Kathrin Hahn is an advisor for the University of Minnesota’s International Students and Scholars and Services Office (ISSS) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Hahn specifically advises students on J-1 visas, which is a non-immigrant visa for international people enlisted in specific exchange programs.

 
   International students make up about ten percent of the student body at the University of Minnesota. Most of the international students come from Asia. The top nations are China, South Korea, and India. There is also a high amount of Somali and Hmong students at the university, but they are not counted as international students due to the fact that they come to the United States as refugees.

   The ISSS office has a few recruiters, and they mainly recruit in nations where the university doesn’t have a high majority of students at the university in order to raise diversity. The recruiters also attend cultural affairs and also rely on word of mouth.

 
   Hahn said that many students who come through the ISS office seek help on a wide array of issues, such as discrimination, language issues, visa questions, homesickness’s, cultural issues etc. “A lot of the students it is their first time out of their home country, its their first time in the U.S.,” Hahn said, “there needs to be certain structural support for international students because of the cultural and language adjustment.” She said this stems from the fact that many international students do not prepare themselves before they some to college in the U.S.  The university is trying to deal with this problem, and currently they are creating a video module project that would educate international students on a wide array of college topics and also topics about American culture.