Monday, May 28, 2007
Life After
A short list of things an international student has to do to prepare him/herself for transition to a business school:
1. If requested by a school, fill in a Request for I-20 based on confirmed options of financing your first year: combine the amount of your scholarships with your loan and supplement it with your personal savings to get the budget stated by your school.
Q&As:
- Do I have to send a request by courier mail?
My request was accepted by email.
- Do I have to show some personal savings to compliment my financing options if my scholarships + a loan exceed the budget set by my school?
I showed no personal savings in my request.
2. Upon receipt of I-20, apply online and pay the SEVIS fee ($100).
Q&A:
- I filled in the form online, but was forwarded to the original page with rules; am I registered or what and where are the payment options?
Fill in the form quickly. No joke here. I don't mean that you have to moist your fingers in haste to complete it in 30 seconds, but if you leave the page for a while, when you return and finalize it, it will not be registered. When you fill in the form successfully, you are forwarded to a payment options page where you can, for example, submit the fee by a credit card.
3. When you get your SEVIS fee payment confirmation, fill in a visa application online on http://evisaforms.state.gov/
4. Make a photo for your visa application in exact accordance with requirements set by US consulate in your country. US consulate's requirements may be significantly different from what you may be accustomed with in other consulates, such as in Schengen countries.
5. Submit your visa application. The application package includes the application form you filled in online, with an assigned barcode, a form DS-158 for application for F-1, your original I-20, confirmation of SEVIS fee payment and a photo. The application package may include, per requirements set by your country: financial documents proving the means of financing your first year at school (scholarship notifications, a loan promissory note, banking statements, credit card receipts, your salary reference from a current employer, tax declaration etc.) and documents that attach a heavy weight to your stated intention to return to your home country upon completion of studies (real estate possessions etc.).
Q&As:
- Do I really have to collect and submit all these documentation?
Strictly speaking, it is not obligatory. Read between the lines on the website of the consulate in your country and research experience of other students from your country who went through visa application process before you. Don't overanalyze. I will report on my own experience in late June.
- Is it quick? Do I have to attend to an interview with a consulate official?
There is a waiting period between submission of your documents, an interview (which may be obligatory for each and every applicant in your country, as it is in Russia) and getting your passport stamped. In Russia, for example, the standard waiting period at the moment is 21 calendar days.
- Uggh, the waiting is so long, can I, like, submit the papers and go for a vacation before I am invited for an interview?
You will hand your passport over to the consulate for the whole waiting period plus 2-5 extra days required for stamping the visa; during this period you will not be able to travel outside your country. Schedule the application process accordingly.
6. Check if your school requires you to submit a medical reference before or upon arrival. The processing of such reference may be a bit of a fuss and will mostly likely include a blood test; also, in some cases you may have to make certain immunizations and tuberculosis screening (chest X-ray).
7. Credit cards: ensure that you will have access to your money upon arrival to USA. Some international Visa cards issued locally are not truly international; in good scenario, they will be operational in ATMs, but will not work in stores, restaurants and hotels; in bad cases you won't be able to withdraw any cash at all.
Bank accounts: if you want to move your account from a local bank to an American, or plan to receive a large transfer to an account you will open in USA, note that bank transfers from abroad undergo an additional verification, and it may take a long before you will be able to lay your hand on your money.
8. Schoolbooks: a lot of your future classmates will ask in your school's forum which schoolbooks are a must have. The three reasons to forget about buying the books before you arrive (imho):
a) They are heavy. You don't want to air freight books.
b) If you need them in an American business school, you will most likely find them in an American-based bookstore online. Why pay for international delivery to Moscow or Mumbai when you can have them brought to your door next day by a courier when you are in Philly, NY, Chicago etc.
c) You can have the books second-handed from students of previous years.
9. Notebook: to the opposite, even if your school suggests buying a preselected notebook upon arrival, you may find it rational to purchase one before you depart.
First, the cons:
a) If you own a notebook, it is almost inevitable that your school will ask you to bring it to tech department for appropriate setup (probably, chargeable)
b) You may get it with wrong version of operational system. Remember that you don't want your operational system to be in your local language, unless you want to work as a volunteer translator for the tech team of your school. Be sure that you know the requirements set by your school, i.e. should your Windows/Vista be a Professional version etc. It is truly a trouble to try to change an operational system on a notebook.
c) You will have to buy it on your personal savings, before you may get access to your loan, and the amount might be weighty.
