Writing proficiency has been identified as a skill that predicts international students’ academic success. Disaggregating the responses of international students on the UCUES 2012 Survey, and utilizing structural equation modeling to determine the direct and indirect effects of writing proficiency on cognitive growth, faculty-student interaction, and academic effort, the researcher found that not only did writing proficiency predict international students’ cognitive skills development, but writing proficiency also predicted international students’ opportunities to interact with faculty and their academic effort. Identified needed supports for international students included more English instruction, faculty-student interaction, encouragement of higher levels of academic effort, and critical thinking assignments. Moreover, faculty and staff must be better informed of pedagogical and educational differences between the United States and the countries from which international students originate, including their unique learning styles.