S4E13: Seattle Colleges Conversations with! International Programs Admissions Manager Jonathan Thompson

In this our thirteenth (13th) episode of Season 4, Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich interviews International Programs Admissions Manager Jonathan Thompson to explore everything you need to know when applying to Seattle Colleges. If you are applying to Seattle Colleges, listen to this episode! It may save you a lot of time and frustration!

Copyright © Seattle Colleges International Programs 2023. All rights reserved. For more information about being an international student at Seattle Colleges, please visit intl.seattlecolleges.edu

The theme music 'Bounce' is an audio file pursuant to the Pixabay License as defined in the Pixabay Terms of Service available at https://http://pixabay.com/service/terms/

Also, connect with us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) at
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Transcript

Evan Franulovich  0:05  
Welcome to Seattle Colleges International Programs and our show Conversations with! where we talk to people that help you understand how you too, can be an international student in the United States and why Seattle Colleges should be your first choice. We'll talk to students and staff and agents and government folks, all kinds of people about what you can expect when you're getting ready to apply or travel here, what you'll experience while you're with us, and how it can all lead to an amazing life. Don't forget to check out the Seattle Colleges International Programs website at intl.seattlecolleges.edu where you can find a treasure trove of information about the school, the programs here and best of all, fill out and submit your application. Again, that's intl.seattlecolleges.edu.

Evan Franulovich  1:04  
Hey everybody! Welcome back to Seattle Colleges Conversations with! Here at Seattle Central, the campus in downtown Seattle. I'm Evan Franulovich, I'm your host. I'm welcoming one of our most important staff members. I'm going to let him introduce himself. You're going to really want to hang on every word, because if you're applying to our school, this is the guy who can answer all your questions. Welcome. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:37  
Thanks, Evan. My name is Jonathan Thompson. I'm the admissions manager, located here at Seattle Central, overseeing operations for admissions at all three campuses.

Evan Franulovich  1:49  
That's a big deal. So how many people do you have working on your team?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:55  
Two, including myself.

Evan Franulovich  1:56  
Two including yourself, which doesn't seem like a lot of people, given that we have so many applications coming through. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  2:01  
This is true. Yeah, we have two full time people, plus we report to a director who kind of oversees the bigger picture items. 

Evan Franulovich  2:11  
Gotcha. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  2:12  
But the day to day processing during the current year requires the two of us right now. Possibly a part time person in the future. 

Evan Franulovich  2:19  
Cool. Well, this is really important information for you guys to know, because I always get asked by students when I'm recruiting, they're like, 'Well, how long will it take for me to find out if I've been accepted?' What's kind of your standard answer?

Jonathan Thompsonn  2:34  
So our turnaround time is five business days. If your applications incomplete for any reason, and we have to contact you, it can take longer that time is put on hold. So if you want your acceptance materials and I-20 as soon as possible, we recommend two things. One, making sure you follow all the directions very closely and provide everything that's asked for. And two, just keep in mind that we are in a different part of the world, in a different time zone. So sometimes it can seem longer than it is, but if you do all those things right, it can sometimes be less than five business days.

Evan Franulovich  3:10  
Which seems crazy to me, given how many applications we get. Do you have any idea? I don't know if you have data like, do you know how many we get per year? How many applications? Oh, that's a lot, right? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  3:21  
It really does vary. I'm trying to think about what some of our most recent numbers have been. I mean, several 100 per term. I think the year before last for fall, I want to say 1300. 

Evan Franulovich  3:38  
It's a lot.

Jonathan Thompsonn  3:39  
 Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  3:39  
And the fact that the team is so small, and they were able to get through it so fast, that's amazing. It's a testament to how efficient you guys are. What is the most challenging piece for you guys? Just in general, we're going to get into some detail about the applications, but just kind of getting started, what's kind of the big stumbling block for most people?

Jonathan Thompsonn  4:00  
I would say that sometimes we were always trying to determine the student's intent, what it is that they want to study, what their short-term and long term goals are, and sometimes it can be a little hard to determine that based on what is or is not put in the application. For example, someone may be applying for a program that is close to what would be right for them, but we can't quite tell, because maybe they didn't include all their academic history. So there's some things missing. So it is a little bit of like trying to get into the mind of the student and understand where they want to go, and asking them the right clarifying questions. 

Evan Franulovich  4:36  
Sure. Yeah, yeah. I know some students this is going to be in their second language, so that might contribute to the difficulty that you have trying to figure out where they're at. So be as clear as you can. I know that might be challenging for you, but be as clear as you can well. Before we get into too much detail, let's just talk about you.

Jonathan Thompsonn  4:54  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  4:54  
Where are you from? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  4:55  
I'm from Oneonta, New York, so it's kind of upstate. 

Evan Franulovich  5:01  
Yeah. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  5:02  
Between Albany and Binghamton.

Evan Franulovich  5:03  
Cool. So how big is that town?

Jonathan Thompsonn  5:08  
I want to say maybe 27,000 people.

Evan Franulovich  5:11  
Is it spelled O-N-E-I-D-A?

Jonathan Thompsonn  5:19  
O-N-E-O-N-T-A.

Evan Franulovich  5:20  
Oh, I had it wrong. Okay, gotcha. I was thinking Oneida, which is also a city in New York too, right?

Jonathan Thompsonn  5:26  
Yes, Oneida city.

Evan Franulovich  5:29  
Okay, you grew up there. Did you go to school in New York?

Jonathan Thompsonn  5:35  
I did, I finished my bachelor's degree at SUNY Oneonta, State University of New York, college at Oneonta, which is one of our tag schools, so transfer agreements. It's a great school. My mom went there, my sister went there, my stepmom went there. It's kind of become like a family thing. It's a great program. Great school.

Evan Franulovich  5:57  
Is it a big school? I don't know anything about it.

Jonathan Thompsonn  5:59  
It seems so much bigger than when I was there. I graduated in 2008 and I get the newsletter, it just looks unrecognizable. 

Evan Franulovich  6:06  
Oh, really? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  6:08  
It's very big. All new buildings, very cool. It is a big destination for a lot of students, I think a lot of international students, but it's a little bit I think under the radar. I would love to see more of our students select it, but I know it's a little bit more obscure. The joke was that there was always a lot of people from downstate, New York, Long Island, coming up there.

Evan Franulovich  6:35  
Well, let's give students a reason to choose that as this transfer school. Like, why would someone that's already in Seattle for two years, why would they say, 'Hey, I'm going to move to the other side of the country.' What's have to offer? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  6:45  
Well, if you want to experience something completely different than Seattle, I suggest Oneonta. It's a very small town feel, you get all four seasons, beautiful falls. You know, it's in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. So it runs right through the Susquehanna River. So it is very nice town. It has two colleges, SUNY Oneonta and then Hartwick College, and they're very close to each other. They both kind of are on top of their own hills, very close to each other. So the college world there is very much its own sort of thing on top of the hill, but it's very easy to go downtown or go to the mall. There's a lot more there than when I lived there. And I think the programs have also grown a lot too, I think they had one master's degree program in teaching when I was there, and now it has enough that it's changed its name, I believe it's a higher tier school now because of the number of graduate school programs it offers.

Evan Franulovich  7:51  
Oh, that's good. What did you major in for your bachelor's?

Jonathan Thompsonn  7:55  
I studied English Language, Literature and Composition. 

Evan Franulovich  7:58  
Cool. So did you do any of your first two years at a community college? Or did you just do all four years? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  8:03  
Yeah, I did, my first two years were at a technical school. And if you think Oneonta is remote, the technical school was...

Evan Franulovich  8:12  
Which one was it? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  8:13  
I think now it's maybe a four-year school, but it was an Agricultural and Technical School, SUNY Cobleskill, and I was an exploratory studies major. 

Evan Franulovich  8:24  
Which means what? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  8:26  
Which means just take some classes and see what you excel at. And you have a time limit, you have two terms to figure it out, and then you have to declare a major. But I very quickly fell into the whole English humanities.

Evan Franulovich  8:38  
Yeah, cool. Why? What is it about English that you like so much?

Jonathan Thompsonn  8:42  
I've always enjoyed writing, I'm a big reader. 

Evan Franulovich  8:48  
Yeah, yeah.

Jonathan Thompsonn  8:49  
I received a lot of support from the faculty in that area, and in the situation there, you could choose a faculty member if they were willing to be your advisor. So my composition teacher was my academic advisor. 

Evan Franulovich  9:04  
Cool. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  9:05  
So really steered me on that path. And then Oneonta state has a great English program under some fantastic teachers. I mean, you're talking about people who can make 18th century British literature actually interesting. It was great. 

Evan Franulovich  9:20  
Cool. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  9:21  
And even my brother came to class with me one time, it was a very open, interesting environment that really engaged learning.

Evan Franulovich  9:30  
So did you ever get published? Do you write regularly now? Is it something you do as a hobby?

Jonathan Thompsonn  9:36  
I do it just as a hobby. I was on the Art and Scope literary magazine last year of college there, so I did some creative writing for that. 

Evan Franulovich  9:50  
Nice. Reading anything interesting right now? Are you reading a good novel?

Jonathan Thompsonn  9:56  
I am reading the Hunger Games. 

Evan Franulovich  9:59  
Oh, good series. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  10:00  
Yeah, I finally got to it. I read the first book, and then I watched the movie. 

Evan Franulovich  10:06  
Okay, good order to do. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  10:07  
Yeah, I saw the movie a long time ago, and I thought the book has to be better, more interesting, and it's just more detailed for sure. 

Evan Franulovich  10:16  
Yeah, it's more detailed for sure. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  10:16  
It really captures it's great. So I'm in the second book in that series. 

Evan Franulovich  10:19  
Oh, cool. Good for you. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  10:20  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  10:21  
As far as adapting book to movie, I thought they did a pretty good job. I mean, there's a lot going on in those books, but they did a decent job.

Jonathan Thompsonn  10:30  
I think you'd probably appreciate it more if you read the book first. There's a lot of unspiring,  like you said, a lot of detail, there's a lot of character motivation, and that really is much clearer on the page. 

Evan Franulovich  10:42  
So if you haven't seen Hunger Games guys, read the book first, then see the movie. Yeah, it's pretty good. Well, that's cool. What about ancient, 17th, 18th century literary? Do you have a particular author or poet that you like the most?

