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Final tips!

Hi, how are you guys doing? The fall semester 2016 comes to an end, the final week is coming next week!! However, don't be overstressed, just relax and apply your knowledge to the final exam. Here are some final tips for you guys.

First, check your final schedule on MiraCosta College website, give yourself enough time to find parking place, make sure you bring the pencil and Scantron(if needed).

Second, the weekend before the final week is always a good time to review, but don't stay up to late. You should believe yourself and be confident, just go to sleep early and get ready for the exam.

Third, if you feel stressed, there are some ways to relieve stress. Trying to listen some music, drinking a cup of tea, sleeping better. Doing these will help you a lot.

After the final exam, it is winter break!! How exciting is it. If you plan to go back your country or travel out of America, don't forget to go to international office with your I-20.

Good luck to your final, guys! And have a wonderful winter break.

How to success in MiraCosta College by Xiaochen

Hi, how are you guys doing? I believe everyone comes to College for a reason. But why MiraCosta College? Because MiraCosta college can make your goals come true. If you want to be successful, either get an AA education or transfer to 4 year university, then MiraCosta is the right place for you.

Counseling center is here to help!!

When you come to MiraCosta, maybe you have a plan in your mind. If you don't have, don't worry. You can always ask for help from our professional counselors. The Counseling Center offers personal counseling to assist every student in developing academic goals and major. Also it is very convenient. For general question, you can just drop in, there is no need to make appointment. If you have academic problems, you can make an appointment. If your schedule is very tight, you can use the online live support. Looking for more information, just visit our counseling website.

Tutoring center is here to help!!

Sometimes, you are confused about academic questions. Except asking for help to your professor, you can always go to tutoring center and get help for FREE. The tutoring center is available for 130 courses, the schedule is from Monday to Friday, through day and evening hours. Just make an appointment with the tutoring center and choose your tutor, you can get free help. How exciting is it! MiraCosta also offers online tutoring, so you can get help in everywhere. Looking for more information, check the tutoring center website.

Career center is here to help!!

When you are clear about your goal, you may want to find a job to support your tuition or get some working experience. MiraCosta always offers a lot of job opportunities to students! You can find on-campus job, Internship, or off campus work through Optional Practical Training.  Just make an appointment with one of the excellent staff in career center, they will help you find the right job for you. Also they will help you with resume and cover letter. They want every student to be successful in career. Looking for more information and event, check our career center website.

With all these professional and perfect resources from MiraCosta College, you can be successful in study and career area. You are not alone when you study abroad, there are many excellent staff to help you and make your dream come true!! Come to MiraCosta College, let us help you!

How to transfer from MiraCosta College to 4 year university (focus on the process of applying) by Xiaochen

Hi guys, I am a Chinese student who have been studied in MiraCosta College for two and half years. I have a great experience here and I really love the teaching style in MiraCosta College, which is small class. After I finish my general education in here, I have to transfer to four-year university. So I will start to working on my application this year during October to November!

I believe many international students want to transfer to 4 year university from MiraCosta College! Then it is the time!! So today I gonna show you guys about how to apply the CSU university.






When you fulfill the requirement, just wait for the apply
date. Remember transferring to CSU is October 1 -
November 30. Choose your ideal university. And one tip
for you guys: when you apply the university, try to apply
at least three universities. Giving yourself more chances to get in a good university.

Let's take a look about the application page. This is where you gonna apply the unviersity. The website is www.csumentor.edu.  First step is create an account, make sure your email is correct. Because the university will inform you through your email. Second, fill up the information they need. Third, apply and make a payment.

Remember the workshop for transferring is always very helpful!!! As an international student, when you fill out the forms, there will be some questions that you feel confused. The best way is to go to workshop, they are professional and patient. You can check the events for workshop in MiraCosta College website:
http://www.miracosta.edu/studentservices/transfercenter/events.html.
After applying for transfer, what you have to do is waiting for the
good news and then enjoy your university!!

How To Celebrate Chinese Moon Festival in Miracosta by Xiaochen.

Moon Festival is a traditional festival in China. The festival is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar with full moon at night, it is September 15 in 2016. So on September 14, 2016, Aubrey kuan who is the Advisor for international club&Chinese club hold a small party to celebrate the Moon festival.

