Boston College has always been an institution with an international flair. John McElroy, S.J., founded it in 1863 in Boston after growing up on his family's farm in Ulster, Northern Ireland. John Bapst, a native of Switzerland, became BC's first president. The Brit and the Swiss catered to a student population that was mainly made up of poor, Irish immigrants, offering education to improve lives.
Nowadays, the student population has become something entirely different. Sit down at Hillside Cafe and you will see students with $200 iPhones and designer jeans, enjoying a gourmet New England Classic panini. No more slide rulers, knickerbockers, or baked potatoes to be seen, and you would even be hard pressed to find an international student among the crowd, as they are a minority at BC.
This fall, however, there was an upswing in BC's international population. Last year, BC welcomed 285 new international students to Chestnut Hill, and this year that number increased to 425, representing nearly 70 countries and six continents. In all, this fall saw a 50 percent increase in international enrollment over last year's numbers.
Adrienne Nussbaum, director of the Office of International Students and Scholars, says the 50 percent increase can be explained mainly by growth in three sectors of the international population: exchange students, incoming freshmen, and the newly created School of Theology and Ministry. The number of exchange students rose from about 80 last year to 120 this year, incoming freshmen rose from 45 to 78, and there are about 50 international students taking part in the School of Theology and Ministry's first year of operation.
Nussbaum says the biggest mystery is why there are nearly twice as many freshmen in the class of 2012 than in years past, but she offers a compelling hypothesis. "We noticed a higher than average yield in enrollment from internationals this year and that may be due to the depreciating dollar," Nussbaum says. It's not that BC is accepting more international students, it's that more international students are accepting BC's invitation of enrollment.
Dutch students who normally would have recycled their BC acceptance letters and attended the University of Nijmegen in the fall are now reconsidering college life in Boston. And that same phenomenon is happening in countries all over the world, because the depreciation of the U.S. dollar has made BC a more realistic option for families who live abroad and make their earnings in foreign currencies.
Cost is only one of the reasons an international student may decide to study at BC. BC's reputation for being an outstanding Jesuit academic institution with a good sense of community and strong athletics could also be drawing in international students.
It also helps to be so close to downtown Boston, where entertainment, job opportunities, and the Boston Celtics can be found. Ricky Tang, A&S '11, a native of China, cited watching the Celtics and the BC Eagles men's basketball team play on TV as one of the ways he started getting interested in going to school in the Hub.
Gerardo Diaz-Bazan, A&S '11, said it was rock group U2 and its famous Boston Garden tour stops, among other factors, that got him thinking about leaving his native El Salvador in favor of spending four years in Boston. Other international students cited word of mouth, as well as positive research on the Internet as reasons they decided to enroll.
Once at BC, international students are eased into their new surroundings through the now 28-year-old International Assistant program. Founded in 1980, the IA program was created to "facilitate the adjustment of new international students to Boston College, Boston, and American life in general, especially during the crucial first month," according to its Web site. The international assistants, who are mostly upperclassmen (international and American alike), join the incoming international freshmen and their orientation leaders during the four-day international orientation at the start of the year. Unlike the orientation leaders, however, the IAs stick with their freshman international students throughout their entire first year of study, always on call to answer questions, give advice, and generally bridge the cultural gap.
When asked about how she remembered the IA program, Hamburg native Vivianne Knierim, A&S '11, was quick to describe it as "fun, helpful, and entertaining." She says, "I enjoyed going on the boat cruise through Boston. All of the IAs had already bonded after their training sessions, and they were really a tight knit group of good, interesting people. To have been able to know all of them right after arriving in Boston was really a great thing."
With the large influx of international students this year, the IA program, headed by Nussbaum, was brought to its threshold. Each IA took on three students each this year, compared to one or two in past years.
John Phillips, an IA and A&S '09, juggled the responsibility of three international students this summer and is happy to see the program expanding. Additionally, Phillips says that seven more IAs and two coordinators were added to the program this year to accommodate the increase in incoming international students.
Most people, including Nussbaum and Phillips, are happy to see more international students in Chestnut Hill. But some argue that BC should attempt to increase its number of international students. In the class of 2011 - composed of 2,314 individuals - there are only 45 full-time international students; this is roughly 2 percent of the BC population.
In comparison to other schools, BC's numbers of international students is low. Boston University, nationally renowned for its diversity, outscores BC in the number of different countries represented (100 distinct nationalities versus 67 at BC), and also has a larger proportion of international students at 8.62 percent, according to the Princeton Review. Bentley has a similar 7.45 percent, Harvard is at 9.7 percent, and Babson College claims a staggering 22.29 percent. Compared to these schools, BC is, even after this year's increase, still lagging in its international student populations.
Both international and American students alike can comment on the benefits of increased on-campus diversity. Alex Loverde, A&S '11, from Rochester, N.Y., lives in an eight-man suite with six international students. He says, "I feel that I am very privileged with the fact that I am living and close friends with many international students, and will therefore benefit by getting a very culturally diverse college experience at a university that, disappointingly, lacks diversity."
Patricia Lopez, CSOM '11, an IA from Quito, Ecuador, says, "Cultural intermingling is key for not only academic enrichment in the classroom, but also for personal growth that surpasses boundaries."
Lopez is currently in the process of creating the BC International Students' Club, where she hopes to raise diversity and intercultural connections on campus. Citing the minority status of international students at BC, she says, "BC needs more exposure to different cultures, and I am eager to see that in the future."
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