international student transferring to CA university - bus/econ

College Search & Selection Community Colleges
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<p>Hello,
in 2012, I came to United States from Czech republic to study as a foreign exchange student on high school in Torrance (Los Angeles County), California. After a year, I literally fell in love with America and local educational system and decided to stay in the US for at least another 4 years of college.</p>

<p>This fall, I am going to attend El Camino Community College. I chose community college for many reasons.
1. it's cheap
2. I will live with host family close by (free housing)
3. I believe I can perform better than I did in highs chool and transfer to a better university (my GPA was around 3.7, but I didn't really try my first 3 years in my country)
4. I missed CSU and UC deadlines for fall 2013 (I decided to stay in the US in 2013)</p>

<p>For my first year, I chose pretty general course that cover requirements for all majors I am thinking about. I will be taking 16 credits - precalculus, macroeconomics, managerial accounting, and english (reading and composition).</p>

<p>For my transfer universities, I am pretty sure I will be transferring to CSU, because UCs are just way too expensive and ROI is very low for me.</p>

<p>I want to major either in economics, business economics, or different types of business and management (not sure which since my knowledge of this topic is not that broad yet). I am pretty interested international business, since I am an international student and my dad, who has a company I may run in future, owns truck transportation business (export-import) between Russia and Czech republic, and he also runs wood production company. I would be interested of developing his company by getting connections in the US and maybe expanding somewhere else than just Russia. I am also interested in economics, since it is better to have economics undergraduate degree for possible MBA school. The problem is I am not sure if I want to stay in the US after college, get MBA, or even work here. Would international business major be worthless in case I stayed in the US, worked, or got a job? What do you think of this?</p>

<p>My top choice schools and majors are (1. = top choice, 2. = after top choice, ...):
1. Cal Poly SLO - business administration (not sure of concentration, but probably management, finance, or accounting)
2. SDSU - besides business administration, I am interested in their International business connected with regional studies and language (Russia and central Europe) and one semester abroad. Since I already had 2 years of Russian in HS and my dad runs business with them, it doesn't seem like a bad idea. But again, I am not sure whether to stay in the US and start from scratch or take charge of my dad's company and stay there. I like life in California better, but I think it is better to start with 12 trucks than nothing. On the other hand, average salary in the US is 55,000 dollars/year and while in Czech republic, it is only about 12,000/year.
San</a> Diego State University | Admissions
International</a> Business | San Diego State University
3. CSULB/CSUF
4. UCSB - business management, UCLA, UCB (Haas), UCI, UCSD - but only in case I got some form of scholarship, my dad all of a sudden became a billionaire, and I also got in.</p>

<p>My other career choice would be either (with some luck), working for the BIG 4, or starting my own business - since I was a foreign exchange student and I have some experience with it, I would like to make on company for helping students from Czech republic study in the USA and vice versa, which is also some kind of "international business".</p>

<p>Also, are my chances as a transfer student higher, lower? I may think for reasons for both. Higher, because we pay more money and lower, because there is probably limited space.</p>

<p>So these are my thoughts for what to do in my future years. Anything can change (especially after I know I changed my life from scratch during this 1 year abroad). I will be applying to universities in approximately a year, but the sooner I start, the better. What are your thoughts?</p>

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<p>One’s “worthiness” of being employed in the US as a foreign worker (under the H1-B visa system) is determined from the “uniqueness” of the job for which they are applied and qualified for. This basically means that the US government takes great scrutiny in determining that a US position that a foreign worker is applying for has been offered to US citizens, but that no qualified US citizens applied to fill the position. When this happens, then, and usually only then, can a foreign citizen apply to fill that job position.</p>

<p>The more highly qualified and the more “unique” experience you have in a given field determines your chances of being employed in the US. Typically these H1-B positions are filled by doctors or engineers with PhDs and years of experience in their fields because no other US citizens with PhDs and years of experience applied for the position because they are already adequately employed. Honestly, I don’t see the US being short on undergraduate business or undergraduate International Business majors where the nation won’t be able to fill positions that require the education and skills from holders of those degrees. Pretty much all of the positions you might apply for after you receive your degree also attract the applications of the other students with similar majors that you graduated with (such as the B4).</p>

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<p>turtlerock: so you are saying that without getting married, staying in the US to work is almost impossible, correct? Well, is there any other solution besides getting married to become a citizen/resident?</p>

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<p>^Simplistically, yes, that’s what I’m saying. There’s no way, technically, to stay in the US to work - legally.</p>

<p>My wife worked in an immigration law firm for quite a while up until recently (now workes in civil litigation), and she would tell me plenty of stories about foreign individuals thinking they can get a job in the US with minimal education and/or experience.</p>

<p>Truth is that you as the foreign worker do not apply for a work visa (H1-B); a US company applies for one on your behalf. For a company to be granted a work visa for you, they will need to prove to the fderal gov’t that they offered the same position to other qualified US citizens, but either a) no US citizens applied for the position, or 2) those who applied were not adequately qaulified.</p>

<p>The typical jobs that companies can actually prove they offered to the public and that no one would take require high education and experience in science or engineering fields (like technology or science institutes), so H1-B holders typically have an MBA already, a PhD or Master’s in engineering, or like 20+ yeas experience in their respective fields. In all the time my wife worked at that firm, no H1-Bs were granted to an individual with just a BA/S and a few years experience in business. The US has plenty of citizens with those qualifications to take the jobs that specify those qualifications are needed.</p>

<p>Typically, the foreign worker is granted an H1-B and then they can apply for their family members (if they have any) to come to the US with them as well. There are restirictions on which family members can join the H1-B holder (like only spouses, parents, children, etc . . . so no third-cousin-by-marriage, and these relationships must also be proven truthful . . . the gov’t literally asks for correspondence between a husband and wife that goes back many many years and looks into the validity of the marriage before granting a spouse visa approval) and also restrictions on if those family members can work or not.</p>

<p>So, basically, the best way to work, legally, in the US is to get highly educated, gain a handful of years of experience, and then hook up with a company that will sponsor someone for an H1-B because they cannot find a qualified US citizen worker.</p>

<p>Or marry someone who is described as the above.</p>

<p>You can also have a unique world-class talent that qualifies you for a US work visa (i.e. world-class atheletes and entretainment performers etc).</p>