Jonathan Thompsonn  10:59  
You know that was more of a requirement.

Evan Franulovich  11:05  
Not where you go.

Jonathan Thompsonn  11:07  
No, it's not as much my... Actually, I do think it has made reading some modern authors a little bit easier. Some authors have very unique voices. Anybody who's read Gregory McGuire, he wrote Wicked. 

Evan Franulovich  11:20  
Great book. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  11:21  
Great book, definitely a unique use of language. 

Evan Franulovich  11:25  
I like it way better than the movie. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  11:27  
Oh, the books are amazing. And it's always interesting speaking with someone about the books, when all they've seen is the movie. 

Evan Franulovich  11:33  
Right. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  11:33  
It is a whole different thing.

Evan Franulovich  11:36  
For sure. It feels darker.

Jonathan Thompsonn  11:39  
Oh, it's certainly darker. Yeah, it is. That is just such a huge journey. I remember seeing the musical for the first time last year. I got to see it on Broadway, which was awesome. 

Evan Franulovich  11:53  
Oh, you were in New York?

Jonathan Thompsonn  11:54  
I was in Manhattan. 

Evan Franulovich  11:55  
Sweet. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  11:56  
So I went out to visit my Nana, my parents came and I saw Wicked on Broadway, and it was great. But I was so curious to see how are they going to condense this really intense novel into a musical of all things that it kind of almost seemed a little insulting. I'd say it was really great, if you can take it as it is. 

Evan Franulovich  11:56  
Yes. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  11:57  
And the movie is a kind of a good mesh. But the books, if you really want to know the real story...

Evan Franulovich  12:22  
Yes, it's worth a read. It might be challenging for an international student. There's a lot of cultural stuff going on that might be tough, but if you can get through it will help your English for sure.

Jonathan Thompsonn  12:34  
I thought I would try listening to the audio book because I wanted to do a reread in a different way, and the audio book is really interesting. You think about things a little bit differently when someone is speaking it to you.

Evan Franulovich  12:46  
I agree. Do you listen to a lot of audio books?

Jonathan Thompsonn  12:49  
I kind of do. I go on and off, I just subscribed for a year to Audible. But yes, I tend to listen to a lot of memoir. I think it's interesting, especially when the author is reading the book.

Evan Franulovich  13:04  
That's nice. What I found with audiobooks, I don't know if you guys are out there listening to audiobooks, great way to work on your English, but what I find is that the voice can really make or break an audiobook. I'll give you an example. Have you read any Paulo Coelho, like The Alchemist?

Jonathan Thompsonn  13:20  
I didn't read The Alchemist, I did read his book 11 minutes.

Evan Franulovich  13:24  
Okay. Well, The Alchemist is one of my favorite books. Loved it. So I loved it so much that I decided I'm going to download the audiobook and just be able to listen to it as well. And Jeremy Irons does the reading. And I usually really love Jeremy Irons, but I didn't care for the reading of The Alchemist, so it was really tough to listen to. I have listened to it, but it makes a big difference.

Jonathan Thompsonn  13:50  
I have heard some narrations that I know wouldn't work for me. So much like, if I'm getting a Kindle book, always read the sample. Always listen to the sample. 

Evan Franulovich  14:00  
That's a great idea. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  14:01  
Sometimes it's a automated narration, and it's a little less than human.

Evan Franulovich  14:09  
For sure. Yeah, I like real good readers. Some of the mystery books I've listened to, Peter Wolf, is that his name? He has this great voice and just really a pleasure to listen to. Yeah, I don't think about listening to the samples. So that's a really good idea, I'm gonna do that. I download a lot of books on Apple iBooks. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  14:34  
Oh, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  14:35  
I'm not on audible.com I think my wife is, but that's a good way to go.

Jonathan Thompsonn  14:40  
So I just listened to my first book through Apple. It was Jennifer Saunders autobiography, which was great. She was a great narrator, and the British accent, very soothing. 

Evan Franulovich  14:55  
Usually love it. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  14:56  
Usually love it, yeah, it's a great book.

Evan Franulovich  14:58  
Cool. Well, we're not here to talk about books. We're here to talk about admissions. So you went to school in New York and then you came out to the west coast at some point. How did you do that?

Jonathan Thompsonn  15:08  
Yeah, so like a lot of you may experience, there's kind of this weird transition period after college where you're trying to take what you learned and actually find a way to apply it in the world. And this was not easy, necessarily, for someone with an English degree. And it was also the recession of 2008. 

Evan Franulovich  15:30  
Oh, that doesn't help. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  15:30  
It was an interesting time, but my friend had moved to Portland to go to art school, and she invited me to come crash on her couch. 

Evan Franulovich  15:38  
Cool. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  15:39  
So I did. It was really a lot of fun. I think I had never been to Portland, I'd never been to the West Coast, and I just took two suitcases and came out here. 

Evan Franulovich  15:48  
That's pretty cool. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  15:49  
15 years ago. 

Evan Franulovich  15:51  
And never went back? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  15:53  
I mean, I go back to visit, but the likelihood of living on the East Coast again, I love the Pacific Northwest too much.

Evan Franulovich  15:59  
Okay. Well, let's talk about that, because sometimes international students have to make it a choice about which part of the country to settle in. And I'm out there pushing Seattle, because I think the Northwest is a great place to live. Why do you like it so much?

Jonathan Thompsonn  16:12  
I think that it's never boring. 

Evan Franulovich  16:15  
That's for sure. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  16:16  
For better or worse. And the landscape alone just gets me. I mean, it's just beautiful, beautiful views. I love that you can see the Cascade Mountains, the Olympic Mountains. I love how you're only three hours from Portland or three hours from Vancouver, BC, three hour ferry ride from Victoria and Vancouver Island, which I highly recommend. 

Evan Franulovich  16:35  
I do too, for sure. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  16:37  
It's just any direction you go, there's something to do. 

Evan Franulovich  16:38  
Right. But if you're an international student and you want to go to Vancouver or Victoria, make sure you do what?

Jonathan Thompsonn  16:47  
Get a travel signature.

Evan Franulovich  16:49  
Definitely get a travel signature. Make sure you have a visa to be able to enter Canada. We don't want you getting stuck over there.

Jonathan Thompsonn  16:56  
Please don't do anything without talking to your advisor.

Evan Franulovich  16:59  
For sure, we want you coming back safely and easily. Yeah, I went up to Canada just a couple weeks ago, and getting into Canada no problem was pretty easy. Getting back into the US, even for me, and I'm a citizen, took a long time. It was pretty interesting. I haven't done that trip for a while.

Jonathan Thompsonn  17:18  
I'm curious to see what it's going to be like, we're going to London for Christmas. 

Evan Franulovich  17:22  
Oh. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  17:22  
And it'll be my first time in Western Europe. 

Evan Franulovich  17:25  
Nice. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  17:25  
There's so much I'm looking forward to. One of the things I'm most curious about is coming back into the country.

Evan Franulovich  17:36  
Hopefully the government shutdown will be done before then, but if it's still going, I've seen some pretty long lines, be prepared.

Jonathan Thompsonn  17:44  
Yeah, definitely get a good audio book.

Evan Franulovich  17:47  
Get a good audio book, and be flexible. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  17:50  
Be flexible. Get to the airport early. 

Evan Franulovich  17:53  
Yeah, what are you gonna do in London?

Jonathan Thompsonn  17:56  
Oh, we are going to do as much as we can. We got the city pass so we can just come and go as we please. I am a little bit of an anglopile, I think the British monarchy is just really interesting. So we're going to go to some of the palaces. We're going to hope to find some Christmas markets, it's just a really nice kind of stereotypical, I guess, for lack of better word, areas like there's that beautiful neighborhood you can see in Ted Lasso. Love to see that. You know, I've been to Eastern Europe, which is very different. I spent most of my time abroad in Asia. So it's very different than what I'm accustomed to outside of Canada.

Evan Franulovich  18:35  
Yep, so you did spend time in Asia. Were you like a study abroad student when you were in your undergrad, I was not.

Jonathan Thompsonn  18:44  
I don't know anybody who did that. I don't know that it was as big a thing, at least in that particular school. While I was living in Portland, I went to Korea for a year and was an ESL teacher at a private school. 

Evan Franulovich  19:01  
Cool. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  19:01  
And then I went to Vietnam for a month as a volunteer doing HIV AIDS awareness. 

Evan Franulovich  19:10  
Sweet. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  19:10  
Yeah, it was great. I developed a three hour conference for local college students, and had a real interesting experience living in volunteer housing with people from all over the world. So that was great. And then I've been back to Southeast Asia a few times as a volunteer in Cambodia twice. 

Evan Franulovich  19:31  
Oh, yeah. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  19:32  
I went to China for the first time trip, 12 day trip, Beijing to Xi'an to Chengdu. 

Evan Franulovich  19:40  
Nice. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  19:42  
Shanghai, everywhere. Yeah, it was nice. 

Evan Franulovich  19:45  
Yeah, most Americans that go to China, go to Beijing, Shanghai, and then maybe Xi'an, but they don't usually get out to Chengdu. That's good. How long were you there? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  19:54  
It was a 12 day trip, I think.

Evan Franulovich  19:57  
That's a lot of territory in that short amount of time. And which was your favorite city?

Jonathan Thompsonn  20:03  
I think Xi'an. Yeah, it was so cool. I love that there is so much. I mean, there's a lot of history everywhere, but I just think there was a lot there that really captivated me, like the Terracotta Warriors, and the original city wall that you can ride the bike around. 

Evan Franulovich  20:22  
Right? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  20:22  
It was a little bit more manageable than Beijing in terms of trying to orient yourself and get the most out of it in just a few days.

Evan Franulovich  20:30  
And the food in Xi'an is really great. This is kind of on the Silk Road, so you get kind of this mesh between Middle Eastern and China, classical China. It's really a cool town to be in. I'm partial to Chengdu because I lived in Chengdu for so long, but Xi'an is really great.

Jonathan Thompsonn  20:47  
So Chengdu is a lot of fun, especially because the climate was warmer. 

