Gender studies in Western institutions of higher education tend to focus on the deficiencies of female students in adjusting to new cultures compared to their male counterparts (Contreras-Aguirre & Gonzalez, 2017; Manese et al., 1988; Mallinckrodt & Leong, 1992). Few researchers have delved into female Chinese international students' ways of self-fashioning and the opportunities it brings them. Using a phenomenological theoretical framework combined with a critical lens to conduct detailed interviews, this study shifted the lens of focusing on female students' deficiencies, instead exploring how a group of Chinese female international students self-fashioned as they navigated the U.S. higher education environment. Three major themes emerged in our female Chinese international students' stories: their "self-fashioning" helps them (1) sophistically navigate the U.S. system better, (2) tactically fit into the new U.S. society, and (3) adaptively create more genuine personal identities. Implications were discussed at the end of this study.