University of Michigan International Center

If you come from anywhere besides North America, the mention of “football” probably brings up teams like Manchester United and Chelsea in your mind. But don’t worry about that; soon you’ll program your mind to call that sport “soccer,” and “football” will be the sport where men wearing padding charge into each other while passing an oblong ball. You will see it being showed in almost every restaurant and TV screen that is around. You will hear true Wolverine fans bashing Ohio State and MSU (Michigan State University). Even if you came here not knowing a thing about how the game is played or how many people are on a team, chances are you will leave Ann Arbor having Michigan football t-shirts and knowing who the quarterback is. I was just like that, coming here insisting that “soccer” is the real “football” and thinking American football was just a rebranded rugby. Little did I know that the University of Michigan has one of the strongest college football teams in the country. I was a...

We come from all sorts of financial backgrounds and budgeting experiences. This may be the first time you’ve started paying for rent, phone bills, and groceries; or you may have been financially independent for years. My department had a financial consultant present during the first week of September when we arrived, and that was a real eye opener to budgeting on this stipend. You have many things to keep you busy in grad school – stressing over your finances should not be one of them! Have no fear! Graduate students at the University of Michigan have one of the best funding packages in the country – we just have to budget accordingly. Saving money will become habit after a little bit of effort and practice. We all can do it, and so can you. Before you arrive in Ann Arbor, think about what is important to you to have a comfortable and happy life here. Do you prioritize having a really nice space to come home to? Do you prefer going out to eat on a weekly basis? Want to sav...