There is actually only one pro, but it is crucial for me:
a) A notebook suggested by your school may not meet your demands. In my case, I really cannot drag all over the place a case that is heavier than 2 kg (4,5 pounds). Add schoolbooks here to feel my pain. Then, I am a gamer (I mean, a Gamer, with capital G). A machine with a video memory of 64 Mb does not exist for me. Intel Graphics Media Accelerator? Stick it in your spare pocket, please. Consider your special needs carefully before you decide whether you want to get the beast suggested by your school or a beauty selected by yourself.
10. While it may be a late advice, consider the difference between your present and future location when you plan your pre-matriculation trips. Hey, you will be on another side of the Globe. At the moment Egypt or Thailand may sound like next door banality to you, but for next two years you may find it difficult to take cross-Atlantic trips in order to get a sunbath somewhere in the Mediterranean, for example.
1. If requested by a school, fill in a Request for I-20 based on confirmed options of financing your first year: combine the amount of your scholarships with your loan and supplement it with your personal savings to get the budget stated by your school.
Q&As:
- Do I have to send a request by courier mail?
My request was accepted by email.
- Do I have to show some personal savings to compliment my financing options if my scholarships + a loan exceed the budget set by my school?
I showed no personal savings in my request.
2. Upon receipt of I-20, apply online and pay the SEVIS fee ($100).
Q&A:
- I filled in the form online, but was forwarded to the original page with rules; am I registered or what and where are the payment options?
Fill in the form quickly. No joke here. I don't mean that you have to moist your fingers in haste to complete it in 30 seconds, but if you leave the page for a while, when you return and finalize it, it will not be registered. When you fill in the form successfully, you are forwarded to a payment options page where you can, for example, submit the fee by a credit card.
3. When you get your SEVIS fee payment confirmation, fill in a visa application online on http://evisaforms.state.gov/
4. Make a photo for your visa application in exact accordance with requirements set by US consulate in your country. US consulate's requirements may be significantly different from what you may be accustomed with in other consulates, such as in Schengen countries.
5. Submit your visa application. The application package includes the application form you filled in online, with an assigned barcode, a form DS-158 for application for F-1, your original I-20, confirmation of SEVIS fee payment and a photo. The application package may include, per requirements set by your country: financial documents proving the means of financing your first year at school (scholarship notifications, a loan promissory note, banking statements, credit card receipts, your salary reference from a current employer, tax declaration etc.) and documents that attach a heavy weight to your stated intention to return to your home country upon completion of studies (real estate possessions etc.).
Q&As:
- Do I really have to collect and submit all these documentation?
Strictly speaking, it is not obligatory. Read between the lines on the website of the consulate in your country and research experience of other students from your country who went through visa application process before you. Don't overanalyze. I will report on my own experience in late June.
- Is it quick? Do I have to attend to an interview with a consulate official?
There is a waiting period between submission of your documents, an interview (which may be obligatory for each and every applicant in your country, as it is in Russia) and getting your passport stamped. In Russia, for example, the standard waiting period at the moment is 21 calendar days.
- Uggh, the waiting is so long, can I, like, submit the papers and go for a vacation before I am invited for an interview?
You will hand your passport over to the consulate for the whole waiting period plus 2-5 extra days required for stamping the visa; during this period you will not be able to travel outside your country. Schedule the application process accordingly.
6. Check if your school requires you to submit a medical reference before or upon arrival. The processing of such reference may be a bit of a fuss and will mostly likely include a blood test; also, in some cases you may have to make certain immunizations and tuberculosis screening (chest X-ray).
7. Credit cards: ensure that you will have access to your money upon arrival to USA. Some international Visa cards issued locally are not truly international; in good scenario, they will be operational in ATMs, but will not work in stores, restaurants and hotels; in bad cases you won't be able to withdraw any cash at all.
Bank accounts: if you want to move your account from a local bank to an American, or plan to receive a large transfer to an account you will open in USA, note that bank transfers from abroad undergo an additional verification, and it may take a long before you will be able to lay your hand on your money.
