<p>Hello fellow CC'ers. I was wondering if you could help me select what college I should go to. I'm an international student and selecting the right college from Overseas is a little challange for me. </p>
<p>Colleges that I've applied to: </p>
<p>University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (admitted)
UCLA*
UC Berkeley*
San Diego State University
University of Arizona
University of Nevada, Reno
University of Utah </p>
<p>*Due to the high cost, I choose not to enroll at these universites. </p>
<p>SAT (composite): 2220</p>
<p>My intended major will be a double major in chemicalE and accounting. I was wondering if you guys could help me select what college to go to. I want to go to a college that secures you a job after graduation/entrance to grad school and offers the best possibilities to transfer to the UC system within two years.</p>
No school does that. It’s up to you do do your best and make the best opportunities for yourself. But you can research your schools of choice and find their statistics for what their students do after graduation.<br>
Then it’s up to the UC system school to help you get into work force / grad school.</p>
Look at the school catalogs to see how they handle double majors. Most engineering majors don’t have enough flexibility in the schedule to allow for a double major in four years. There are several active threads about double majoring, though - look at the search menu item on the top menu.</p>
<p>University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is considered one of the top schools for chemical engineering, so recruiters for that major will likely be in relative abundance at its career center. Plus, it is relatively inexpensive for out-of-state or international students. No need to try to transfer to a UC.</p>
<p>Chemical engineering typically has a lot of requirements, so adding a second major is likely to be difficult, especially for something like accounting that requires courses that do not overlap with either major or breadth courses for chemical engineering (and some of the schools do not even offer it as a major).</p>
<p>Please do remember that as an international student, there are absolutely no guarantees that you will be able to find a permanent job in the US after you finish your education. You need to be able to get a job somewhere else. Ask the people who hire Chemical Engineers and/or Accountants where you are if it matters which university you graduate from in the US. It might not.</p>
<p>Alright. Thanks for your help, guys.
I was wondering if you might tell me what the requitment policy on international students is in the USA? Is it gonna be hard for me as an international student to find a job in the USA upon graduation if I graduate from UM Twin Cities in Chemical Engineering. I just don’t want to waste money on a ‘useless’ education (if you get me). </p>
<p>Also, could you guys tell me things about the University of Nevada and Arizona? Are they really ‘bad’ schools compared to UM, UC Berkely and UCLA?</p>
<p>It is going to be hard for you to get a permanent job in the US no matter where you graduate from. Yes, you can extend your visa for a certain number of months for practical training, but if you have not found a sponsor who will apply for a work visa for you by the end of that training period, you will have to leave. There are a number of threads on that topic in [International</a> Students - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/international-students/]International”>International Students - College Confidential Forums) Look for anything posted by b@r!um who is the resident expert on this issue.</p>
<p>If your goal is to get out of the country where you are currently living, and make a new life elsewhere, you should check out universities in Canada and Australia. Those two countries have more generous immigration policies for recent graduates from their universities.</p>
It is extremely difficult to gain a H1 (work) visa. The main reason being is that it’s difficult for the employer to secure them for you. Employers must provide A LOT of proof and a lot of information to the US Dept of Labor certifying that the position they are trying to fill absolutely cannot be filled by a US citizen first.</p>
<ol>
<li> IF you were able to gain the visa from a sponsored emplyer, there is a time limit on it - 6 years if I remember right. For example, CorpA hires you on an H1 visa and they can be a sponsor for you to live and work in the US for a total of 6 years (extensions are granted in few instances). Once that 6 years is up, you must either have applied and have been granted permanent residency, or be realllly far along in the perm res process. Otherwise you would need to go back to your home country and try to start the process over again.</li>
</ol>
<p>As far as schooling, I’d agree with ucbalum - UM TC may be a great option for you.</p>
<p>@turtlerock,
By stating that UM TC is a great option for me, are you implying that the visa might be a litte easier for me to get if I graduate from that school due to the abundance of recruiters that are avaible on campus? </p>
