Survey Results #21: International Wanderers

A couple weeks ago, in a blog titled ‘National Wanderers’, we talked about the geographic diversity of Lawrence University’s student population. That theme continues, with some more information about our international diversity.

When you arrive at Lawrence, you’ll be at one of the most internationally diverse campuses in the country. About 13% of our students are international students, coming from all over the world. In fact, you might even find yourself hanging out at the International House.

In addition, the Diversity Center will always be working on campus to present educational programming designed to help us better understand diversity in a rapidly changing world.

Recognizing that so many of our students are international, we asked you to tell us what country you were most excited to meet someone from. A good number of you let us know that you were excited to meet someone from any country, which, of course, is a good thing. Some of you were more general, citing regions or continents (such as Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and South America…in that order.) But for those of you who listed a specific country, you came up with a list of 48 different countries.

Here are the top five:

1 – France

2 – Australia

3 – Italy and Japan (tied)

4 – Germany

5 – China

Some of the other countries that garnered a lot of interest were: South Africa, Russia, Poland, England, Greece, Brazil, Ghana, India, Korea and Ireland.

A few weeks ago, we suggested you stop by to check out the map of the United States, with a pin indicating the hometown of each student. Today, we’d encourage you to do the same thing, but instead to look on a different wall in Wilson House. There, you’ll find a map of the entire world, with a pin representing each international student, as well as each study abroad program.

By the end of your time at Lawrence, you’ll have had the opportunity to interact, live and work with students from all over the country…and all over the world.