The Festival is held in Child Development Center in MiraCosta. Because there are many cute kids celebrate the Moon Festival with us. They perform a show named The Archer and The Sun. It is a traditional Chinese story. Because this story is connect with the Moon Festival, so these little kids tell this story to let more people get to know Moon Festival. 

Then we have a Chinese student to sing. He sings three songs with guitar in front of the audience. After he sings, the Moon Festival is come to the end. 

In the end, we move to the amazing part: 
eating moon cakes. Moon cakes are traditional Chinese food. We have many different kinds of moon cakes. In China, eating moon cakes is one way to celebrate Moon Festival too. 

At last, the photographer took a photo for all Chinese students. The meaning of Moon festival is gather all Chinese students and don't let anyone feel alone when they far away from home! This is how we celebrate Chinese Moon Festival in Miracosta, come on and join us! 

Fun thing to do in Oceanside by Xiaochen

                                                

                                       

Oceanside is a beautiful city, especially this city is near the ocean. If you love the ocean and beach, Oceanside is the place where you do not want to miss.  

Except studying, what can we do in Oceanside? 

For me, the fun thing to do is go fishing in 

Oceanside. This activity won't cost you much

money, also you can stay close to the ocean. 

How amazing is it!!

Before you guys go fishing, the important thing to know is the rule of fishing in California. First, you need to buy a fishing license. There are two ways to do it. One is buy it online. The website is  https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Online-Sales. Another way to do it is buy in Walmart. Notice there has the time limit on the fishing license. If you just want to have a try, you can buy one day only. If you like it, the best choice is buy one year. The fee for nonresident sport fishing is 126.36 (one year).  One-day sport fishing is 15.12. 

After you have you license ready, the next step is choosing a fishing rod. You can buy it in Walmart or fishing tackle shop. Finally, enjoy your fishing day! There are one place that I recommend to you guys: Harbor Beach. The address is 1540 N Harbor Dr, Oceanside, CA 92054. You can find a good fishing spot in here. 

About Xiaochen

Hi, I'm Xiaochen. I am an international student in MiraCosta.  I come from China. I have been studying in Miracosta for two years. I really enjoy and love Miracosta. My major is accounting. I love watching movies and listening music. When I'm free, I also love to go to the beautiful beach with my friends!

大家好，我是晓晨。我是一名来自中国的留学生。我已经在miracosta学习了两年了，我非常喜欢miracosta。我的专业是会计，我喜欢看电影和听音乐。在我空闲的时候，我喜欢和我朋友一起去美丽的海滩。

Tips for Transferring by Connor

HERE ARE THE MAJOR STEPS:
1.Meet the GPA requirement
2.Finish required classed
3.Have enough money






About GPA:

Different schools have different GPA requirements.Cal-states university usually around 3.0
UC schools usually around 3.5

Also, different majors also have an impact of GPA requirement. Generally, a hard major with less people attend often has a lower GPA requirement.




Tips for maintaining a decent GPA:

1. Know your teacher!  Go to ratemyprofessor.com and search your instructor name before you choose the class.

This website collects all the rating index and students' common with the previous student. At the website, you can get the brief informational about the courses and professor.










2.You can choose：
Some classes give you options.  Grade.  Pass or no pass,  Withdraw from the course.
to avoid a bad grade that influence your GPA.
Please check the deadline date before you do it!





3.Professor usually understand that we have a language and cultural difficulty to study in the U.S.
Always try to ask: if there is a way to extra credit.
They usually will offer you this kind of opportunity.




4. Based on your Education plan You can always take some easy class or class that you like to boost up your GPA grade.
As long as the class give you unit to transfer, you can take them.




















These plan B and C are also determine what class that you have to take before you transfer to your dream university.

Here is one of my favorite professor by Connor

:John Turbeville 

(This dog raised in classroom for 2 years! He is a service dog)

• He has a Professor of Geology and Oceanography at MiraCosta College for the past 19 years, and taught honors courses for 16 years.  
• His undergraduate was completed at SDSU and graduate work at the University of New Orleans.

(We will spend times to do lab research will cool equipment) 

• Before coming to the college: He worked for 14 years as a Petroleum Geologist/Geophysicist in the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf Coast regions, and overseas in Africa, Indonesia, and Europe; 3 years as a Hydrogeologist in San Diego County; and he am a Registered (Professional) Geologist in the State of California.  

• He likes to have fun teaching and he really enjoys interacting with students. Basically he see his role as sort of a guide, both throughout the coursework and input for your future career endeavors.

