While the country’s average rate of international students attending American universities is dropping, Boston University officials say their rates are remaining steady, with a 15 percent constituency of international students in the undergraduate and graduate enrollment.

“To say you’re from Germany or Japan or Brazil impresses people here,” College of Communication sophomore Karen Jackson said, “but not as much as I think it would impress people at other schools that don’t have the international population that we have.”

With over 4,500 students from outside the United States, BU ranks eighth among schools with the highest number of international students, according to the annual Open Doors report published Nov. 3 by the Institute of International Education.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said this number has remained consistent over recent years.

“We have a longstanding presence of international students,” he said. “For many years, [BU] was the one with the most.”

College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Maloney Liu is originally from Hong Kong. She said while the distribution varies from class to class, she notices a strong international presence on campus.

“Usually, I’m pretty much the only international kid in my classes, as in discussion sections,” she said. “But when I took Writing 150 over the summer, all but two students in the class were international.”

Jackson said she sees a lot of international students around campus.

“I feel a strong presence of international students,” Jackson said. “I feel like the school is pretty diverse and it’s easy to find someone who’s not from here.”

Latinos Unidos President David Blanding said that while he thinks there are a large number of international students, they are not as vocal as other groups.

“I think as with many cultural groups on campus they could stand to be more vocal,” the CAS senior said.

Although Jackson is an American citizen, she was born on a military base in Germany. She said she thinks BU’s diversity is beneficial to all students.

“I definitely think it opens minds,” Jackson said. “I mean, there are people here who’ve never left the tri-state area and I think people from other countries show people that there is so much more out there, culturally speaking.”

Liu said she thinks international students are an interesting addition to the BU community.

“I’ve had some pretty interesting discussions – heated conversations – with some friends because our very different backgrounds give us very different perspectives,” Liu said.

Blanding said he thinks BU should work on increasing the diversity of the student community, and one goal of higher education is “to mirror the world beyond college.”

“Diversity is the nature of the world,” he said. “As we continue to live in a more globalized world, we need to cope with that inevitable reality.”

Riley said the diversity of students further enhances the college experience.

“There is a value in meeting people with different life experiences and different values based on where they are from,” he said.

Riley said that while the university does not specifically target international students, BU representatives travel around the globe giving information sessions.

“The international population comes from 140 countries,” he said. “The number has been as high as 148. … International Admissions visits certain schools and countries whose students have shown interest in BU in the past.”

He said international students may hear about BU from this program, or they may here about it from their peers or counselors, much like domestic students do.

Jackson said she was impressed by how BU attempts to attract students from abroad.

“I think they do a good job of attracting international students actually,” she said, “I guess by really pushing the international aspects of our school when trying to recruit students.”

Riley said the number of applications of international students has grown in the undergraduate programs.

“We consistently see increased interest at the undergraduate level,” he said.

Liu said her reasons for applying to BU included the unique experiences and opportunities she hoped to find.

“I just wanted a totally different college experience,” Liu said. “In Hong Kong, there are only so many majors you can choose from and it’s basically impossible to change your mind later. Admittedly, BU wasn’t my first choice, but I picked BU because there are so many options.”