<p>I'm a secondary school graduate (I graduated from a CBSE school in 2007). I got my admission into University of Alabama in Huntsville[Welcome</a> to UAH!] for the Undergraduate Physics program with a scholarship of 60% of the tuition fee. But, I'm expecting to receive more scholarship (perhaps 80% of the cost of attendance) after re-writing the SAT.</p>
<p>I'm really excited to attend UAH!</p>
<p>The only hurdle that I have to face next is the VISA interview. </p>
<p>The main reason why I want to go to US is that I'm really passionate about styding physics and you all know what undergraduate physics programs in India are like. </p>
<p>I also have the genuine financial resources to cover the cost of attendence for the entire four years. </p>
<p>I'm pretty certain that I'll get the VISA but there's always that doubt in my mind that there's a teeny weeny chance that I may get rejected. If at all I get rejected, it may be because I've graduated last year (may 2007) and have not been attending a college since then. So, I've not attended a formal educational institution for the past 12 months. </p>
<p>But, I have a genuine reason for the gap year (at least I think so). I actually applied for the spring 2008 semester but was notified by the university that I would not get any scholarship for the spring semester. And besides my SAT was pretty low. So, I deferred my application to the Fall 2008 semester and wrote the SAT meanwhile and got better score. In fact, I'm gonna write it once more to aim for 100% scholarship.</p>
<p>Do you think there might be any hindrance for a VISA for me?
Are getting VISAs for the undergraduate studies easy?
Is there any general advice that you have for me?</p>
<p>I would greatly appreciate any suggestion that can help me in being better prepared for the interview.</p>
<p>Being admitted is much more difficult than getting a visa.
Maybe they will ask you why you want to study in the USA. Do NOT say that you have any intentions to live there after college. Mention the different ways of education (especially in physics) in India and the US.</p>
Financial means and reason to go to the US. They won’t give you a visa if it seems like you’re going to the US with the intention to immigrate or stay illegally. For example, if you go to university because you have a long-term bf/gf here you will probably be denied the visa.</p>
<p>ragavpayne: Don’t worry. An F-1 Visa is extremely easy to get. I only know very few exceptions when a visa was actually denied. The “interview” is not really an interview either, it probably doesn’t take longer than 2-3 minutes and they basically ask you why you want to go, if you have enough money, and what’s your plan after you graduate. If they don’t see any “bad” intentions in your answers everything is fine.</p>
<p>I knew that reason to go to the US, financial means and intention to return are the three factors that they see. I have the first two. As for the third one, I’m actually planning to head for further studies after graduation. But, I don’t know if this will hurt/help my chances at proving that I’m gonna return.</p>
<p>I think the scholastic performance makes an important point. It tells the Visa officer how much the student is interested in education and also, if the student has a really poor academic record, then probably he’s not interested in education and he’s probably going there for some other reason. That’s a shady student, so the interviewer may reject the VISA.</p>
<p>Right now, I’m just eager to attend the interview and get this thing done!</p>
<p>Hey Ragavpayne, where are you coming from? You said that you want to poursue your studies in the US after you finish with undergraduate courses, you know what, this is what you want to do but don’t talk about it during your interview. When the consul will ask you what you want to do after you finish with your studies , tell him or her that you would like to come back to your country and use what yolu gain from your studies in the US to help your country by teaching or by doing something else. When they are giving you the visa, they want to know that you have a tie back home that will make you come back. If you are not extremely rich and you actually need the s cholarship to come back then finacial ability won’t be your tie. Now it will be your family and your patriotism. If you say you will come back after undergraduate, you want be lying because, so many things can happen, so don’t push things too much. They sometimes ask why don’t you study in your country if you have the same thing ? Tell the consul that former US embassador and diplomat, Brian Dean Curran always encouraged young people to come study in the US so they can help their country later. Say that the education in the US is different, better quality, more opportunity to do research and so one. You probably know all this thing. If English is not your first language, the interviewer might switch to your native language during the interview so be ready to speak like a spontaneous translator. Answer in the language that the question is asked. Do you have family in the US? If not, good for you . you cna also say that in addition of comeing to help your country, you will come back because your whole family is in X country. Make a copy of all your documents and don’t forget to pay your sevis fee online. Be relax. The consul does look at your scholastic perfomance to give you the visa. Do you think that they will give it to someone who they think won’t do good? But at the same time I don’t think that they will have a chance to see your grades because you will only have to bring your letter of acceptance and all the proof about your scholarship to the embassy. They might not even ask you question about your pass academic life.</p>
