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The east coast of the USA encompasses many of the country's major cities, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC, and is a popular destination with international students for a number of reasons, as Richard Pokrass from Burlington County College in New Jersey explains. 'These cities contain diverse populations from throughout the world, have numerous cultural opportunities – live theatre, music, museums and historical attractions – and contain some of the leading colleges and universities in the USA,' he says.
Susan Hallenbeck, from Hood College in Maryland, agrees that the 'close proximity to major metropolitan and world centres' is one of the reasons why students choose to study on the east coast. 'Washington, DC is a terrific location for students who are interested in government, economics, the arts and international studies,' she says. 'New York, Philadelphia and Boston are also within a reasonable travel distance.'
Large metropolitan cities such as New York provide students with a wide range of activities to fill their spare time. Alison Rice, Director of the International English Language Institute at Hunter College, which is part of the City University of New York, says, 'Many of our students see New York city as the centre of the world. [The city] has unlimited access to cultural events, many of them free. Students play soccer in Central Park on the weekend and go to clubs in the evening.'
The east coast as a whole boasts a large number of world-famous tourist attractions, as Deborah Bandy, from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, is keen to point out. 'The central Florida area - Orlando is only 50 miles away - is a tourist destination with a large influx of foreign visitors from all parts of the globe who visit each year. These attractions are geared to serve the foreign visitors and thereby are particularly attractive to our foreign students,' she says. Disney World, Sea World and Universal Studios are just some of the more well-known attractions that students can visit in the Orlando area.
The university also offers students the chance to take part in something which, for many, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 'Each year [the International Student Services Office] offers a VIP tour of the Kennedy Space Center, often in conjunction with a launch,' says Bandy.
Integrating with local people is the best way for international students to truly make the most of their study abroad experience and some institutions on the east coast have come up with interesting opportunities to help their students achieve this. 'We are partners with Metro International,' says Rice, '[which is] an international organisation that arranges weekend visits with families and overnight tours of interesting areas such as Washington DC, Thanksgiving with the Amish in Pennsylvania and so on.' She continues, 'We also have a programme in which we arrange for our students to volunteer in positions where they will meet and interact with Americans – [for example] in the gift shop in a local hospital, with a boy scout troop etc.'
The east coast attracts a wide variety of nationalities to live and study, thereby providing a rich and varied cultural atmosphere, as well as numerous opportunities to make friends. At Hood College, the International Student Association puts on an international dinner and style show every year. 'The club also sponsors other activities to bring students from various backgrounds together and learn about cultures around the world,' says Hallenbeck. She adds, '[The highlight of our students' stay is] meeting students from all over the USA and all over the world and learning together in a friendly and supportive environment.'
Agent comments
'[In] my experience [we send] students mainly to Florida. New York is also interesting for them, however prices are higher, and a third destination of interest is Boston. These cities are very popular destinations; New York for being a cosmopolitan city, Boston for its tradition and Florida always suggests holidays.'
Derlene Calpacci, Didacta Viagens e Turismo, Brazil
'[We mostly get enquiries] for New York and Boston, New Jersey and Washington because there are many big name universities [there] and [students] also want to visit many tourist attractions. I [tell students] that they have a lot of [options] in the northern part of east USA if they want to [go on to] further studies. If they want to spend less I tell them to choose another area.'
Soonhee Park, Vision Educational Consulting, Korea
'We get lots of enquiries for secondary and universitiy education [in the east coast of the USA]. The reasons are their esteemed programmes, solid courses, good reputation and [the fact that there are fewer] Asian students. The people and the culture are more traditional than the west coast.'
Sophia Liu, Sino-American Education Service Center, Taiwan
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