Chinese International Student's Decision making and Attitudes towards Studying in the United States.

Abstract

Using a survey, this study investigates Chinese undergraduate students’ sociodemographic characteristics, decision making of studying in the U.S., adaptation experience, and their attitudes towards studying in the U.S. It demonstrated how quantitative methods help to improve understanding of less common but emerging social groups and phenomena. This study examined decision making, in the form of factors that influence pre attitudes and post attitudes of a group of 124 Chinese undergraduate students in a large Midwest university in the U.S. The results indicate that the Chinese undergraduate students are a homogenous group; most of them are from urban area of China, and most of their parents were highly educated and white collar employers. The results also show that the Chinese undergraduate students who have the expectations of having a different life experience, having better job opportunities after graduation, and getting a better education, have more positive pre attitudes than do those without these expectations. And Chinese undergraduate students’ pre attitude, English speaking comfortableness, English ability, employment, academic grades, and social adaptation significantly influence their post attitude towards studying in the U.S.