Hi, I am Liliya, originally from Russia. Almost 8 years ago, I got accepted to a small liberal arts college in Michigan with a full-tuition scholarship! I could not say NO to such an incredible opportunity that I worked so hard for so I ended up moving to the United States for school. Now, I am pursuing a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at the University of Notre Dame on my original F1 student visa. I also have an emotional support dog Garnet, who treats my IKEA bed as her own. Every night we go to sleep together, I have to fight her for prime bed space!
While living in the United States, I gained a lot of knowledge about the higher education system here, personal finance, healthcare, friendships, professional growth, social issues, and more so I figured I will start sharing it on RU-vid and in a blog format. I hope you find my experience useful.
Disclaimer: As a non-citizen, I am unable to monetize any of the content that I release on this channel or on my blog.
So while you can get more attention from faculty at a LAC because often you don't have a graduate program, LAC professors still need to write research grant applications if you wanted to provide undergrads with research opportunities. However, other on-campus jobs do get given out earlier. And, for PhD, typically, any reputable program can't admit people they can't fund.
***This video will be most helpful to US resident-aliens 👽 or people who are considered residents for tax purposes but do not hold US citizenship. International students become resident-aliens 🛸 if they spend 5 consecutive years in the US. If you are a resident-alien 👾 then you can use Turbotax to file your taxes. If you spent less than 5 years in the US so far, then consider filing your taxes through Sprintax***
I am 21 and I feel devastated. Just after completing my high school at 17, I was forced to enrol in a major I wasn’t interested in. It’s painful to remember those days. But it was COVID and so I couldn’t do much due to the lockdown in our country, and I dropped out a year ago in 2022. I didn’t really study my major. It sucked. Every moment spent there felt hellish. It was really really depressing. During that depressing period, I was reading various self-help books, trying out Entrepreneurship, writing skills and did some hands-on work. I was in an existential crisis. Nothing really interested me. I didn’t know what to do in my life. Still don’t know. I still put a lot of pressure on myself and feel behind. I mustered up some courage and now want to go back to college. And pick up a general degree like liberal arts so I can explore more. But sometimes, it is really depressing as it feels like I am very behind. I want to apply to colleges in US and it seems like my 4+ years gap will be a huge disadvantage. I saw that people here are going back to college at 22, 24, 30, and more. So it really inspired me. Please give me some advice which will help me to convince the colleges to let me in. I really need some assurance because it is killing me.
Hi dear. Just watched your liberal arts video. What was your undergraduate degree focused on? So, is it possible to make transition into life sciences in grad level after doing liberal arts?
Hi! Thank you for watching :) My UG degree was in chemistry and mathematics, so both majors were in STEM. I do believe I could have gone into arts and letters in grad school. I think the same applies the other way around too. There are examples of how students who want to go into medicine, major in a non-STEM field in undergrad and only go into life sciences in med school or grad school. I think both scenarios are possible. If you really want to be sure, consider talking to a professor at your current/future undergrad college or email a grad professor directly. They usually reply quickly. I am not too well-versed in switching careers like that. I have always been making art and been generally curious about non-STEM topics so if that is the case for you, it may not be a difficult transition for you after all. Best of luck!
Hi! Congrats on the admission, what school did you get into? If you want to save a little bit of money, make sure to ask your lab mates where it's going to be most affordable to live and where they do their groceries. It's always a good idea to minimize the largest expenses, like rent, rather than try to save a dollar here and there. Best of luck!!!
Great stuff! Thanks for sharing your story. Very important message that I will share with my high school daughters. Your experience lines up well with other sources about the advantages of small liberal arts colleges, such as colleges that change lives, Deresiewicz, etc.
I do some research on other videos, and they said that international students shouldn't use TurboTax or Credit Karma because it's only suitable for the American citizens. Does Turbo Tax cover international students? and how can you contact the IRS to get more information about your late fees?
Hey! Thank you so much for your question. Disclaimer: I cannot give you legal advice. Here is an article directly from Turbotax's website that says non-citizens must pay taxes. turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/general/tax-tips-for-resident-and-non-resident-aliens/L9Mm0x1i6 International students studying in the States and earning income can absolutely use Turbotax to file their taxes. The IRS gets your social security number and other documents that notify them of your legal status in the US. Turbotax is just a tool that makes filing taxes simpler. Turbotax is a communicator to the IRS. Any international student in the States should file their taxes and it can only go to the IRS. Turbotax is just a messenger of that information. Credit Karma is a tool from the Intuit company. Intuit also owns Turbotax. Credit Karma is basically an app that tracks your credit history. It gets linked to your cards and bank accounts and uses your social security number to check whether you have any outstanding balance. You just have to allow Credit Karma to use your social security number (they keep this information locked). Any person that has expenses in the States can and should use Credit Karma. To contact IRS, you will have to get in touch with their representative over the phone. They might ask for your social security number so make sure you are calling the right number. Do not give out that information to complete strangers. I hope this helps! Good luck!