Evan Franulovich  20:52  
Oh, yeah. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  20:53  
And we were there in April, so when we got down there, it was definitely a little bit warmer. And then they had the Panda reserve. 

Evan Franulovich  21:04  
Gotta go to the panda reserve. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  21:04  
It was a lot of fun. 

Evan Franulovich  21:07  
And of course, you got to eat good Sichuan food. I mean, both Xi'an and Chengdu, or anywhere in Sichuan, just great food. Go to western China, check out the food. It's good. I mean, Beijing is great. Did you have the duck?

Jonathan Thompsonn  21:21  
I did all the required tourist things, went to the Great Wall and Forbidden City. 

Evan Franulovich  21:27  
Which is stunning. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  21:29  
It is amazing. It's so much to take in. 

Evan Franulovich  21:32  
That's cool. So you've kind of been doing this international thing. When did you actually get started in international education? Was it always admissions, or did you start as an advisor?

Jonathan Thompsonn  21:44  
No, always admissions. Yeah, I started as a part time admissions assistant in 2021. 

Evan Franulovich  21:49  
Okay. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  21:50  
And then I became a full time admission specialist, and then a lead specialist, and now the manager.

Jonathan Thompsonn  21:56  
Now he's in charge.

Jonathan Thompsonn  21:56  
Now I'm in charge. 

Evan Franulovich  22:00  
So one of our guys retired recently, and you're in charge.

Jonathan Thompsonn  22:06  
Yes, David retired. David did a lot for this program over 30 years, and he left us a lot of great stuff to work with. 

Evan Franulovich  22:12  
Shout out to David. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  22:13  
Shout out to David. Our students are still benefiting from the things he put in place for them. 

Evan Franulovich  22:18  
Absolutely. So when you moved in, because you're in his office, which is pretty cool. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  22:23  
I am. 

Evan Franulovich  22:24  
Did you feel a little overwhelmed at first, or was it like, 'Oh, I got this. No problem.'

Jonathan Thompsonn  22:30  
No, at that point I was very ready for it. 

Evan Franulovich  22:34  
You were? Cool. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  22:35  
Yes, I'm really interested in my job. I think working with everything that our students provide us with, working wth people like you who go all over the world, there's just always something to kind of talk about, problem solve, figure out. I think it's so interesting.

Evan Franulovich  22:49  
I think so too. I really love this field, frankly. Okay, well, I don't do admissions, though. I rely on these guys every day because there's questions I can't answer, or maybe questions I should be able to answer, but I can't try to make their life easy, but I'm doing this podcast with admissions because I want to try to make their life easy and your life easy. So we're going to get right into it. If I am a student, there's a couple different ways I can apply to Seattle Colleges, right? What are those different ways I can apply?

Jonathan Thompsonn  23:21  
So basically, you could apply on your own or with someone helping you, a friend or a family member. But if a friend or family member is helping you, there is a spot in the application where you can note that and include their name and contact information. Otherwise we cannot communicate with them on your behalf. So make sure you include that. The other route is to use an agent, which they're everywhere. Our reps know a lot of agents. We communicate with a lot of agents, and they help students through the whole process, and I believe, even beyond, into enrollment and kind of getting through those first few terms.

Evan Franulovich  23:56  
Right. So if they're applying directly. It's pretty easy to get started, right? They click on our 'Apply Now' button, then what happens?

Jonathan Thompsonn  24:06  
You're going to create a user account, and then you're going to start filling out the application. I know it sounds really easy, and then you get to it. It seems maybe not so easy, but essentially, it's broken down into five sections. You have to complete each section to get to the next one. And once you do that, you submit it, we start reviewing it. If you get part way through and you find that you put in something incorrectly or you selected the wrong thing, there is an option that you can select at the top to make changes to your application. What it will do is any of the sections you completed, it will mark them as not completed, so you can go back to all of them and make any changes you need and continue on. So don't feel that you have to stop and start another application or email someone to make a small change. Anything you're really worried about certainly let us know. But there's a few tricks in there that I think people kind of overlook just because of how overwhelming it can can be, but there's a lot of tools there to get you through it.

Evan Franulovich  25:06  
You said something there that I would love to hammer home is don't start another application, right? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  25:12  
Just please don't. 

Evan Franulovich  25:13  
One is plenty. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  25:14  
Just one is fine. You will only be able to create one with your email address, so if you create another one, you're going to have to get another email address, and it can cause a lot of complications that'll hold you up. So if you're very unsure of what to do, please just stop and email us. Otherwise see what options are available to you right in the application.

Evan Franulovich  25:34  
Gotcha. So they click on 'Apply Now' they have to create an account, and there are some important things they need to remember when they create that account. For example, their username and password. Can you talk about that for a sec?

Jonathan Thompsonn  25:50  
Yeah, so the platform that our application is on recognizes usernames that are email addresses that may have been used for other accounts you've created. So to prevent you from having any issues using your personal email address as your username, it automatically adds a suffix at the end, a '.SCIP', and it is noted on the page, the login page that it will do this, but it's very easy to forget when you go back to log in, unless you've saved that as your username, that just logging in with your email address as is will not get you in. Your password will not be accepted. You have to add '.SCIP' for Seattle Colleges International Programs. 

Evan Franulovich  26:38  
Right. Super important. I get lots of emails myself from students that had created an account. They say they can't get in there, they don't understand what the problem is. Most of the time, I say, 'Don't forget, use the email you used and add .SCIP and that should be helpful.' What about the password, though? Is there anything special they need to know? Or just remember your password?

Jonathan Thompsonn  27:02  
Just remember your password. Yeah, I don't believe there's anything out of the ordinary about that part of it. If you don't remember your password, or you can't get into your account, there is an option to reset your password, and believe you just have to enter your username if you can't get that to work for some reason, you can always email us. We can manually reset your password for you, and we will send you instructions on but always try clearing your browser. Try using a different browser, try anything you would ever do if something you're trying to access online is not working first, and then contact us, we'll reset it for you, and we will remind you of your complete username.

Evan Franulovich  27:46  
But please troubleshoot it yourself first. We would really love that. Use that SCIP extension. Make a note of your password you when you set things up. That'll be a huge help to you when you go in to have to maybe edit your application. They can start it, and then, let's say, 'Oh, it's dinner time, so they have to go.' And then they forget to come back that day. It saves it as a partial application?

Jonathan Thompsonn  28:12  
It will be saved, it will be partial. So we will see that you have a partial application, so we won't do anything with it. You should save for later. If you're going to log out, it will time out, and I don't know that it will save anything you've put in there. 

Evan Franulovich  28:28  
Okay.

Jonathan Thompsonn  28:28  
It's understandable if you don't want to do it all in one shot. What I would recommend doing is first look through all the materials on our website that tell you what you will need, so that you have that all with you, all the documents prepared and ready to go. It is not a very long to do the process, if you're prepared for it. But if you break it up, just remember to save. 

Evan Franulovich  28:49  
Yeah, and a lot of students I know, for example, one of the big pieces is the proof of finances, and they have to get together that paper. So they'll start the application, but because they have to wait for their bank or their parents or whatever, they just have to stop at a certain point. So you probably will too, maybe, we'll see. Now, if it's an agent, the agent will go in and apply on the student's behalf, right? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  29:12  
Correct. 

Evan Franulovich  29:12  
So the student doesn't need to remember a username or password, or is that wrong?

Jonathan Thompsonn  29:20  
No, that's correct. The agent will be applying for the student through the agent's own online portal. However, we do require the student's own personal email address be entered in the application, not the agent's email address. We have that in their account, not an email address created by an agent. We need to have whatever email address it is that you check every day that you and only you can get into because the documents that we're making available to you, some of them we legally can only send to you as the student receiving it that it's being issued to, primarily your I-20 document.

Evan Franulovich  30:00  
Right. So even if the agent applies for the student, that I-20 is being sent to the student or it's actually on their portal.

Jonathan Thompsonn  30:09  
So if you are applying with an agent, all your acceptance materials will be made available in the online portal that your agent can see and download. But we will also email them to you. And in addition to those, we will email the I-20 only to you that will not be in the online portal, and that will be sent out to you at the same time that you are officially admitted and your materials are made available online. 

Evan Franulovich  30:31  
Good. So be sure to check your email.

Jonathan Thompsonn  30:34  
Yes, check your email. Check your spam folder.

Evan Franulovich  30:37  
Check your spam folder, if you guys have a question for them, how do you communicate back to them? Like, if you see something that you guys don't understand, what's your mode of communication?

Jonathan Thompsonn  30:50  
So we really only communicate through email. We will email you through the online portal, so we keep records of the responses so we can make sure that we are on top of it and getting everything that you need taken care of in time to complete your application. We we choose email over phone or anything else, because we're often trying to convey a lot of information that's important to you, and it can be really hard to do that over the phone, plus we also want to include links and sometimes attached documents. We will often request screenshots. If you're having a peculiar situation with the application and you tell us about it and we may not be able to see what it is, we will ask for screenshots. Plus, because everything we're conveying to you is in English, you can just highlight it and translate it in an email, it makes it a lot easier on both ends true.

Evan Franulovich  31:42  
True. Yeah, I get a lot of questions from students that they're running into problems or whatever. A lot of times, if you just read their communications to you, it'll help answer your questions. I know a lot of students just skip over that piece, the stuff that you guys are sending to them, so make sure you check all of the communications, email, what's in your account, read it carefully, and then see about going forward from there. Just make sure you read everything that's kind of important, that's the thing I was trying to drive home. Okay, so we've talked about creating an account. They leave, they go to dinner, they come back in. Just to log back into their account, they just use their username and password, and it should take them right in, or they can pick right back up.

Jonathan Thompsonn  32:32  
Exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  32:32  
Making changes to their application, they can make changes anytime? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  32:39  
Up until they submit. Once it's submitted, you would have to ask us, email us to request a change we made. 

Evan Franulovich  32:46  
Okay. So as long as I haven't submitted yet, I can go in and change anything or everything.

Jonathan Thompsonn  32:52  
Yes, and let me be clear, because you are asked to submit each section, and that's fine. You can change those things on your own, but once you submit the application as a whole, at the end of section five, you will no longer have access to it as an applicant. You will only be able to see a page telling you that we're processing it, and then later it will turn into the online portal where you can access your documents.