8. Schoolbooks: a lot of your future classmates will ask in your school's forum which schoolbooks are a must have. The three reasons to forget about buying the books before you arrive (imho):
a) They are heavy. You don't want to air freight books.
b) If you need them in an American business school, you will most likely find them in an American-based bookstore online. Why pay for international delivery to Moscow or Mumbai when you can have them brought to your door next day by a courier when you are in Philly, NY, Chicago etc.
c) You can have the books second-handed from students of previous years.
9. Notebook: to the opposite, even if your school suggests buying a preselected notebook upon arrival, you may find it rational to purchase one before you depart.
First, the cons:
a) If you own a notebook, it is almost inevitable that your school will ask you to bring it to tech department for appropriate setup (probably, chargeable)
b) You may get it with wrong version of operational system. Remember that you don't want your operational system to be in your local language, unless you want to work as a volunteer translator for the tech team of your school. Be sure that you know the requirements set by your school, i.e. should your Windows/Vista be a Professional version etc. It is truly a trouble to try to change an operational system on a notebook.
c) You will have to buy it on your personal savings, before you may get access to your loan, and the amount might be weighty.
There is actually only one pro, but it is crucial for me:
a) A notebook suggested by your school may not meet your demands. In my case, I really cannot drag all over the place a case that is heavier than 2 kg (4,5 pounds). Add schoolbooks here to feel my pain. Then, I am a gamer (I mean, a Gamer, with capital G). A machine with a video memory of 64 Mb does not exist for me. Intel Graphics Media Accelerator? Stick it in your spare pocket, please. Consider your special needs carefully before you decide whether you want to get the beast suggested by your school or a beauty selected by yourself.
10. While it may be a late advice, consider the difference between your present and future location when you plan your pre-matriculation trips. Hey, you will be on another side of the Globe. At the moment Egypt or Thailand may sound like next door banality to you, but for next two years you may find it difficult to take cross-Atlantic trips in order to get a sunbath somewhere in the Mediterranean, for example.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Feedback session in Wharton
Starting from today, rejected applicants of R1 and R2 in Wharton may request feedback session by phone. Requests will be served on first come - first serve basis. The number is 215-898-6183.
For now, I decided to refrain: the idea is to keep the place in the line vacant for future reapplicants.
Update: all slots were occupied during first 2,5 hours of work of the phone line.
A word of consolation to those applicants who did not make it in time to secure a feedback session: just don't overconcentrate on this issue. Research blogs of current students who were reapplicants, see what they write about feedback information. You will see that no feedback session would give you a clear answer Why you failed to win the place. They won't tell you: there were too many typos in your "What matters". They won't tell you: your interviewer didn't happen to like your orange tie. What will happen is that they will give you bare and banal information: lack of a prerequisite quality, unclear goals, dull essays etc. There is no guarantee that you will have enough time and room till the next year to fill in the gaps, if any - you won't get broad international experience in next 6 months if you have none at the moment, but anyway - aren't you going to improve before your next application? You are, and you will be better no matter whether you got this feedback call from a school or not. Be yourself. In so many cases, feedback information pushes people to pad their applications with not-so-real details designed specifically to meet the expectations of a school. You don't want to go this road, are you? If you arranged a session, absorb every bit of information you will get (but again, don't overanalyze it). If you did not - don't be sorry. Live your life.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Blackout on H-1B visas
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) froze receipt of applications for H-1B visas for foreign professionals wanting to secure a job in USA this year. Under the current legislation, there is a limit of 65,000 visas to be distributed during each fiscal year, and extra 20,000 reserved for foreign professionals who received Master's degree in USA. This year, the limit was reached during the first two days of application period opened on April 2nd. Any applications received on or after April 4th are and will be rejected. Details are announced in USCIS press release.
Dartmouth College (Tuck) established a website in support of a so-called SKIL Bill (Securing Knowledge Innovation and Leadership) in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Bill suggests exemption of MBA alumni from the H-1B visa and Green Card caps, broadening of Optional Practical Training period from 12 to 24 months and possibility of applying for a Green Card while on a student visa (F-1).
Dartmouth College (Tuck) established a website in support of a so-called SKIL Bill (Securing Knowledge Innovation and Leadership) in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Bill suggests exemption of MBA alumni from the H-1B visa and Green Card caps, broadening of Optional Practical Training period from 12 to 24 months and possibility of applying for a Green Card while on a student visa (F-1).
