Hello my dear fellow international students, congratulations on making your way into UW-Milwaukee. This accomplishment is a movement of great joy but at the same time moving to a new country by leaving family, friends and the place where we have our fond memories is a challenging part of this new journey. But if we can navigate this new journey in the right way, we can create the sweetest chapters of our life that we’ll cherish for the rest of our lives.
Navigating the New Endeavor
The master studies in the US have significant academic responsibilities as we must meet certain course expectations and financial responsibilities as we need to earn for covering our living expenses, loans or to manage any other personal responsibilities. Therefore, planning and reaching out to the intended resources and services can be helpful in finding ways to manage these responsibilities.
The new endeavor of master studies in US has
- Make sure to attend the orientations and information sessions offered by the University, as it will help you to know the legal rules, resources on campus, and other useful information that can help you explore and gain knowledge.
- Start exploring career opportunities from day one, like talking to your advisor about your career goals to create a nice academic plan, which will help you develop the necessary skills to get a job. Reaching out to the career center to explore more opportunities is also a great move to stay on top of things.
- The course structures might be hard to handle as we are exposed to this for the first time, so reaching out to Student Success Center tutoring and effective communication with professors will help to navigate most of the academic challenges.
- Working on campus and managing studies can be stressful, so having an organized to-do list or another strategy to manage tasks effectively will be helpful. Effective communication with professors and supervisors is always the savior to learn and adapt to new work and academic environments in a faster phase.
Social and Mental Wellbeing
Loneliness is one of the major social and mental health issues for international students, so building healthy relationships and getting involved in the UWM community or Milwaukee area can help individuals manage this challenge effectively.
- Get involved on campus in any possible way, like attending workshops, activities, events, or leading a student organization. This involvement gives the feeling of belonging to the UWM community.
- Working on campus and attending classes is not just a platform to build professional skills but also a great medium to make friends and create a good social circle, and it will help our mental wellbeing.
- Reach out for mental health support on campus at SHAW when it is hard to handle things by yourself as you will get necessary information on wellbeing.
- Explore Milwaukee by volunteering, attending the social gathering of your interest, going for a walk around your neighborhood or going for a walk near the beautiful lakes of Milwaukee.
Once again, welcome to the diverse community of UW-Milwaukee lets share and learn the various knowledge base available on campus to adapt and grow as a panther.
Bhavana Tumakuru Mahesh
PHE Program Assistant
She/Her