Gordon Admissions Dept. Furthering Efforts to Foreign Countries
By Christian Bradley
Wenham, MA- The dream of a Christian education doesn’t always spring from what most college students would consider to be a “normal” background. Gordon College has become a second home to students from all around the world. Despite the fact that Gordon’s international population has greatly increased in the past decade, college administrators continue to work hard every day to further strengthen Gordon’s international community.
The college community has made great strides in increasing the international population on campus, but there are still some uncertainties for students that are considering coming to Gordon from a foreign country.
“The language barrier, of course, is an issue,” says executive vice president Dan Tymann,“We also have to deal with student visas, making sure our institution meets the academic standards of international students, making them feel as if they are right at home when they are in the Gordon community, and on our part, developing more of an understanding of the customs and cultures that they are coming from.”
Another hurdle that international students have to deal with when applying to Gordon includes getting a sufficient score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam.
The TOEFL is a test of academic knowledge and acts as an assessment of English ability that is often a preferred alternative for international students when compared to the SAT.
“The SAT includes cultural nuances that are much more familiar to students that grew up in western cultures,” says senior admissions counselor Lindsey Koditek. “The TOEFL takes out those cultural nuances that foreign students might struggle with when taking the SAT, and it tests them on academic English and English ability in a social setting.”
After scoring high enough on the TOEFL, international students must deal with more personal aspects of the admissions process. A few of the steps in the process is an interview with Koditek or another admissions counselor, visiting campus, and determining their financial aid package. Technology plays a huge role in the admissions process, and, in many ways, eases some parts of the application process for international students that can be very stressful.
“Some international students that come in are dual citizens, so they are eligible for federal financial aid, says Koditek, “but true international students must fill out a College Scholarship Service(CSS) profile that connects them to scholarships, grants, and aid that may be available to them because they aren’t able to get federal aid, their financial aid packages from Gordon will often be more than the package of an American student.”
The CSS profile is a service connected with the College Board, who also administers the SAT’s. International students fill our their CSS profile so that they can enter an online database that is filled with grants and scholarships that are available strictly for overseas students trying to study in America.
Newer technology such as Skype and instant messaging, according to both Koditek and Tymann, have given the Gordon admissions department the opportunity to develop a much closer relationship to prospective international students. Often, students are able to do their admissions interview with a counselor via Skype. Admissions counselors are also able to develop a bond as well as keep tabs on how prospective students are doing by way of instant messaging.
“There have been a number of international students who utilize our website, use campus tour videos, and read our student blogs. A lot of them have become quite clever with using our website, it shows what a wonderful tool the internet has been for international students,” says Koditek on how technology has benefited prospective students.
Tymann and Koditek both mentioned that the Gordon community is trying to develop an international relationship in other parts of the world, especially in China. Tymann is joining two other colleagues later this month in a trip to Hong Kong to meet with high school principals and superintendents to not only discuss what Gordon has to offer students, but to also help clear up any uncertainties that the international community may have in regards to the topic of studying abroad in the United States.
“Bringing foreign countries to us is part of growing intellectually and spiritually, we need to be willing to meet people with much different experiences,” says Tymann on the importance of diversified cultures in the Gordon College community.
The admissions department recognizes its role to diversify campus in order to give more varied perspectives from students and professors to coaches and other faculty workers. Enabling more international students to come to Gordon is a good start in the diversifying process.
“Last year we brought in one of the largest amounts of international students ever,” says Koditek. “Admissions is committed to bringing in international students. We anticipate that we’ll see a more diversified number of students in years ahead. It’s phenomenal to see how God is at work around the world.”