<p>Grande, I’m from India and the reason why I’m going to the US is the high quality of the education. As for my finance, my parents will be well able to fund my education without the scholarship and I have the documents to prove this. </p>
<p>I don’t know what I must do to prove that I’m not a potential immigrant. Honestly, my plan is to graduate and then decide my future course. Can I say this? </p>
<p>or should I lie that I’m planning to return to return to India and attend masters program here?</p>
<p>My mom has her own business here (that is not very related to physics). Does that help in establishing roots back to India?</p>
<p>I basically don’t want to lie in the interview because that might make me nervous and indicate that I’m lying about something more serious. So, I’d like to be careful and avoid lying as much as possible.</p>
<p>Other things:-</p>
<p>Does your accent matter? I have quite a global accent with a little north american tinge to the pronounciation of certain words. It doesn’t sound much like a typical indian accent though. I hope I wouldn’t be judged by this.</p>
<p>Hey the fact that your parents can pay for you means that you have a financial tie to India. It means that if they can pay for your study in the US you might as well be able to has a decent life in INdia which means that you are one of the few people who might want to immigrate. You financial tie to your country is one of the must important thing.</p>
<p>When I said to not talk about your future plan I don’t mean to lie. Look at it like this, You are going to request a visa for your undergraduate degree so why should you talk about graduate studies? The consul might not take it well and you don’t know what might happen by the time you finish your undergraduate degree. You might decide to poursuie your studies somewhere else or you might make other choices. Because your family income prove that you are not a potential immigrant it does not mean that everything is safe. Have you heard of the brain drain that is happening in India because so many US companies hire Indian engineers? Well teh US government does not see it with a good eyes because every extra Indian engineer who comes to work here take the job that an American engineer could have. But if you feel like you want to talk about your future with the consul because it will make you nervous by avoiding it , then go ahead.</p>
<p>As for your accent, it doe snot matter. What they want is that you speak English and be able to study in an English speaking university. To make you feel better, the only sentence I said in English during my interview was" can you speak please slowly". I did not speak English at that time so only talked in my native languages. So your accent is nothing compare to a non-English speaker. </p>
<p>Listen, there is nothing to be nervous about. Just relax. If all your papers are in shape, the process will be easy. When you go to the interview, just put in your mind that you have everything that make you qualify for the visa. Then relax and see how it goes.</p>
<p>CAUTION: Ragav , you should also Always, Always keep your I20 in the same place as your passport. Always keep them with you. Don’t put them in a suitcase that you will not bring on board with you. If you have your passport but you don’t have your I20, the Homeland security won’t let you enter the US even if you have a visa on your passport.</p>
<p>Its better if you make it clear you’ll come back to India. They wont have any problems if you plan to do a master’s there, but you have to convince them you’ll come back after your education.</p>
<p>Most of the time, they wont even ask this directly.</p>
<p>So, what I need to do is <em>convince</em> him/her that i’m not desperate to get into US and stay there forever.</p>
<p>How do you think I should do it?</p>
<p>I have some points:-</p>
<p>1) My family owns US$ 3.7 million worth of immovable properties here in India.</p>
<p>2) My mom runs her own business and I’m the only son…that means the only heir. But, should I be telling all this to the guy without him asking me? I think that’s gonna sound desperate…</p>
<p>I think I gotta keep cool and sound like its not a big deal if I don’t get a VISA…</p>
<p>By the way, how did you convince him Abhinav? and Grande?</p>
<p>The thing to realize is that they don’t actually require much convincing. Just keep your cool and don’t slip up e.g don’t profess your love for USA.</p>