Evan Franulovich  33:15  
Gotcha. So let's say I have a student who initially applied to go to South. They chose South as their campus, but then they found out their friend lives at Northgate and they are going to have a place to live at Northgate. So makes more sense, maybe to go to North. So they would just contact you and say, 'Could you please change my campus to North?'

Jonathan Thompsonn  33:36  
If they've already submitted their application, yes, we will make that change. And just be aware that if this happens after you've been admitted and you've received your acceptance materials, we will have to cancel your I-20, which is not a big deal, especially because if you do it right after you've been admitted and you haven't paid your I-901 fee. If you have paid your I-901 fee, and you ever get a new SEVIS number from us on a new I-20, maybe through deferring, we provide you instructions with how to transfer that fee to your new record so you don't lose that. But the earlier you catch something like that, the more sure we can be that it is corrected promptly and that there's nothing that's going to come back to be a problem for you down the line, but we'll issue a new I-20 for the campus that you're going to be earning your degree out of.

Evan Franulovich  34:24  
Cool. Well, let's go to that piece for just a second, because I get asked a lot about this. So we issue them a letter of acceptance their I-20. What do they do with that I-20 after they get it from us?

Jonathan Thompsonn  34:37  
You take your I-20 and you go to SEVIS and you pay your I-901 fee, and you will follow the steps in the online portal to set up an appointment with a consulate to get your visa.

Evan Franulovich  34:53  
Exactly. That'll help you set up your visa interview. And once you've gone through your visa interview. They'll know whether they've got their F-1 or not. Let's say they get their F-1 do you guys get notified automatically, or do they have to reach out to you and say, 'Hey, I got my F-1 now what?'

Jonathan Thompsonn  35:12  
Good question. Once we issue the I-20 we're not notified of anything. We don't know when you've made an appointment, we don't know if you've been approved or not, unless we have a reason to go in and look, and then we can see if a visa has been issued. But my understanding is that sometimes that information can be delayed. So if you get your visa, congratulations.

Evan Franulovich  35:39  
Congratulations. Pack your bags.

Jonathan Thompsonn  35:41  
Yeah, exactly, immediately go to the online portal. I mean, you can let admissions know, but the most important thing at that point is to start filling out all the documents that are required. Mostly your intent to enroll form is very important. We want to make sure that we know that you're coming and we can plan for you and have things ready. And then there's going to be other things in terms of setting up a meeting with your advisor, or getting ready for orientation. All that stuff is going to be available in the online portal, and that will be available when you are admitted, but once you have your visa, it may read a little differently to you.

Evan Franulovich  36:16  
Yeah, super important. We have a pre arrival checklist. You're going to want to go through that very carefully and deliberately. Oh, the intent to enroll form. Why is that important? I mean, you kind of talked about it, but let's hammer it home for everybody. I think it's a really important piece. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  36:40  
Sure. So the intent to enroll form is really important because, like I said, we need to know who is going to be here and for what term, so that we make sure that we are ready to meet your needs and get you set up with an advisor and get you registered for classes. 

Evan Franulovich  36:54  
Yes. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  36:54  
Oftentimes people fill that out right away, and then, unfortunately, do not get their visa, and so you want to make sure that you notify us and stay up to date. So I would suggest submitting a deferral request as soon as possible, which you can do through the online portal, and your first one is free.

Evan Franulovich  37:24  
Intent to enroll forms are really important, because this is one way it tells our advisors to maybe sign you up for classes, right?

Jonathan Thompsonn  37:33  
Yeah, we don't work with the intent to enroll form.

Evan Franulovich  37:37  
Oh, we don't. That's okay. It's good for me to know. It's good for you guys to know. Once you get that intent to enroll form, the point is that it helps us move other things forward for you. So if you know we're your school and you're coming here, get that done, that's a kind of the point I'm trying to make.

Jonathan Thompsonn  37:57  
Yeah, again, one way that the intent to enroll role form serves a purpose other than what it was created for, is that sometimes students fill it out for a different term than they'd been admitted for. So it is kind of a safety net in that way. So this just happened today, and someone from the marketing team checked in with the student because they could see you were admitted for this term, but you submitted an intentional role form for this term, which which term? So you know, it is a good way to make sure that we're all on the same page about your plans.

Evan Franulovich  38:27  
I think that's really a great point. Students that are already in the United States but are doing a change of status. Do they have anything else they need to worry about when they're doing this process?

Jonathan Thompsonn  38:37  
Change of status students have a few specific guidelines that they need to be aware of. And I do find that a lot of people lose sight of this, and I think it's because of the amount of time that can lapse in between when you have applied and been admitted, and then you've applied for your change of status, and you're just waiting and waiting. So you have to continue to defer your admission each consecutive term. So if you're admitted for fall, you're going to have to defer to winter. If you have not received your change of status for fall, you can defer a few weeks before the start of the term you were admitted for. So if fall term is starting next week and you have not received your change of status, you can submit a deferral request for winter. 

Evan Franulovich  39:24  
Don't forget. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  39:25  
You have to keep doing that, otherwise you run the risk of having your SEVIS record canceled, and this could be very problematic for your change of status. This is an automated process, and it is put off by us updating your record every time you defer. And unlike other deferrals, change of status students, because we don't know how long it's going to take, and that's not their fault. 

Evan Franulovich  39:47  
Nope. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  39:48  
No $50 application fee for any of those deferrals, it's always free to keep deferring until you get approved.

Evan Franulovich  39:54  
Oh, that's good to know. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  39:57  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  40:01  
I actually didn't know that. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  40:02  
So you just pay the $50 fee the one time you apply. 

Evan Franulovich  40:02  
Right. Yeah, super important. I have students all the time that come in. They're like, 'Yeah, I want to start in the fall, but then maybe it ends up taking nine months for that to happen, so they have to keep deferring.' So if you're falling into that category, this is really great information. Okay, let's start getting into some of the nitty gritty about the application. My goal here is so that you can convey to them things to think about when you're doing this particular section. For example, in section one, you're just doing application information. This is your name, address, that kind of stuff. So the first question is that it says, I want to apply as and you have a couple things, general applicant, transfer, concurrent or remote applicant, anything special here that you want to tell people about, or is this pretty easy for people?

Jonathan Thompsonn  40:49  
It can be a little confusing, I think, depending on a student's situation. So if you are currently enrolled in a high school or a college abroad, and you are applying here to continue your degree. You are not a transfer. Transfer only refers to someone who would be transferring schools and their SEVIS record in the United States, among US schools.

Evan Franulovich  41:14  
Okay, many countries that I visit are on different kind of educational systems. They have three years of high school, and then they start doing college or whatever. So it's a little different. Maybe they've done a year of that college, and then they want to come here to study that is not a transfer student.

Jonathan Thompsonn  41:34  
That is not a transfer student. That is a general new student. So all of the general overseas deadlines and requirements would apply to them. 

Evan Franulovich  41:46  
And if they've already started this college in their home country and they've done some classes, can the work that they've done already be considered for college credit?

Jonathan Thompsonn  41:58  
They can submit their transcripts for official evaluation and credit transfer. Each campus has its own office that does that. 

Evan Franulovich  42:08  
Gotcha. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  42:08  
And generally you can have preliminary evaluations done, but that's something that we're still kind of getting off the ground. But the idea is to give you a better idea of what may or may not transfer from a school in this country and then eventually a school abroad. But for right now, it would be done through the domestic services. 

Evan Franulovich  42:30  
And who guides them? Is it admissions, or is it their advisor? At what point do they do that?

Jonathan Thompsonn  42:39  
I feel like they do that at different times when it works for them, there's no set time to do it. Some people may not want to do it at all. Some people email us and ask, 'How do I do this?' And we would direct them to the resources. There is a website, a web page on the international programs that guides you to each place in the campus that will do that for you.

Evan Franulovich  42:59  
Good to know, yeah, I get a lot of students in this situation that ask about this. So this is all good information. Okay, and then it says, which quarter are you applying for? We just talked about students doing a change of status, they may not know when it'll be approved. Anything else that you need to tell them? We do have four quarters. You can start any of those quarters.

Jonathan Thompsonn  43:22  
Yeah, so we're on a interesting school schedule. I grew up in the semester system, so having four quarters in a year at an accelerated rate is very different. One thing I will say is that fall term is the last term of the year that will have the current year in it. 

Evan Franulovich  43:46  
That's true. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  43:46  
So right now we're in Fall 2025. Our next available term is Winter 2026, that is going to technically start with orientation at the end of December 2025. It is not starting in December 2026. 

Evan Franulovich  44:02  
Right. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  44:02  
There are a lot of applicants who think that Winter 26 is a year away from now, and that this would be Winter 25, so it's an important distinction to make. Look at when the orientation starts, it always starts a week before classes start. It is required, and it's very important that you attend that. 

Evan Franulovich  44:21  
And fun. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  44:23  
It is a lot of fun, and you'll meet all the staff. You'll get to see the campus. You'll get to see the people who are going to be your friends and classmates for the next couple of years. 

Evan Franulovich  44:38  
Super important. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  44:38  
But all that information, it's already on the website. It's posted a year in advance, and it will be in the pre arrival information in the online portal. But yes, just know that if you are deferring from Fall 25 or Fall 26 to winter, it's not going to be that same year.

Evan Franulovich  44:51  
Yeah, that's really good information. Okay, then it says which Seattle College campus are you applying to? We have only three that they can apply to. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  45:01  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  45:02  
Anything special for any of them? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  45:05  
Something special for all of them. So the two things you need to consider when choosing your campus, well, I guess three things. Ideally, you want to go to the campus where you want to live right, be nearby, so you can take classes at all three campuses once you're enrolled, but all three of our campuses have very different everything. They're very unique, and you may find one that you think looks like the one you want to be at. Make sure that the program you're applying for is available at that school. Some career training programs are only available at one of our campuses and not the other. And the other thing that you're going to want to consider is your language placement. 

Evan Franulovich  45:49  
Yes.

Jonathan Thompsonn  45:51  
This is coming up later?

Evan Franulovich  45:52  
No, that's great. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  45:53  
We'll do it now. 

Evan Franulovich  45:54  
Wasn't occurring to me.

