Last month, the Trump administration announced it would start “aggressively revoking” the visas of Chinese students who had ties to the Chinese Communist Party or were studying in “critical fields.”
In 2025, Ohio State University enrolled about 3,300 students from China. They make up more than half of the university’s nearly 6,000 international students. Students from India are the second-largest group, at about 750.
One OSU undergraduate student from China studying astrophysics said he’s not particularly worried about having his visa revoked. He thinks it would be irrational for the government to take it away.
Still, he asked not to be identified by name, because his parents do worry about his status and the political climate in the U.S.
“I always hold the belief that actually the government should be doing things rationally and they are not going to revoke all the international students' visas or all Chinese students' visas. That's (unrealistic) because actually the American universities can get a lot of money by admitting the international students,” he said.
He added that Chinese and other international students do good academic work for universities.
He said he chose Ohio State because the university offered a variety of physics programs and because the U.S. is known for having quality undergraduate education. He said he likes the way classes are taught in the U.S. better than in China. He wants to stay in the country to finish his degree and then get a doctorate and post doctorate. One day, he hopes to be a professor.
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Despite the political climate, he believes studying in the U.S. is still a good choice.
“It can enhance your ability to help you be a well-rounded person if you study hard and take the knowledge seriously,” he said.
But he admits, if the U.S. begins revoking visas, it may no longer be a good place for international students.
“If the government did those kind of things, maybe the United States will no longer be a good choice for studying,” he said.
He doesn’t think that university officials would be able to help him if his visa is revoked. He added that studying abroad has to be a two-way choice: he chose Ohio State and Ohio State chose him.
While he understands that some Americans want immigrants, including students like him, to leave the country, he hopes people stay rational and have reasonable conversations.
He personally doesn’t want to get involved in politics. He’s more interested in working on his summer research on dark matter.
“I just want to do my own studies and research. That's what I'm focusing on,” he said.
