Updates: Romanian Students in the U.S.
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| Irina Craciun Louisiana State University |
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Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA Class of 2008 
Why the U.S.? For me, this question was answered early on in life, as I had grown up watching my parents, both college professors in Bucharest, struggle with life in Romania. Having followed in my mother's footsteps, I knew I wanted to be a mathematics professor. But I also knew I wanted a better life - not a life of luxury, but a decent life, where I could practice my profession to the best of my abilities, without having to worry about the basic necessities of living. Why Louisiana State University? The story of how I came to be at LSU is not your typical one: sure, I took all the SAT's under the sun, and thus spent a lot of time at Fulbright, I wrote millions of essays and financial aid applications. I only applied to 8 universities, all Ivy League, and as it turned out, none of them offered me full financial support. To me, it was the end. In the summer of 2003, I happened to attend a series of lectures on Gravitational Physics, taught by Mihai Bondarescu, a Romanian graduate student from Caltech. He gave some mathematics tests (which I later found out were GRE tests!) on which I apparently performed very well for an 11th grader. We exchanged email addresses but that was about it. A year later, in 2004, the day my last refusal from the 8 universities arrived, and when I thought my dream was over, Mihai emailed me and asked me if I had accepted any offers. When I said no, he told me about a research center at LSU, Center for Computation and Technology (CCT) that was looking for some good students. He put me in contact with them, I sent them my resume and an essay, and 2 days later, I got my acceptance letter from LSU, with an offer for full financial support from CCT. A month later I was getting on a plane for the first time in my life. The lesson in all this? Make contact!!! Find professors, students, researchers in the U.S. who study and research in the field you're interested in, and just talk to them! Tell them about yourselves, about your past achievements and your future intended achievements, about what you wish to do and learn, ask for their advice, read scientific papers they've written and comment on them. I've learned that in applying to schools in the U.S., whether at a graduate or undergraduate level, nothing is more important than human contact. When you are merely an application folder to them, while it can still work, your chances increase tenfold when there's a real face and person attached to that folder, and someone there knows who you are! All I knew about LSU when I left was that it wasn't the Ivy League school I had hoped for. I didn't know what to expect. But I was pleased to discover that I was going to get a top education at LSU: I met wonderful professors who changed my life, both mathematics professors and from other subjects. I can't think of a single teacher here who had absurd expectations, who practiced favoritism, or who was in any way unfair. Surely expectations were high in all disciplines, but there was also a lot of help and support available: all professors have their office doors open to their students for questions and help, there are tutoring centers and a great big library with thousands of books and hundreds of computers, and students often form study groups where they help each other study. And no one cheats here: at all the tests, even in classes with 300 students in an auditorium, there is no professor playing policeman, students sit next to one another, and it is understood and accepted that no one will try to cheat. Because if you do cheat, even if you escape the professor's punishment, you will lose all your classmates' respect, and basically no one in your class will talk to you ever again. Not to place blame on the Romanian education system, but it was refreshing for once to not be the "loser" if I chose not to cheat. People in the South are the most welcoming people in the world, and they care much for international students who have no family here. For all the holidays, whether it was 4th of July, Thanksgiving or Christmas, I got warm invitations from professors, students and co-workers to spend the day with their families, and bring along other internationals, so that we wouldn't be alone. The 4 years I was an undergraduate at LSU, I had a job as a research student at CCT, working alongside top professors, publishing papers, presenting them at conferences across America, and winning awards for my research. Not many undergraduates get to work in research, but the options are there at any university, if you look hard enough: try to get a research job, as it will be a priceless asset if you plan to apply to graduate school later. Was it hard? Yes, it was tremendously hard, especially in the beginning. Adaptation is tough, and I miss my family and friends from Romania terribly. But was it worth it? Most definitely!!! At the end of those 4 years, I graduated Summa cum Laude in mathematics, I got married to a wonderful American boy who is also a mathematician , and I got a great financial offer for a PhD here at LSU. Although I got offers from other universities (some much better rated), I love LSU so much, that I decided to stay here. I am so in love with this university, with this town, and the people here, that I now call Baton Rouge my home. And more important than anything, I am happy, fulfilled and at peace with myself. Irina |