Jonathan Thompsonn  45:58  
Just talking about proof of English level. So Seattle Colleges requires all applicants to provide proof of English level. I cannot stress how much they do not need to be perfect scores. 

Evan Franulovich  46:09  
Yes. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  46:10  
The goal is not to see how good you are at speaking English. The goal is to make sure that we start you in the right place. So based on your placement, you may start in our Intensive English Program, which is only offered at Central, or our college Bridge Program, which is a bridge between the Intensive English Program and your degree seeking program. So you would be taking classes for both of those things that's also only at Central. If you're college ready, then you could start at the college of your choice, but you can apply to any college, any campus you want to. Just know that based on your proof of English level, you may need to start at Central. 

Evan Franulovich  46:48  
Right. And there are a list of countries where they're considered English first, countries like South Africa for example, those students don't have to take the test, right? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  47:01  
Correct. A lot of people still think that we offer a placement test or testing on arrival, and we do not, we will not be able to finish processing your application or enroll you in classes if you've not provided us with proof of English level, there are many classes, many tests, many programs that we accept. They're all available on the website, and they will tell you both what we accept and where that will place you, so you can plan accordingly. But also...

Evan Franulovich  47:40  
We're getting old. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  47:41  
There's so much to say. If you're from one of the countries on our list of native English speakers, what you would be asked to do is, you'll be given that option to select that that's what you want. You don't have to. You could provide a different test if you want, or you could provide both. If you state that you're from one of those countries on that list, then you'll be asked to complete your entire elementary and secondary education. So tell us where you went to elementary school, tell us where you were primary school. Tell us where you went to high school, because we just need to make sure that if it's in one of those countries for the duration of your educational experience this far, or if it's in a mix of those countries, that we place you appropriately, those students will then an assessment online, just to make sure that they are still placed appropriately. But yes, native speaker is college level, so you'd be able to start your classes right. Your classes right away. 

Evan Franulovich  48:43  
Gotcha. So I get a lot of students who come up to me, let's just say I'm in Senegal, for example, French speaking country. But the student I'm talking to says, 'Hey, look, I've gone to an American school in Senegal since I was a little kid. Why do I have to take an English proficiency exam?'

Jonathan Thompsonn  49:02  
So if you are from a country where the medium of instruction at your school, your high school or your college, was, or is English, you can provide a letter from the school stating that you've attended here and the medium of instruction is English, and that will put you placed in our college bridge program. 

Evan Franulovich  49:22  
I did not know that. That's really interesting. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  49:25  
You don't have to take a test or anything, what you've already done will count. And then, depending on how well you are in speaking English and writing, you will be able to move right out of college bridge to your program. And the list of countries that we have considered native English speaking is in the process of growing.

Evan Franulovich  49:46  
Yeah, I've requested it myself. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  49:48  
I am working on it. 

Evan Franulovich  49:51  
Awesome. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  49:52  
Yes.

Evan Franulovich  49:52  
Appreciate that. So keep an eye. You can work with your recruiter, they should have a good idea of where to point you as to whether your language is on that list or not, they'll be able to help you out. That's what I do every day. Cool. All right, good information. Let's just talk about given name and family name, this seems tricky.

Jonathan Thompsonn  50:19  
I think most people actually do it correctly. 

Evan Franulovich  50:23  
Okay. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  50:23  
What I will say is that we are working with your legal name as it is on your passport. 

Evan Franulovich  50:32  
Super important. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  50:33  
So there are instructions at the beginning of the application that says to fill out your name as it appears on your passport. You do not have to do all capital letters. 

Evan Franulovich  50:42  
Oh, that's good to know. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  50:44  
Even though that's how it is on your passport, because then I will just rewrite your name. 

Evan Franulovich  50:47  
Please don't do that. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  50:49  
And we want to make sure that we don't make any errors in spelling your name. So please enter your name, not all capitals as it appears on your passport, and we will make any changes or ask you any clarifying questions about that that we need to. If your name on your passport needs more space than the application allows for, that's fine. Just put in as much as it'll go. If it cuts off one of your names, that's fine. We will have an uploaded copy of your passport, so we will make sure that everything in our systems and on your I-20 reflects your full name.

Evan Franulovich  51:25  
Right. But if you can help, it'll make their life more easier. They've got a lot of things to do, so make their life easy. That would be great. We love that. Okay, some of these are going to be no brainers, so I'm just going to say it, and then you just say, if there's anything important, or you can say, 'Don't worry about it.' Anyone have any problem with email? I mean, do people put in one email? Like it asks for their email address, and we're talking about the same email that they use as their personal. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  51:55  
So this goes back to what I was talking about earlier. We want your personal email, the one that you check every day, the one that you access on your phone, the one that we know we can reach you at. We're going to put that information in our systems, but also in the SEVIS system, and it'll be tied to your I-20. Like I said, we'll be sending the I-20 document to you through that email, if you're working with an agent. So you want to make sure that you get that email, because the I-20 is kind of key.

Evan Franulovich  52:25  
So I have seen instances where dad or mom helps them with their application and they put their email in there instead. We don't want that, right?

Jonathan Thompsonn  52:33  
No, so this is why if someone is helping you, it is very important that you put who is helping you, the relationship to you and their email address where prompted, because what we will be able to do then is email both of you. 

Evan Franulovich  52:45  
Yeah.

Jonathan Thompsonn  52:46  
So then they can be a part of the conversation and help.

Evan Franulovich  52:49  
Okay, this next one seems pretty straightforward, gender? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  52:53  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  52:54  
No problems there? Anybody ever get that wrong?

Jonathan Thompsonn  52:59  
No, I think right now, everything that we're entering in the application and that we're taking out of the application to put on the I-20 has to match what options are made available to us by SEVIS, Customs and Border Patrol, Homeland Security. So it kind of it has to match that so that we can properly put you in all the systems so you don't have any trouble when you're arriving in the country. So it's a reflection of that

Evan Franulovich  53:30  
Good to know. Oh, that's really interesting stuff. Okay, birth date. Some of the countries I go to, put the day before they put the month, some put the month before the day. I mean, does, does the system make it brain proof? So they just put it in or?

Jonathan Thompsonn  53:44  
Honestly put in your birth date, the way that you're used to doing it, the way that it is put in the passport. One of the things that comes with working in admissions is you get accustomed to which countries do things which ways. So, you know, we're often switching the birth month and the birth date. And sometimes people try and be helpful and do it for us, and then it actually... 

Evan Franulovich  54:09  
Confuses you. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  54:10  
...makes it confusing. So just put all of the information as it appears on your passport. The one exception would be the place of birth.

Evan Franulovich  54:20  
Oh, yeah, which is coming right up. It says city and state or province of birth, and then country of birth.

Jonathan Thompsonn  54:26  
So what we want and what we need and are required to provide, is the most detailed information possible about you, so your passport will reflect sometimes something as specific as the city or as broad as a province, or sometimes nothing at all, we try to capture the most specific information, preferably a city, even if it's not on your passport, that's fine. You can put your city and province in the application, if you don't a city or a town, you could put a district. This comes up a lot in Vietnam, a lot of people have a commune, they have a district, they have a province, but not a village, or not a town or a city. So you would put your district as your city of birth. So yeah, we want that to be as specific as possible, because that is going to be on your I-20 and that is going to be something that will come up in your interviews, as something that they're looking at. And also, you'll be interviewing with people who are in your country at the embassies that are aware of the layout there. They're aware of how things work there, and they'll be able to verify that makes sense.

Evan Franulovich  55:46  
Oh, this is all a new for me. That's interesting. Okay, now Country of Citizenship seems like a no brainer. Let's say I'm from Yemen, I am a refugee now living in Saudi Arabia, I'm from Yemen, so Yemen is going to be my country of citizenship, right?

Jonathan Thompsonn  56:10  
Yes, there are times where people put what would appear to be conflicting information, so you will want to put your citizenship as it appears on your passport. 

Evan Franulovich  56:21  
Ah, okay. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  56:21  
However, that may not be the same country that you are living in. If you are in another country and you are a permanent resident there, you can include that information. You can list that address and that phone number from that other country. I would strongly recommend that in the comments section of the application, you note that you are a permanent resident there, because if you do not, we will have to ask you, we will see your citizenship does not match the address and phone number you listed. You know, are you a temporary or a permanent resident there? If you are in another country temporarily for school or vacation, we need your actual home country permanent residential address and phone number. 

Evan Franulovich  57:05  
Interesting. Okay, we've already talked about, is there a friend or family member assisting you? I think we've covered that. Anything else you want to say about that? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  57:14  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  57:15  
Okay. Applicant home address, home city, home state/province, home postal code? Now this is the home address, I've seen 'I was born in this city, but now I'm living in the capital.' or something like that. So this is where they're currently at.

Jonathan Thompsonn  57:31  
This is where you're currently living. So I'm from New York, but I would put Seattle. 

Evan Franulovich  57:37  
Gotcha. Seems to make sense. Student home country, country code?

Jonathan Thompsonn  57:44  
Country codes, yes, so two or three letters or a number prefix in front of your phone number. We added a separate box for that so that people would be sure to include it. 

Evan Franulovich  57:57  
Oh, cool. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  57:58  
Because most of us are all accustomed to writing our phone numbers without the country code. 

Evan Franulovich  58:03  
Fair enough. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  58:04  
One thing you don't have to do is put the country code twice so you can put it in the country code box, and you don't have to then list it in front of your phone number also. We will just delete it. 

Evan Franulovich  58:15  
Good to know. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  58:16  
Make sure it's a complete phone number with the correct country code.

Evan Franulovich  58:20  
All right, good deal. Oh, sometimes when I'm filling out forms, like when I'm doing my TARS or TEBS, my country doesn't pop up in the list. Are we 100% certain that every country is on this list? What if they're doing this and for some weird reason, their country is Antigua, but we've never had a student from Antigua or something. Is that ever happened? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  58:48  
Are you referencing the list? 

Evan Franulovich  58:49  
The country code. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  58:51  
So in the application we manually enter. 

Evan Franulovich  58:54  
Oh, you manually enter. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  58:57  
I do believe there might be a link or a resource that lets you find your country code, but it may not be exhaustive. 

Evan Franulovich  59:04  
Gotcha. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  59:05  
But I just Google it. 

