Chih-Hua (Kay) Chang has been out in the work force since finishing her undergraduate degree in Taiwan.  To increase her knowledge of communications, which would help her in her job, Kay decides to come to the United States for school.  “I use to work in a trade association and I had been working for about ten years.  My job duty is to organize trade shows for all over the world.  We kind of recruit Taiwanese IT companies in overseas trade shows to develop their business opportunities,” she says.  “So after ten years I realize I still need some new input in communications area so I decided to come to the United States and pursue my master’s degree that is why I am here.” 

Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois is where Kay is pursuing a master's degree.  She is studying Integrative Marketing Communications.  Exactly what that is, Kay tell us.  “In my major we call IMC which stands for Integrative Marketing Communications it is a major that we can integrate PR, Advertising, Marketing, Promotions as a whole idea which is really related to my career and my job.”

The thirty-three year old student has many reasons for choosing Roosevelt University.  However, there is one main attraction for her.  “In my personal experience, I have never been to the Mid-West so I kind of focus on Mid-West metropolitan cities and Roosevelt is not a very big school.  We have two buildings in downtown Chicago and we also have a campus in Schaumburg suburb and the most attractive thing for me would be the student interaction because over eighty-five percent or ninety percent of our students are full-time workers,” she says.  That means we can share a lot of practical experience in class and that really helps me a lot because I have been working assignments before so I think we can have more diversify point of view to interact with each other,” she says.  “By the way, the curriculum and the faculty is really, really outstanding so that is why I have chosen here.”

When it comes to education, Kay says receiving her master's degree is important to her as well as her parents.  “At this point my master’s degree will kind of give me a boost in academic level because in the past I have more practical experience instead of academic knowledge to support that, but now after my master’s degree I can say I already have academic background to support me so I will say education be a shortcut for me to acquire something I cannot obtain from my practical experience,” she says.  “In Taiwan, in Eastern world view, parents always hope their children can get higher education than they did so when I decided to come and study abroad my parents supported me.  They value education very, very much.”

This fall will be Kay's last semester.  She is graduating in December and is now looking for an internship with a trade association.  “So far I am applying for an internship.  Try to accumulate more working experience in the United States and after that I might go back to Taiwan to continue my career,” she says.  “They kind of hold the job position for me.”

Kay says coming to Roosevelt University wasn't a difficult transition for her.  It will be leaving there.  “For me it would be okay because in my ten years working experience I have been traveling around the world including Europe and the United States, but for me a little bit different will be to leave because in the past I didn’t live in a foreign country for over a year so I think it is kind of living habit will be a little bit different and the environment and the neighborhood will be a whole new experience for me to experience.”

Advice Kay has for other students considering coming to the United States is...I would say because the United States is a very diversify environment, you will meet a lot of students from other countries, so I will say just keep your mind open and just try to accept all kinds of different opinions on the same issue and in a way I would say that the United States is a very good place for you to learn, to live, to have fun!