• He is interested in lots of different things. He used to raise and train service dogs, Nigel is the one shown. He like to sure, do BJJ, generally annoy my kids (15 and 17), and play music. 

(We learned how to catch a perfect wave and surf on there)

• During class, it’s so much fun to learn everything about our mother earth OCEAN . It’s definitely not a boring class for seriously academic study; instead, we had so much fun during class for communicate with each other student through group discussion.  

Realize your Dreams at the Transfer Center by Connor

I highly recommend counseling service at Transfer Center. With help from university transfer experts, you can be able to chose class that fit in your education and career plan. You will feel way much easier to chase your dream in here. Furthermore, for preventing unnecessary class selecting and time wasting, counselor can guide you step by step to your dream school.

*MiraCosta boasts one of the highest combined UC-CSU transfer rates in the state. 

At MiraCosta Transfer Center, you can have these service:

Counseling Appointments

Three full-time counselors are available by appointment to assist you with your transfer needs including an educational plan to guide you in course selection. Drop-in counseling is available throughout each week for quick questions.

University Representatives

Admission representatives from University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM) visit the Oceanside and San Elijo campuses each semester.

Admission Application Workshops

The Transfer Center offers application workshops in the fall to assist students in completing UC and CSU applications.

Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) Programs

Guaranteed admission programs are available to UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz.

Honors Scholar Program

Students participating in the Honors Scholar Program will receive counseling from Transfer Center Counselors.

Computer workstations

Computer workstations are available for student use.

Cross-Enrollment Programs

Allows students to cross enroll for one course each semester at a CSU or each quarter at a UC campus without official admittance to the university.

College Fair

Every spring and fall many 4-year universities are represented at MiraCosta by their departments and admission representatives.

Specialized Workshops

Throughout the year presentations are held providing information on graduate programs, majors, and private school programs.

如何充分利用学校的资源 (Utilize School Resources)

大家好，今天我想给大家分享一些校园里的对我们的学习和生活都有很大帮助的资源。
当我刚在Miracosta开始我们的美国大学生活时，我很吃惊学校竟然会想的这么周到，很多方面学校都提供免费的帮助或资源。

首先来看看学校食堂吧:
     食堂里有各种冷饮热饮，有每天不重样的健康午饭套餐，有现做的汉堡，有沙拉，酸奶，布丁，鸡肉卷寿司等等。也有很多同学不仅仅是来吃饭，有很多会坐在一起在食堂学习。

Miracosta 的图书馆也很赞:
1.一楼二楼都有台式电脑和打印机供我们使用。

2.如果我们想找一些具体的书 文章或者资料，可以向图书馆管理员求助。我试过几次她们真的很热心效率也高，在她们的帮助下基本上几分钟我就可以找到我想要的资料。

3.在图书馆里我最喜欢的部门是writing center和tutor。writing center可以帮助大家从文章结构，逻辑，语法，用词等进行改进。每次需要提前预约，尤其是临近期中和期末考试的时候。每次writting center 的帮助时间只有30mins，所以一次是不能帮助我们完全改好正篇文章的。假如说，你写好了一篇初稿。你第一次的预约可以是，修改文章整体的逻辑，连贯性。第二次预约可以是，精挑期中一段来改写引用项目，句子结构。第三次的预约可以来改写文章的语法。

Tutor 也是一个全能的小帮手，图书馆左手边的tutor涵盖了学校几乎所有的学科。只要哪一科有所学不懂的问题，和我们一样的学生tutor （学霸们）会来帮助我们解决各项疑难杂症。



Career Center
对于还没决定自己要修什么专业的，对自己的未来事业迷茫的同学以及想要在校内工作的同学是个必去的地方。预约面谈和她们聊聊你的困惑，她们总会给出专业的建议和意见。想要在校内找份工作的同学，程序有一点麻烦要填很多表格和去申请社会安全码，但是如果着手去办无论是国际生办公室的老师还是Career Center的老师都会耐心热情的给予帮助的。

Transfer center：
专业的辅导员会帮助我们实现各种cal/uc  州立大学和加州大学 不同的转学路线。因为美国学校的要求不同，我们必须完成相应的学科才能转学，过程可谓是非常复杂。有了transfer center 的帮助，我们可以清晰的知道自己未来几年的学术路线以及转学风向。
BTW：我们国际学生可以直接在international office 预约辅导员来帮助我们。

Police Station:
丢了东西？性骚扰？感觉不安全？车没电了？
除了学习以外的时间，请来miracosta 的警察局。热心又不收费的人民好警察！


最后祝大家学业有成！

Explore English Language Institute by Connor

     The English Language Institute (ELI) offers international students the opportunity to increase their English language proficiency and develop the skills needed for success in a college or university in the United States. The program is designed for students with a minimum of one year English language training at high school or college level. This class may not be appropriate for advanced ESL students or students with a TOEFL score greater than 500 paper-based or 46 IBT. Students must be at least 18 years old or meet our minor policy requirements.