Evan Franulovich  59:06  
Okay. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  59:06  
And eventually you memorize them, and you will know your country code.

Evan Franulovich  59:13  
Yeah, it's like on WhatsApp, if I have a student from Barbados, they use the same area country code, as we do. So when I put them in, it'll show up as they're from the United States, but they're really from Barbados.

Jonathan Thompsonn  59:28  
Yes, so in Canada, it also has the one country code. So if you're applying from Canada, you only need to list your phone number once. If you're already in the US, your phone number is probably the same.

Evan Franulovich  59:41  
All right, okay. It says, 'Do you have an address in the United States?' This seems really like something more for transfer students.

Jonathan Thompsonn  59:51  
Yes, and I'm glad you bring that up, because it is a point of confusion. If you're already in the United States, we would need your residential address here in the United States, whether it's your apartment, and please include your apartment unit number, or your dorm, wherever you're living, because we have to verify that information. We will ask you about it if it does not make sense, and we will have to add that to your government records. But if you are abroad, you do not need to fill out a US address or phone number. Some people do, and it often will match the phone number and address of a US sponsor that may be providing a bank statement. 

Evan Franulovich  1:00:34  
Gotcha. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:00:35  
A lot of people say, 'I know someone in the US.' So I'm going to put their address. You do not have to do that if it is not a place that you are currently living, you can leave it blank. If you do fill it out and we can't find a connection, we will have to ask you if you're currently in the United States. Occasionally someone is, and it will very much change your application.

Evan Franulovich  1:00:54  
Good information there. All right, good. Then we get into acceptance materials and I-20 forms. It says, 'Have you previously enrolled or been admitted to a community or technical college in Washington state?' That seems pretty easy, right? They should know.

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:01:10  
We ask that because whenever you're admitted to a school in the ctcLink system, right? So the Community and Technical College statewide network, you're assigned a student number, and that number is your number that you will use anywhere you enroll in a ctcLink school in Washington. Now, a lot of students accidentally apply to Seattle Colleges through domestic admissions, which could be its own podcast episode. 

Evan Franulovich  1:01:40  
Okay. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:01:41  
But if you apply through domestic admissions, or you've been enrolled at another ctcLink school, you have an employee ID, and we do not want to accidentally give you another one. We want you to have that one because it is tied to all your grades, all your personal information, everything that you would need. 

Evan Franulovich  1:01:56  
Super important.

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:01:59  
Yes, very important. So we want to make sure that when we are entering you in our system, that we're not duplicating efforts and that we're carrying over all your correct information. So most people overseas will not have a number to put. Someone who's a transfer from University of Washington will have a different student ID, but not an employee ID, so they don't have to. But if you've ever applied or been admitted or enrolled and you've gotten an Apple ID and your acceptance materials, you should put it there.

Evan Franulovich  1:02:30  
Okay, good to know. Now I get questions, I'll be at an Education Fair, say, in Africa, and a kid will walk up to me, and we'll start talking about Seattle Colleges and getting them interested. And they're like, 'Yeah, that sounds really great.' And they go, 'Oh, yeah, I'm a US passport holder.' But they live in Ethiopia. Let's just say they live in Ethiopia. They go to school in Ethiopia. Their parents work in Ethiopia, but they have a US passport because they were born in the US. Do they apply as an international student or as a domestic student.

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:03:03  
If they have a US passport and they're a US citizen, they would apply through domestic. 

Evan Franulovich  1:03:07  
That's what I thought. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:03:08  
Yes, there is a very handy PDF document on our website that lists all of the situations in visa categories where you would not apply through international admissions, because there are several visa types where you would go through domestic depending on if you were an asylee or if you're in F-1 status or not, it vary much. Those can be a little bit more complicated situations, so we welcome your questions about that, so we can guide you. But yes, definitely, if you're a US citizen, your tuition will go up.

Evan Franulovich  1:03:44  
That's right. But I'm curious, if a student from Kansas, a domestic student from Kansas wants to come to Seattle College, do we have out of state tuition for someone from Kansas?

Evan Franulovich  1:03:56  
Oh, we do. 

Evan Franulovich  1:03:57  
Okay. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:03:57  
I believe that there's in state, out of state, international, and possibly some sort of regional agreement. Someone was saying this to me at a conference recently between Washington and Oregon for domestic students. 

Evan Franulovich  1:04:13  
That's true. Interesting. Okay. It says, 'Have you already graduated from high school or completed secondary education?' This seems tricky. I mean, have you graduated from high school or completed secondary education? Depends on this system.

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:04:30  
It does depend on the system. So in the academic history section, you will be able to elaborate on that. You can select if it was higher secondary or if it was just high school. We do understand that different schools have different systems, and so we do research them to see what you've provided us, how that equates to where you're from. If you have completed your entire high school experience. So high school or higher secondary, and the next step for you is college, we need to know that, because you won't be eligible for our high school completion plus program. If you've already graduated high school, you'll have to start at a college level program. 

Evan Franulovich  1:04:54  
Makes sense. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:04:57  
We want to make sure that people are being admitted for the correct things. 

Evan Franulovich  1:05:16  
Gotcha. Which brings us to the next one, where it says list every school you've attended, both in the US and elsewhere, starting from high school or equivalent.

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:05:26  
Yes, and that is also another way to make sure that we're placing people appropriately or admitting them for the right program. So much like with high school completion, if you have already graduated high school, you're not eligible for that. If you already have earned a bachelor's degree abroad or four-year equivalent. You're not eligible for the university transfer program. You can apply for any of our career training programs, short-term certificates. You can take classes in an area of interest to transfer to another school or to a graduate program. The state does not enable us to award a secondary associates degree if you've already have one.

Evan Franulovich  1:06:09  
Yeah, and then go into the English school too, right?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:06:13  
So you're certainly welcome to just participate in the Intensive English Program. However, if your proof of English level is substantially higher than that placement then we do have a number of applicants who have very high scores for their proof of English level, but they want to start an Intensive English Program, and it's neither to the benefit of the student or the faculty, because there's just not much right room for growth or development there. So we're happy to provide other options. 

Evan Franulovich  1:06:47  
Yeah, what I find is usually those students English levels are high, but they don't feel very confident, so they want to go improve. They want to start a little lower. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:06:56  
Yeah, and people have said that, and I think that makes a lot of sense there is a difference between doing well on a test and actually being immersed in the environment. However, that immersion is something that you'll still get as another part of the program. And honestly, if you're participating in another program, you'll get a lot more out of it, versus being in a program where your English skills are substantially better than the people around you in that class with much lower scores. It is not going to do anything for you there. 

Evan Franulovich  1:07:29  
Now you said something about you could have a bachelor's degree, but you could go into our vocational technical. So let's say I used to be an accountant, I had a bachelor's degree in accounting from Kazakhstan or whatever, but now I want to work on commercial aircraft, so I apply for our aviation maintenance program itself. Not a problem?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:07:47  
Not a problem. 

Evan Franulovich  1:07:48  
Cool. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:07:49  
If you were applying for an associate's degree in accounting, we might ask you about that, where is that going to get you? How is that going to help you? And the questions that we ask ourselves about what you're trying to accomplish are also the same questions you're going to be asked in your interview for your visa. 

Evan Franulovich  1:08:05  
For sure. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:08:05  
So you want to be able to articulate not only what your plan is in the short-term and long term, but how it benefits you. 

Evan Franulovich  1:08:15  
Yeah, logic goes a long way when you go for your visa interview. Sponsorship, proof of financial resources to live in the study in the United States. This could be its own podcast. But briefly, one of the things that we do is we talk about proof of finances, right? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:08:35  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  1:08:36  
So what do you want to say about proof of finances?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:08:40  
For our proof of finances, we want to make sure that when we admit you and that you start here, that you are as prepared financially as you are in every other facet of your journey ready for this commitment and able to see it through. We don't want you to come here and suddenly you run out of money. It has happened, it's not what we want you to experience. So every year we look at what it costs to be in our program, and then the living expenses. And that is the amount that is on our website, it's broken down. And we also put it on the I-20 in a more condensed version, but we set a minimum requirement that we ask students to meet for a balance on a bank statement that they provided to us. So currently it's $$27,966, so that or more is fine. So much to say about the bank statemen. The first thing I'm going to say is that we need the bank statement to be issued within the last 12 months. 

Evan Franulovich  1:09:47  
That's really important. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:09:48  
That is really important. It is also not the same as saying we need 12 months worth of bank statements, because we don't, and a lot of people run into an issue where they run out of space to upload their bank statements because the files are so big, because it's 12 months of bank statements. And often the balance on the last most recent bank statement is not enough. We don't add them up, it's not cumulative. We just need a recent bank statement issued within 12 months that meets or exceeds that balance.

Evan Franulovich  1:10:19  
Sometimes I have students that they live in a country where the currency is very volatile. When they first do their bank statement, it seems to meet it, and then within a week, their currency has taken a hit, and now all of a sudden, it's not. What do you say to those students? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:10:37  
I mean, well so it depends on what is on the bank statement. So I'll give an example. A lot of the bank statements we get from Vietnam are very straightforward, very clear cut, including the bank statement will list the conversion rate and what the balance is in US dollars at the time that that document was issued, so we will take that for what it says on the document. 

Evan Franulovich  1:11:04  
Okay, fair enough. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:11:05  
Now, if the currency is not converted on the bank statement, we will do it, and we will use the rate that is at that that time. So if you are uncertain about how this will work out for you with your bank statement. The other thing you can do, because we accept a lot of things besides bank statements. And I think the second most helpful thing, and sometimes the most direct thing, is just a signed official letter from the bank saying that you are a customer, your sponsor is a customer, and this is the account information, and this is how much the balance is, and this is how much it converts to. 

Evan Franulovich  1:11:41  
Gotcha. I have students that come up to me all the time and they say, 'Hey, I'm going to be living with my uncle Bob in Seattle. So why do I need to prove $28,050 when I'm going to have all my food and housing paid?'

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:11:54  
For sure. That does come up. It just came up yesterday, and it's a valid question. There's a lot of things that we don't know until you tell us, and that's one of those things. But if you turn around and tell us, I do have family or friends and they're going to be providing housing and accommodations and food, what we require is a signed letter from the family member or whoever saying that, 'Yes, I am providing this, and then we will adjust the expenses in that area as needed on the I-20.'

