from CC to UCB, help pls :)

thebigsh0w
Sat, 23 Jan 2010 03:35:01 +0000

Overall, I think international students are good for the US. I do, however, believe there are some “unwanted” foreigners who come here; the ones who just siphon our tax dollars, resources, and time. I have also seen people who come here just to get the “American” education, then just leave to go back to their home country, while bashing the US at the same time. But I believe there is a substantial overall positive benefit. They provide a lot of intellect, variation, and passion to our economy-I once read that 1/4 of engineering start-ups were started by foreigners in the US. It is also important to be multicultural, and not xenophobic, which is very important-I believe- in the age of globalism.

But it would be nice to see more Americans get priority over international students. I have seen a lot of internationals get into top universities like Cal (which is why Haas is like 60% Asian), even though they are taking citizen’s spots. I agree that most of these people have superior “stats”- through whatever means they can- but what bothers me is they, their parents, and their grand parents have not paid taxes to fund these schools.

Try going to China, Mexico, .etc and see the hypocrisy. Many of the foreigners there are treated a lot worse than those who come to America; which is one reason I am glad my grand/great-grand parents immigrated to America.

Overall, though, I am glad to see international students come to America. They see the fortune. To me, it means we are still the top in education, which is a good sign these days. It kind of makes you proud. I guess policy makers just have to find a healthy balance: not too many immigrants that take away services from citizens and strain resources.