International students within the United States make up for a large portion of the student
population, especially at Arizona State University (ASU), one of the largest public universities in the states (“Most International Students: National Universities”, n.d.). In order to allow for these students to acclimate better to their new surroundings, immersion programs are offered to international students, where they are able to practice and develop their English, as well as learn more about the new culture(s) that surrounds them. This thesis poses the question of how, and in what ways, are immersion programs helping international students in terms of job- and career- readiness. At the conclusion of the thesis, it will recommend different changes that will positively benefit the students. The study focused on third- and fourth-year students at ASU, and the target group were students in the W. P. Carey School of Business. The methodology will be a mixed-methodology approach, starting with a quantitative survey. This survey asks initial questions, such as if a student has been part of an immersion program, in what ways those programs were helpful, and whether or not they had a post-graduate job opportunity in place. Next, a qualitative interview is conducted, where more clarifying questions are asked to deeply examine how students feel about the use, or the lack thereof, of such programs. Through these interviews, the researcher will pull a table of recurrent themes that were mentioned. The study found that the majority of international students at ASU were not part of an immersion program, and there was an overwhelming call for more resources to be put in place for immersion programs to assist students more to be career ready. At the conclusion of the study, three recommendations were made for immersion programs to improve on: placing more emphasis on career planning, a larger focus on interviewing and job preparation, and create more programs that promote more academic planning advising for students.