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:12:17  
Oh, so then, they only really have to approve, say $13,000 in tuition and fees or whatever, like that. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:12:35  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  1:12:35  
All right, cool. Some people ask, 'Hey, can I have multiple sponsors? Can my uncle Bob and my parents and my community church all be sponsors?'

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:12:48  
Yeah, less is more, sometimes I have seen people with a lot of sponsors. 

Evan Franulovich  1:12:55  
Oh, really? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:12:55  
Yeah, and it can become a little confusing. 

Evan Franulovich  1:13:01  
Sure. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:13:02  
So when we're asking for your sponsor, when you're asked to list them, you're going to list their name as it appears on the bank statement and their relationship to you, as specific as you can be. 

Evan Franulovich  1:13:12  
Right. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:13:13  
You can sponsor yourself using your own money, and then also a parent or a grandparent, if it's someone in the United States who's not your legal spouse, you should list them as a US sponsor, because this is information that we reflect on the I-20 form.

Evan Franulovich  1:13:30  
Right. Yeah, I've had a number of Au Pairs who become very tight with their families here, and then they end up sponsoring them or whatever.

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:13:37  
Yes, and we see that all the time, and that's fine to have a US sponsor. We just need to make sure that the statements match the person listed as the sponsor. And the other thing that you mentioned, perhaps it's a job or something that's sponsoring you, if you're being sponsored by someone who owns a company, or you're being sponsored by a company as an employee, we do need an official signed letter from the company, stating their relationship to you and that they are going to commit to providing these funds for the duration of your education.

Evan Franulovich  1:14:10  
These have to be notarized? I mean, how official does it have to be? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:14:13  
They don't have to be notarized. It just needs to be a signed official letter.

Evan Franulovich  1:14:19  
Cool, good to know. Any more questions you have about proof of finances? Usually, your recruiters will have some documentation they can share with you that kind of outlines it pretty thoroughly. I mean, it does get confusing, so don't be afraid. And the email address for admissions is on the website? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:14:38  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  1:14:39  
Okay, program selection, I get a lot of questions about this. This is kind of a confusing section for a lot of people, especially people that are trying to get into a program. So I think what gets confusing, and honestly for me, it gets confusing. So I want to be a student at Seattle Colleges, and I want to go in to nursing. So you're actually applying twice, yeah?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:15:03  
You are, for the sake of ease, let's say there's three different types of programs that are offered. So any program you're applying to, you need to apply through international admissions first. 

Evan Franulovich  1:15:09  
Your very first step. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:15:17  
Your very first step, you will get your acceptance materials, and you will get your EMPLID, which you can then use to move forward with the other programs. Some programs, there is no secondary application. You will just be admitted to the program, and you can begin the program like, accounting. Other programs like nursing, do have certain times of the year, like certain terms that they admit people for. There can be a wait list. They have their own special requirements, and so you would then need to apply through them on their website. And then there's the Bachelor of Applied Science programs, which is like nursing, but theirs is very streamlined. You'll need your EMPLID, and you can fill out an application. They list in advance all the things you need, last time I looked it was about the same for all the BAS programs. And then you would be admitted for that through them directly, because we don't know whether or not you will be admitted your I-20 and acceptance materials may state that you are taking prerequisite courses to prepare for a nursing program, and that is because the I-20 needs to reflect the first thing you're going to do if you happen to be admitted to the nursing program before you get your visa. Congratulations. Let us know we will make the necessary changes. Otherwise, once you're enrolled and you're preparing for the degree program and you're getting ready to apply and you've been admitted, your advisor will update everything in your I-20 to reflect that you're now in that program.

Evan Franulovich  1:16:56  
Okay, this may be a little specific, but I get a lot of questions about nursing, so let's say they did a four-year program in their home country, and they're technically already a nurse, but they want to come here because they feel like getting a nursing degree in the United States is more valuable. It may help promote them in some way. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:17:16  
Sure. 

Evan Franulovich  1:17:16  
So since they've already done a whole nursing program in their home country. Do they still have to do our prerequisites here?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:17:25  
More than likely, and I understand that that could be very frustrating. And what I would say is that there may be a lot of overlap, but there may be a lot of things that are very different between your experiences or jobs abroad and what's being offered here, there is a very specific list of criteria that you need to meet for the nursing program, which is laid out fairly clearly in a packet, a PDF packet that they have available on their website. I strongly suggest you look at it, because you do not want to be caught off guard. 

Evan Franulovich  1:17:57  
I agree. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:17:58  
I mean, it really just takes one of those things to be the deciding factor between whether or not you're program ready or not. 

Evan Franulovich  1:18:06  
Yeah. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:18:07  
The majority of people start with prerequisites to kind of tie up any loose ends that they need to be admitted to the program.

Evan Franulovich  1:18:14  
And be communicating early with that department directly. Apply to be a student at Seattle Colleges, but also be in contact with the nursing department, or if you're going to go into  international business, you can reach out to that department directly. Okay, then it says, 'Chosen quarter of admission, chosen year of admission, chosen campus, what is the highest level study program you intend to complete at Seattle Colleges?' That one I kind want to  stop at. The other ones are pretty straightforward, right? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:18:48  
Yeah, the only thing I would say about what you mentioned. So you'll see our dates and deadlines on our website goes out, I believe, a little over a year. So I-20s, we admit students up to a year in advance. So we are about to start winter term 26 next month, which means once that term starts, you could apply as far out as winter 27 but you couldn't apply for winter 27 right now. The reason is, is that far out, not all of the dates are available, and we can only issue your I-20 forms up to 12 months in advance, which is still quite the head start. But I would strongly suggest that you apply as early as you can. If you know, worst case scenario you can always defer, and you know we can make accommodations for you, just communicate with us.

Evan Franulovich  1:19:39  
Right. And if you're a high school completion student, as soon as you turn 15, as long as you're 16, by the first day of class you can go ahead and apply a year in advance. Super good idea to get that done in advance. Some programs you mentioned only start at certain times of the year. Do they have to worry about that so much when they're doing the application? What do you recommend?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:20:04  
Well, there's a few things you need to consider with that. So we will place you based on your English proficiency or your proof of English level, and that is one of the factors that will determine when you need to start also, whether or not there's additional program requirements you need to meet. Generally, I would say, apply for the term that you want to start. And if it's a program that only starts at certain terms, apply for that program, for that program's term. So for example, if the program only starts in fall, apply for fall. If you've looked at your test scores, then you know that's going to place you in IEP. So you may have to take Intensive English classes for a while before you start in the fall. Maybe I want to apply for spring. You have to be a little strategic about it. It just takes an element of knowing what you might be getting into in terms of your placement for proof of English level and any requirements. You can certainly always talk with our marketing team and with the people at the different programs. The program people can be very helpful with their specific program information, it's not in their wheelhouse necessarily, to guide you as an international student, and what that'll mean for you. So please come to us with those questions. 

Evan Franulovich  1:21:25  
For sure. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:21:25  
Generally, if you have questions like trying to plan that and what term would be best, and is there a cohort? Is there a certain number of people allowed in the class? Eventually, you'll get here, and you'll work with your advisor, and they'll get you on the right track for your academic journey.

Evan Franulovich  1:21:41  
But when you're first looking into Seattle Colleges, work with your marketing and outreach person. For example, I handle all of Africa, Middle East and Latin America. Johan does Vietnam and Mongolia, etc, etc. So talk to them. They should be able to help you. If they can, they'll find someone who will. Okay, great. 'What is the highest level study program you intend to complete at Seattle Colleges?' This one is kind of important, it seems to me.

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:22:07  
Yeah, we want to know what your goals are. We want to know that we're getting you started on the right track. Yeah, I know it can seem a little conflicting, because you may say I want to get an associate's degree in nursing, but your I-20 is going to say prerequisite classes for nursing, and like I said, it's because that's going to show the very beginning of your journey, the first thing you're going to do. However, the remarks section that we fill out tailored to your situation and the information in your acceptance letter will all reflect both your short and your longer term goals.

Evan Franulovich  1:22:41  
And your visa interviewer should have looked at all of that information already.

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:22:48  
So my understanding, having not been in an visa interview, is that they can go very quickly. I'm sure this varies, so don't you know, but they can go very quickly, they may not look at everything quite that closely. It may be more about asking you questions, and so anything that is written down, like your plan on your acceptance letter, maybe try and come up with a version that you can say really quickly, like start prerequisite study and then finish with a two-year degree in nursing, because they're probably not going to read your entire acceptance letter.

Evan Franulovich  1:23:23  
But really understanding your educational pathway and having a really logical pathway, those are really important pieces to getting your visa. There's no guarantees, of course, I just want to put that out there, but you can do yourself a favor by properly preparing. Your marketing and outreach person has their own ideas about what you can do to best prepare, so reach out to them. 'What's your intended major?' This seems pretty straightforward, but what if they don't really know? What if they're just like, kind of like you went into that? Yeah, 'I don't know what I want to do.'

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:23:57  
Sure. Well, you can do one of two things. You can pick something that sounds interesting to you, or you can pick undecided which will read as liberal arts and science and but you can still pick the program you want to pursue. And even that is subject to change. If you defer and you want to change your program and major, you have the opportunity to do that in the deferral application.

Evan Franulovich  1:24:18  
Sure. Once you get here, if you start off as a math major and you're like, 'Ah, this is too much work. I just want to be a sports science major.' You can change your major. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:24:28  
Yeah, you're not expected to know 100% before you get here. I don't think a lot of people have that figured out.

Evan Franulovich  1:24:35  
I certainly did not. That's true. Okay, proof of English level. We've already kind of talked about this. There's a lot of ways to prove your English level, so many different ways. It's all on our website. Your marketing and outreach person can help you. Anything else you want to say about this?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:24:50  
I will say for Duolingo, please make your Duolingo scores available online for us so that we can verify them. You can do this through your Duolingo account, you can share it with our  international admissions. There are a few Seattle Colleges options choose the International Admissions one, this way, when we get your scores with your application, we can verify them with your account online and move you forward.

