The international student experience at MCNY

This is a guest post from Sunay Tamashev (Hometown-Sofia, Bulgaria) – MBA Media Management

One day on my way home from an open house at one of the colleges here in NYC, I was thinking: “It is so hard and expensive to get a master’s degree in New York”, but I really wanted it, that was one of the things on my agenda, ever since I had come to the city, I knew I was going to get it one way or another. My head was working all kinds of plans, and situations I might have to deal with. I had to consider so many things before I could even think of applying to grad school. One thing was for sure I knew there was a degree out there that will meet my needs I just had to find it, and so I did.

Anyone that has dealt with immigration issues, especially after 9/11, knows how hard it is to get anything done, all the paperwork, all the filing, the insecurity that you might have to pack your suitcases and leave is always haunting you. A life that you have build here for years might have to end, and you can’t do anything about it. I was thinking about my status, my work permits, and my desire to get into grad school, and was wondering how I can get all this together and somehow make it work for me. That’s when I saw the MCNY advertising in the subway. It had the words ‘We Work Here” written on it. I read it and then went home and did some research through the school’s website. I found out they have an MBA program in Media Management, and that I am allowed to apply my knowledge into the real world, by actually working. When I asked the admission counselor what does that mean, I was happy to find out that it is actually a requirement for the MBA majors, and is officially allowed by the INS. I also found out that the admission process is rolling and that I don’t have to chase deadlines, and worry about missing any dates, I could start immediately.

I was already in New York City when I started the application process at MCNY. I have been in the U.S. since 2001. I received my bachelor degree from a U.S college where I transferred my transcripts from a University in Bulgaria. It is a time consuming process and requires a lot of mail communication and phone conversations, and most of all patience. You have to wait for the mail, then you have to send it back, and make sure it gets to the U.S. on time. At MCNY I was assured that even if I have to go back to Bulgaria and apply from there, I could do it over the internet. There is this application that they use called WIMBA, which allows the international students to have an interactive conversation with an enrollment specialist over the internet. You can ask questions, request forms, they have webcams and microphones, and you can actually get your interviewing done without even having to worry about being in New York. How cool is that? I was lucky that I didn’t have to fly back and forward between the continents, but even if I had to, I was not worried that I might miss a deadline, or get a letter lost in the mail.

The application process went smoother than I thought. I filled all the required paperwork, and the rest was done by the lovely admission staff at MCNY. I was able to start classes two weeks after I had applied. Now my first semester is over, and I am looking forward to the second one. I have already secured an internship with one TV production company here in New York City. I have made great fiends with my classmates, and I am sure we will keep in touch even after we graduate.

I would encourage every international student to come and talk to the admission staff, or at least call. There are always opportunities, and the counselors here will do whatever they can to help you with your enrollment.

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