     When I arrived to MiraCosta College, I studied at ELI for one semester. They offered great basic language instruction for helping you increase English skills, such as speaking, listening, reading and writing. All the instructors are extremely friendly and helpful.

     Monday to Friday, we usually have 4 hours class, 12pm-4pm. Each Friday, ELI program offers a fun activity to explore around Oceanside. For example, we had paint ball shooting game, beach event, boomers lazar tag, eating out, etc.  The class in here are never be boring as well. They always care about your interest first and add academic content later in this class later. You will have fun and learn knowledge at the same time.

How to utilize school resources

Hi everyone, today I am going to discover what study or life resources we have on campus is helpful for us and free!!!

When you arrive United States and start your study abroad life in MiraCosta college, you may be surprised how thoughtful our school is and how much free resources or helper is opening their arm to us and waiting for offer help. Let's take a look together!

• Cafeteria: I have to say we maybe have the top 3 nice cafeteria in United States, we have different healthy yummy meals everyday and all kinds of bakery, lot of types of drinks. We've got sushi too! anyway Cafeteria is one of my favorite place in campus!

• Library: There are so many books and scholarly resources, most important: super friendly and enthusiastic librarians. Once I was asked from my homework to find some materials that I don't know much, when I was getting so nervous because I do not know how to find it and the due date is coming soon, I went to library. With librarian's help, I got what I need within 20 minutes, isn't it impressive?! Not only books, in the first floor of library we also have writing center and tutor program, which as you can image is really really helpful for our study. In college, almost all of us need to take English for couple of semesters so that in case to make sure we can do good in English, Writing center is absolutely good place to go. They are patient and literal!  So far we have tutors for math, Spanish, Chinese..etc, almost every main majors.

• Career Center: Strongly recommend!! There is a big possibility you need it. If you are having questions about future career or have not decide what major you are going to do, or you want to find a job inside campus, Career Center is the perfect place to go!

Those are all I can think up now, if you are new student in MiraCosta, utilizing those resources may give you big help!

Finals are coming!!! :( :)

Hi everybody, final is coming, I don't know about you all but I am a little bit anxious and nervous. This semester I don't have very difficult classes except English 100. I am not very good at writing long scholarly essays so I am kind of struggling, now I am putting more time on it; I don't go out and hang out with friends as much as before, instead, I study in coffee shop most of the time .I wish I could get 4 A grades! good luck to myself and all of my school mates.

How to find a place to live

Hi everyone.

The most important thing when you study abroad is a nice living place. I don't think anyone can study well and get good grades if they don't live in a nice place where they feel happy and comfortable to stay at. So today I'm going to write about how to find a place to live through MiraCosta College website.

Here are the steps:

• type "Housing" in the search box on the right top of the seach box and then click on MiraCosta housing website, Click on "I'm looking for a place to rent", then you can see bunch of housing information with landlords' contacts. Write down information about the ones fit your demand, and contact with owner tell them you want to see the room.  (You need to go to see it before you move in).  

• If you can't find anyone that satisfied you on that page with renting information, you can also type"home stay" in the search box, then click first link "Transportation/Home stay services, there are Homestay organizations which specialize at helping international students find a home stay that fit their requirement.

As my personal experience of housing, I find a cozy private room only for $500 USD each month which is where I current live. Including utilities such as electricity, water, trash, and internet.  let's take a look of the outside environment! :D

what should we do when we haven't decide our major

At my first semester, I had problem with choosing major. I want to major in something that will get me a nice job, is interesting to study, and enjoyable to work in, but I don't know what that is for me. As an international student, I have more clear study goals and time limit compare with local students, so me and my parents were worrying about my major "issue" in last past few months. Fortunately I have an goal now with Career Center and school website's help.

