Guest blogger - Eileen Wang, born in Jiangsu China P.R. A graduate from University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Master of Professional Accounting
Hello everyone, my name is Eileen and I am here to share some of my experiences as an international student.
I completed my Bachelor Degree of Japanese/International Relationships in both China and Japan, where I spent 2 years respectively. I was lucky to have had the chance of experiencing the mixture of fascinating oriental cultures and since then I decided to extend my academic path to explore the centre of the Southern Hemisphere – Australia.
In preparation for study in Australia, IELTS seemed to be the biggest challenge because English is only my second foreign language: an overall IELTS score of 6.5 with each band no less than 6.0 did look like a Mission Impossible to me back then, especially with Chinese, Japanese and English, all 3 languages of completely systems hovering over my head, causing a cloud of linguistic chaos. Fortunately, everyone who applies the right method and extra efforts, on top of a little bit of luck can be Tom Cruise. After 2 months of intensive study of English, I managed to pass IELTS to meet the university entry requirement, in one go!
Things after IELTS test went very smoothly, I arrived in Sydney in 2011 to study the course of Professional Accounting in UTS without attending any English language courses. It was a shame that I missed the opportunities of making friends and learning skills from language school;
I found the pre-course (either ELICOS, foundation or diploma courses) help you get accustomed to Uni life more quickly and easily. It allows an elastic buffer. I guess that is why the younger overseas students are when they come to Australia, the easier they can blend into Australian culture. Students who studied a Bachelor or high school course in Australia tend to show better communication skills than the groups whose study commencing from master courses here. Better English skills and better communication ability may allow you get involved in Australian life much easier and may promise you better opportunities. Nevertheless, being able to skip language study was good in a way that it helped to ease the finance expense on studying abroad so that I could spend the money on exploring this enchanting country before my formal study commenced.