<p>Well, my goal isn’t to start a new life elsewhere. I’m from Denmark, but I was just wondering what my chances were to work in the USA upon graduation, but if the situation regarding the visas is as grim as you describe, I’m probably going back to Denmark upon graduation (and have my salary 50% taxed).</p>
<p>Lol. Is the USA getting overcrowed or something? I thought you guys were friendly towards emigrants. How come the H1B visa policy is so strict? :-)</p>
<p>Also, could you guys tell me some things about San Diego State University? Is an employer gonna respect me if I have a buisness degree from that institution compared to a chemical engineering degree from UM TC? </p>
<p>Also, is it true that the ammout of chemical engineering jobs is decreasing?</p>
<p>It is much much easier to get H1 visa if you have Phd in technical field. Where I work we are “forced” to hire noncitizens because there are not enough US citizens with advanced degrees. It costs my employer more, but it has no choice.</p>
<p>As far as 50 percent tax rate is concerned, with your advanced degree you will be making enough money to pay just about that tax rate in the US (if you count both federal and state income taxes and live in a state that has income taxes and not sales tax)</p>
<p>You may want to ask around Denmark what school and degree has a better reputation and job demand, if it is likely that you will return after graduation.</p>
<p>Bard, sorry, no, no matter where you go to school your chances for a visa will not be put at an advantage. Unfortunately, there are a lot of other factors that come into play when granting H1B visas and I have yet to really hear of a fresh undergrad obtaining one right after school.</p>
<p>My wife works for an attorney who assists employers with securing the H1 visas in our area and I double checked with her about what I posted before. Everything is correct. you’d have 6 years total to work/live with the visa before you will be required to gain perm residency. So if CorpA sponsors you for 2 years, but you then get hired by CorpB, you only have 4 years to work for CorpB before your time is up. Like I mentioned before, extensions up to 3 more years MAY be granted upon review if you are into the perm res process. But even after all that if no perm res, then you go back to your home country to wait it out to become official. No loitering.</p>
<p>The best advice I can think of off the top of my head is that when you begin school in the US network the heck out of everyone and everything to try to gain as much exposure to companies in your area that are known to hire a lot of H1s and hope one tries to take you on after graduation. Again, this will be difficult without having a highly advanced degree, but maybe if you do an internship with one of them . . . </p>
<p>Well have you heard about the US recession and high unemployment rates? It makes the company protectionist and the number of visas has been going down and may continue to.</p>
<p>If you think you’ll have wasted your education if you can’t stay, don’t come!</p>
<p>And taxes are jot exactly low in the US, especially when you consider things like education cost so much. In some states high wage earners pay 50% plus.</p>
<p>SDSU would be a crazy place to come to the US for. It’s an average school where almost no one graduates in 4 years because it’s so overcrowded. Plan on 6.</p>
<p>A chemE degree from Minnesota would be much more respected.</p>
<p>I second everything waverly says, bard. I hope you don’t think we’re trying to deter you from your dreams, but just trying to tell you what we realistically think. If it’s any consolation, a closet dream of mine is to work and live in a European or Arctic country for a few years. Maybe we can trade?</p>
<p>I am stuck between UNR and UC Davis now too. Davis is so expensive too…</p>
<p>Anyways Univ of Nevada Reno is a really good school. My brother and his wife both got their nursing degree there and still live up there. Yes, it is not as known for its work like the UC system, but it still has good science and engineering programs, and a medical school.
The main reason it is not well known is because it is not super competitive, but that comes in part with how the k-12 education in Nevada is not great so not many students do well, and the population is much lower in Nevada, so there is not a lot of competition.</p>
<p>People give me crap for wanting to go there instead of Davis, but it is still a great school and you can save lots of money. Most bang for your buck.</p>
<p>hills, I agree with you about UNR vs UCD (and I live in CA). I’ve found that UNR has a very community feel to it. Like Nevada companies would take a UNR grad over a UC grad any day. It makes sense for most to stay in the area after graduation as the Reno community seems to ‘look out’ for it’s own graduates, while UC grads seem to get branded with a universal ‘University of all of California’ stigma, with a few specific exceptions. But outside of Reno, or NV, UNR is not well regarded.</p>