<p>Hey everyone,
My name is Mark and I'm international student from Russia. I study in a small private school close to Chicago, sophomore majoring in finance and minoring in international business. My GPA is a little bit above 3.5. I don't have any job experience. I played tennis all my life and this is basically the main reason i came here to US to play for the school and get education. After I get my bachelor degree I want to MBA and try to look for a job in US. I'm still not sure what field in finance I want to specialize at, although I spend a lot of time trying to read some books about investing and stuff like that.
I know that to make my resume marketable, I need to get some internships in finance. However I heard that it's illegal for international students to get paid for summer internship. Since the internships usually take like a whole summer, I'm not sure if it's worth it to stay in America for the whole summer working without getting paid. Also, I may have other opportunities for the summer like working in some tennis club or academy. What advices would you suggest for me? My main goals for the summer are both to improve my resume and make some money. Also, as far as I know job experience is important to get into MBA. Is it right?
I really appreciate all your feedback.
Thanks,
Mark.</p>
<p>Great questions! I can tell you from first hand experience education needs to be followed up with experience for students coming out of college. This will set you apart from other students coming out of college also.</p>
<p>I would recommend you get some internships under your belt. Make sure you double check your student visa to see if you are allowed to work while in the USA. I have met many international students that are allowed to both work paid jobs and go to school without being penalized, but double check. The beautiful part about an internship is that in many cases it allows you to see what specific field you may be interested in working in.</p>
<p>As far as the MBA is concerned everything comes into play when a school is deciding to allow you to enter into a program. What you offer to the program is strongly considered so having a great work history along with the personality and personal contacts can set you apart from other candidates.</p>
<p>Does your school have a career center or office of international students? I’m an international myself and am facing many of the issues you’re facing, but it’s definitely not illegal to be paid for a summer internship (and many finance summer internships will be paying ones). The process of getting work authorization is messy and complicated, though, and your school’s career center or international student office can help you navigate that.</p>
<p>Great advice pelicuarities I had not thought of that. What steps did you and your study abroad office have to take inorder to get a work permit. What state agencies did you have to contact. I was an international student in Australia so part of my visa allowed me to work up to 20hr per week during school.</p>
<p>I haven’t gone through the process yet, but I’ve gone to multiple seminars and talks at school by the career office, the international students office and in one case even an RA who’d gone through the process, so those are the resources I’d look for first.</p>
<p>One thing - as a student on an F-1 visa you have a total of 12 months of full-time off-campus work available to you. This can be during the summers, in the 12 month period after you graduate, or it can be used as part-time (<20 hours per week) work authorization during the school year (two months of part-time work equals one month of full-time work). </p>
<p>If you want to get some job experience “on the scoreboard” so to speak, though, look into working on-campus during the school year, which doesn’t count against your 12-month limit. You might be able to find a meaningful position, and you can build up your resume that way even before you apply for internships. It might not be in your field of study, but it’s an opportunity to prove that you’re a responsible worker and the references could come in useful.</p>