When you feel lost on the way of deciding major, please feel free use resources in our school, that is their job and they are waiting for help us  anytime! If you do not know what kinds of job you can get after graduate and got the degree from the major you are interested in, you can go to career center make an appointment with specialists their and they'll help your explore jobs. If you are really into something and want to major in it, but you do not know what major we have relatives with it, you could also go to our school website's certificates page to find out what majors we have in MiraCosta.

About going back China during school break

Hi everybody.

I have been San Diego about 14 months, I haven't go back China in this 14 months even once.   I really miss my family and everything in my country, so I am planning going back home in this winter.  But since it is a international trip, the process might be more complicated and confusing than just travel inside the U.S. or China. I'm a little bit frustrated now, but I would like share my knowledge about this so that may offer some help for you.

First, the expiration day of my visa is one year from the day I got it, so it is already expired. There is no problem to have the visa expire while I am in the United States.  But when I go home in December, my visa need to be extended before I return to the United States.

Also, I changed my school from my language school which is located in downtown San Diego to MiraCosta College.  Therefore, I have to redo a visa interview.  I was told I need to bring all same documents with first time I went to visa interview: Bank statement, grade score, house proprietary certificate, etc. Every step is almost the same with first time.  (If I didn't change my school I can just pay ZhongXin Bank and they will help me expand my visa without going to embassy in person).

And by the way, my city is so beautiful, let's take a look of it :D

Isn't it beautiful? haha.

First week fall semester first blog

The first few weeks is always a little bit tough. As a Chinese student who study alone in America, I have to do everything by myself; Such as add class, pay tuition, solve housing problem..etc. It's kind of tough for me, but I know I will become a more independent person after this "training", which is one of the purpose that I choose to study abroad. Sometimes I feel dizzy when I was too busy to relax, but seems life gave me a big surprise is all my professors are quite specialty and all have sense of humor which makes me feel happy and joyful when I am in class. Nice professors helps me more focus on study,I will work harder than last semester!

About last week, finally I've got some free time to relax on the beach in the weekend. I love SoCal so much especially sunshine and beaches here.I know not only person who love those beautiful things. anyway, good luck to myself and all of you! :D

What to do after you have been admitted by a Four-Year College/University

I will start this blog by announcing my good news: I applied to UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCI, and UCSD last winter and I just found out I was admitted to ALL of them!! (I couldn't do it without MiraCosta~) Next, I am going to talk about what steps are required after you have received your admission letter from a four-year institution.

1. Notice your current school and your family about such good news!
2. Accept your admission at the school you are going to transfer to. For factors about how to choose your future four-year college, please view my earlier blog: Steps to transfer to a four-year university.
3. Plan your Graduation Ceremony at MiraCosta. For more information, contact the Student Activity Office by April. (760-795-6690)
4. Order your official transcript, and/or IGETC Certification, and/or American Institution Requirement Certification from Admission and Records before the school deadlines. 
5. Follow specific instructions announced or emailed by your newly admitted college, such as register for a student ID account, complete SIR form, request transfer for your SEVIS from MiraCosta to your future college, apply for housing, and so on. 
6. Meet with a counsoler at MiraCosta to ensure your current educational plan satisfy all requirements necessary for a successful transfer and/or an Associate Degree or Certificate of Proficiency.
7. Make sure you constantly visit and update your transfer application for your next college/university, and I highly recommend that you make a checklist and write down the deadlines and events associated with the transfer process. 
8. Communicate with whoever is sponsoring your college tuition about additional financial documents/ funding evidence the four-year college may request to present. 
9. Based on your budget for the next two years, select the most economical/affordable options for your housing, meal plan, classes, insurance, transportation, and/or job opportunities in the future. 
10. Planning your travel and stay for school visits, welcome party, orientations, group/private tours, traveling during your summer break, or earlier arrivals at your future college/university. 
11. Don't need to feel stressed or anxious about this process because Every Single Transfer Student goes through the same steps, not to mention those who are overseas! Just make sure you are doing what you have been told to do by your future college/university and enjoy your summer!

Disney, Here We GO!!

Hi !!! Thank you guys so much for viewing my blog, and I will try my best to share more fun and helpful information about studying abroad at MiraCosta College. During Spring break, I am sure many of you have traveled to many places, and so did our International Club !! Here are some group pictures before we headed to Disneyland.

 

 

 

To view more pictures of our Disneyland trip~please visit our facebook website and "LIKE" us: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalStudentExperience