Preparing ahead of time will help tremendously, but what do you do once you arrive at your U.S. college destination? Paul Carbonaro, coordinator of the ESL education program at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, recommends complete immersion. "Students should spend as much time as possible in the company of native speakers to feel increasingly comfortable about using and encountering English and to improve speaking and listening skills," he says. "They should also read, read, read to broaden their English vocabulary."

Rick Johns, director of the LEAP Intensive English Program at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, also contends that immersion is important to a student's English-speaking success, but he warns against seclusion. "Surround yourself with English as much as possible," Mr. Johns says. "A good way to do this is to join a volunteer organization or a church. It's certainly understandable that students would want to find people from their own countries who speak their mother language, but if they retreat too much into their home culture, they won't develop the language skills necessary for success at the university."

Once you're acclimated to your new surroundings, ask an advisor or university official about programs and resources available for ESL students. "Typically, there should be course-specific tutorial services, as well as a writing and reading tutorial center, language labs, an ESL advisor—perhaps within an international student office—an international student club, or an ESL student-specific orientation session," Mr. Carbonaro says. Taking advantage of all your U.S. college or university has to offer will be beneficial to your overall experience while you study English as a Second Language in the U.S.A.