Evan Franulovich  1:25:15  
That's a really good point. Great, thanks. Yeah, I learned so much from these podcasts. I love it. All right. Immigration information says, 'Are you currently in the United States?' You basically have a yes or no here. If they're in the United States already, what do you need to know from them?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:25:35  
We need to know what visa you're on, we need a copy of your visa. There will be some other specific documents, like a DS-2019, so things that you'll already have, but we will need those submitted. We basically need to understand if you should be applying through international admissions, because not all visa types do. And if you are, and you're on a visa other than an F-1 visa, how are we going to get you started? You know, some students on a J visa want to take classes part time, if that's all they want to do, that's fine. A lot of people on B and J visas want to start the change of status process to an F-1 visa, so there's an option there where you can tell us what your plan is, and we will get you started on that. 

Evan Franulovich  1:26:18  
Cool. All right. And if the answer is no? It says, 'Have you studied on an F-1 visa at another institution in the last five months?'

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:26:27  
So that's trying to sort out whether or not you're a transfer student.

Evan Franulovich  1:26:33  
Gotcha. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:26:33  
So if you are in the US or were in the US within the past five months, we would want to make sure we have all your academic history. It's important for the context of your SEVIS record.

Evan Franulovich  1:26:52  
Section four of it is the application fee. Our application fee is $50 and there's only really one or two ways to pay for this?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:27:02  
As far as I know, generally through Flywire.

Evan Franulovich  1:27:07  
And the instructions are all there, so it should be fairly straightforward?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:27:11  
Yes, and if you experience any issues making your payment through Flywire, we suggest contacting them directly. Just because they are their own entity, their own company, we only receive what you provide us, and then we verify it in their website, but we can't unfortunately troubleshoot. 

Evan Franulovich  1:27:28  
So some countries I've been to, like Ethiopia, for example, sometimes they don't have Visa cards that they can use. What suggestions do you have for students in those kinds of countries?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:27:42  
With Flywire you can do bank wire transfers. 

Evan Franulovich  1:27:47  
Okay. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:27:47  
It doesn't have to be a credit card.

Evan Franulovich  1:27:49  
Good to know. Really great. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:27:51  
The application fee is non refundable. 

Evan Franulovich  1:27:54  
Good to know. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:27:55  
That is not contingent upon whether or not you choose to enroll. It is for reviewing your application and preparing your materials, so we generally do not have application fee waivers outside of situational things that may involve your recruiter. 

Evan Franulovich  1:28:17  
Right, right. Okay, well, that's section four. There's only five sections to the application. We've made it to section five, the agreement to terms and file upload. What do you want to say about this section?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:28:30  
You will be able to see section five at the bottom of the page along with all the other sections, but you will not be able to access it until you have completed section four. 

Evan Franulovich  1:28:40  
Good to know. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:28:41  
Most people, and we are trying to sort this out so that it is more user friendly for you, but a lot of people email us and say, 'I submitted my application three weeks ago, why haven't I heard anything?' And when I check their record, the application is in partial status. So what's happened is a lot of people get to section four with the application fee, and they either don't pay the application fee or they don't submit it, and go on to section five and submit everything else. So you need to make sure that you've completed all five sections. You will not be asked to upload any of the documents that are required until section five, and this is because all of the different questions you've been answering in sections one through four are determining what documents it's going to request you upload in section five. So it's usually going to be things like your passport, your visa, if you're here on one, your current I-20, if you're at another school, your bank statement. And another point of confusion is when you upload the documents, which PDFs are always preferred. Love the PDFs. Once you upload a document successfully, a little X will appear, and some people think that that means that it didn't work, which makes sense, but it's actually there to delete the upload if you don't want it there anymore. Now, unfortunately, you cannot see the documents that you've uploaded. So I know that can be difficult, but if you upload a document and the X appears, you're good. If we don't see something we need, we will ask you for it.

Evan Franulovich  1:30:17  
So make sure you keep checking your email, make sure you check your account that kind of stuff. Great. And then once it's all submitted about a week, maybe you'll hear back from us.

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:30:30  
Yeah, generally, five business days. And, you know, it gets a little busier towards the deadlines. So, you know, the winter deadlines coming up on the 25th. And then also during the orientation week, because we often will get a lot of concurrent or transfer students at that time. 

Evan Franulovich  1:30:49  
Right. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:30:50  
Especially if you're a transfer concurrent student and your in a unique situation, submit your application first and foremost, and then contact us, because it's a lot harder if we do that in reverse. And we want to make sure that we can accommodate you and get you enrolled in classes as soon as possible. And we understand that things can happen and get a little complicated once you're here and enrolled at another school.

Evan Franulovich  1:31:12  
Yeah, just so this brings us to the end of the application, so hopefully you've been accepted. Everything looks great, yeah, shouldn't be a problem. Couple little things, anything you want to hammer home for transfer students that you want them to think about, because we get a lot of people that are either coming from other community colleges or whatever they decide they want to come to Seattle for some reason, anything special you want them to know or to think about.

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:31:42  
So there's a few things that can vary from school to school for transfer students. One of them is a transfer in form. We don't use a transfer in form, and we don't sign transfer out forms, like some schools will will ask that, or some schools do that, and we have students ask us about that, and some schools don't. We no longer do. If you have questions about, 'Should I transfer now? Will I still be in status? Am I going to fall out of status? Should I wait?' Please work with your current DSO at your current school. We are not involved enough in your current situation to advise you in the way that the DSO and the school that currently holds your SEVIS record can so we strongly advise that you work out all of your plans with them, and then once you've committed to a plan with them, you apply to us.

Evan Franulovich  1:32:33  
Good to know. And then online students. Anything special you want to say to online students? 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:32:38  
Sure. So online students really pretty straightforward. You had just have to have college level placement to be able to pursue a program online from your home country. You cannot enroll in a program 100% online in the US, but you can take many of our programs from your home country, just not our Intensive English Program or College Bridge, which is why you would have to be here for that. 

Evan Franulovich  1:33:03  
Right. Sometimes I get questions from concurrent students, anything special that they should be aware of?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:33:10  
I don't think so. Concurrent students, you know, because we have three campuses, and we have a lot of classes that are taught at all three campuses, we offer a lot of options for students from surrounding schools to get enrolled in, especially a lot of gen ed classes. And we also offer the self paced classes, which has a much more lenient deadline. So for example, self paced enrollment deadline for Fall is tomorrow. 

Evan Franulovich  1:33:43  
Oh.

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:33:43  
And look how far we are in the quarter. 

Evan Franulovich  1:33:44  
Exactly. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:33:45  
So if you needed to take English 101, or something, that's offered through them. You could apply through us as concurrent put in the comments section that you want to take a self paced course, and then you'll be able to go to the website, once you've been embedded and enroll in that. So you've got some flexibility, those are online. You don't have to come to campus. 

Evan Franulovich  1:34:07  
Cool. Well, this is by far the longest podcast interview I've done. I may break this up into two sections, part one and part two with Jonathan, but we're near the end here, so let's just say last chance for you, anything that we didn't cover, anything you really want to hammer home? What can we tell these guys out there they're getting ready to apply? Last thoughts?

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:34:32  
Definitely look over everything that you need to have in advance of applying, even if you're going to break it up, just make sure you have it all in advance, including a valid passport and things like that, and just always let us know if you have any questions, feel free to email us, and we're happy to help you.

Evan Franulovich  1:34:50  
Right. But I would say, as a marketing and outreach person, if you have questions, make sure you've done your own research before you ask your questions, because most of the. Information we talk about is on our website. Most of the information that you ask about, I often see in previous emails that we've sent to you, and for some reason, you didn't read your email. So please read the emails that we send to you. A lot of that information on there is really great. Check our website, and then please absolutely reach out to us. We're happy to help you. Just understand that there is a tremendous volume of requests for information, so the more work you do to help yourself, the easier it makes our job, and the faster we can help you. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:35:34  
I completely agree. Yes, we're happy to answer your emails. But like Evan said, almost all of the information, except in perhaps some very unique situations, is available on the website, and you will get links from us to the website. 

Evan Franulovich  1:35:49  
Exactly. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:35:51  
So it's stuff that's already there for you. We'll just maybe help you find it.

Evan Franulovich  1:35:55  
Yeah, I've gotten silly questions like, 'Oh, can I take English at your school?' Then I'll write this big paragraph, 'Of course, you can take English.' And then I'll see them send to a different email, 'Can I take English at your school?' Guys, we've already answered that question. Be sure to read our emails, please. That would be great. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:36:14  
Yeah, and on that note, I would stress that the proof of English level is non negotiable. 

Evan Franulovich  1:36:21  
Yeah, unfortunately. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:36:22  
Like I said, it does not have to be like a perfect score by any stretch, but you do need to submit a qualifying proof of English level from our website.

Evan Franulovich  1:36:55  
Yeah, we want you to come and work on your English and those kind of things. This is not a barrier to entry, just take that test or whatever. Yeah, we'd love to have you here. Gosh, Jonathan, that is amazing. I learned a lot. I like my job because I am always learning.

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:36:53  
Believe me when I tell you, I could talk about my job all day long.

Evan Franulovich  1:36:56  
Well, hopefully in another year or two, we'll bring you back and we'll say, 'Okay, we have these new things. Let's talk about it.' But guys, this is a really great episode. Please share it with all your friends, your agents, your teachers, everybody. This is great information. Everybody's got to apply, that's the first step. Great information for everybody. Thanks so much. Thanks for joining us. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. Join us every Wednesday. We'll try to keep bringing you great information like this to you. Thanks so much. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:37:31  
Thanks, Evan. 

Evan Franulovich  1:37:31  
Take care. Have a great holiday. 

Jonathan Thompsonn  1:37:33  
Thank you.

Evan Franulovich  1:37:33  
Bye guys. 

Evan Franulovich  1:37:34  
Conversations with! is painstakingly crafted for you by the Seattle Colleges International Programs department and supported by the lovely folks here on our campus. This show is produced and edited by me, Evan Franulovich. We welcome your emails and questions about coming to Seattle Colleges. Please reach out to us via our website or just give us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts as this helps others discover the show. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube at Seattle Colleges Intl. And be sure to check out all of the shows here on 'Conversations with!' Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.