questions and do not be afraid to make mistakes and answer questions in the class."

[by Katy O'Neill, January 2019]