Letter to the Editor:
To the Editor,I read with great interest Marie Gleichauf's op-ed "Internationalization effort should be scaled back" (January 22, 2014), as an international student who has largely benefited from the superb education and hospitable environment Rice has provided me with. While I appreciate the writer's interest in and concern about Rice's growing international student body, her main arguments - a) that Rice's internationalization efforts have unfairly disadvantaged domestic students in the admissions process and b) that Rice's international networks are not as beneficial to U.S. students as they are to international students - are deeply flawed and misguided.International students - most of whom pay a full tuition - are not taking away spots from qualified U.S. students who require financial assistance. The increase in the number of international students at Rice has largely been in consistence with the enrollment increase in the entire undergraduate population, which is a result of President Leebron's effort to enhance Rice's competitiveness, as laid out in his Vision for the 2nd Century. Moreover, I have interviewed a number of domestic and international applicants as a senior interviewer and international diplomat for the Admissions Office. I have witnessed outstanding high school students from each group receive the admission letters they craved, and unqualified students, regardless of their citizenship, get denied. As clearly stated in Rice's General Policy, Rice does not deny qualified applicants solely on the basis of their citizenship status. In fact, Rice prioritizes offering financial assistance to all qualifying U.S. students whose top choice is Rice by not allowing international applicants with financial need to apply Early Decision. Moreover, international applicants who seek need-based financial assistance from Rice are reviewed separately from American students in an extremely competitive pool made up of other foreign nationals who applied for need-based aid. Therefore, the writer's argument that the growing number of Rice international students has deprived deserving U.S. students of much-desired educational opportunities to study at Rice is groundless and largely misleading. I am also deeply troubled by the writer's portrayal of the relationship between our university and its international student body as one-way and nonreciprocal, when it is in fact mutually advantageous. As much as Rice has benefited thousands of international students by providing them with a world-class education, international students have made enormous contributions to our community by enriching classroom environments and creating a vibrant campus culture. Having recognized the immense benefits that international students bring to campus, many of Rice's peer institutions have aggressively sought to recruit bright international students from all over the world and now boast high percentages of international student body. Graduates of these universities - both domestic and international - enjoy numerous benefits in finding career and business opportunities from their extensive alumni networks in business, politics and academia outside of the U.S. As an added benefit, a strong alumni network creates a "brand name" for universities and their degrees and outside of the U.S., which boosts one's chance of getting interviews and job offers.Although I strongly disagree with the writer's main arguments, I do concur with her idea that Rice should strive to diversify its international student body. There should be more recruitment efforts in regions such as Central Asia and Southeast Asia, as students from these regions are severely underrepresented in Rice's international student body. Last summer, I contacted the Rice Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS) a few days before I left for Kazakhstan to do my summer internship, but I was very disappointed to find out that there were no alumni from Kazakhstan whom I could contact.I strongly believe that Rice has the potential to become one of the most prestigious name-brand universities in the world. In order to achieve this and produce competitive global citizens, Rice should continue to aggressively promote international expansion and strive to attract the brightest students from all around the world. Irene Eunjung OhBrown College Sophomore