<p>In a year or so I will be undergoing an interview in the U.S. embassy in my country, Bulgaria. It will be in order for me to get a student visa.
I have read that the interviewer will ask me questions so that he/she can determine that I am not a prospective immigrant and will return home after graduation from college. This is true, of course. However, should I disclose to him/her that I have the American dream and it is my intention after graduating from college to return home and apply to law school in the U.S. and after that going BigLaw there? Or should I just keep that plan to myself?</p>
<p>That’s not lying. That’s acting reasonable. How in the world can you predict with certainty what you will be doing 6 or 7 years from now? They’re not asking about your dreams. They’re asking about your plans. And your current plans are to be a STUDENT in the US. Whatever happens next - for all you know you may hate it, you may flunk out, you may have an amazing job offer in Singapore… will be discussed with an immigration or embassy interviewer <em>at the actual moment it becomes something real.</em></p>
<p>Unless your family is made of money, it is unlikely that you will be able to afford law school in the US. There are very few scholarships for law school and the cost of law school is staggering. The chance of joining “BigLaw” after that would be even more vanishingly slim.</p>
<p>You need to re-think your goals. Are you serious about the practice of law? If so, get your first law degree in your own country. After that you could do a specialized Master or Doctorate in international law in the US or elsewhere. At that point, an organization with a need for international legal expertise might be interested in hiring you.</p>
<p>^this person is being a but harsh in beating down the goals of the applicant. There are in fact plenty of colleges that do need based aid for law school students so your options are good. </p>
<p>In terms of the visa interview I wouldn’t disclose that you want to work in the US after college as that would mean thy wouldn’t give you your student visa in the first place. </p>
<p>Peter1412, happymomof1 knows what she’s talking about. She’s been advising foreign students FOR YEARS. Her opinions are easily verifiable with just a cursory google search. Unless you’re willing to back up your opinion about the (mythical) “plenty of colleges” offering need-based aid for law school with a recent source, you shouldn’t be contradicting someone who has over 15,000 posts on this forum!</p>
<p>"Harvard Law School has a financial aid program that meets your financial needs during law school and after you graduate.</p>
<p>HLS does not award merit or full-ride scholarships, but instead focuses on need-based aid. Experienced student financial services officers determine each student’s financial need through careful evaluation and all officers are committed to helping every student create a workable education financing plan."</p>
<p>“Academic year financial aid consists of need-based grants and loans. The primary goal of our financial aid program is to ensure that all admitted students can afford to attend Yale Law School regardless of their financial resources.”</p>
<p>“Attending law school is a significant investment. To ensure that a Penn Law education is as affordable and accessible as possible, we provide generous financial assistance in the form of grants to students who demonstrate need.”</p>
<p>“The purpose of student financial aid is to assist students who would otherwise be unable to pursue a legal education at Stanford. Approximately 80 percent of the student body receives tuition fellowship or loan assistance, with the average fellowship portion per recipient totaling about $25,000 annually. Aid is awarded on the basis of demonstrated need…”</p>
<p>“Financial aid at the University of Chicago Law School is distributed on the basis of academic achievement, with consideration to need. Approximately half of our students receive scholarships…”</p>
<p>So what’s this about mythical colleges katliamom? I’ve just picked out 6 colleges without having to look very much. Having 15,000 posts on a forum doesn’t always make you right. I wouldn’t accuse someone of contradicting someone else without knowing the facts first. </p>
<p>What I was really trying to get at was that happymomof1 was harsh in completely dousing the original poster’s dreams. </p>
<p>Yes law school isn’t cheap but there are ways of funding it if you don’t have the money in your pocket.</p>
<p>Should you lie? No
If they ask about your plans, tell the truth. If they don’t ask, you don’t have to offer.</p>
<p>As for financing Law School, yes there are a small number of schools who will provide aid, however, they are the most difficult programs to get into. Peter1412 is right in that there are a few that provide needed aid, but the vast majority don’t. Don’t get your hopes up for Law School in the US, unless you can afford to pay for it. Indeed it is easy to find a handful of schools that provide grants, but actually earning a spot in their classes is an entirely different story.</p>
<p>Thinking that the existence of aid at those schools means anyone can afford Lawschool is like saying that anyone can afford college in the US. The vast majority of programs do not have the funding to provide grants to cover full need for the majority of their students.</p>
<p>Peter – great. Now establish just how much aid those schools distribute per needy student… how many of those students even come from outside the U.S… and whether what these schools offer still makes it affordable for a Bulgarian to attend. </p>
<p>Then – just because you’re so helpful - research how many foreign law school grads end up in BIG LAW firms, like OP plans. </p>
<p>PS: There’s this bridge I know that’s for sale…</p>
<p>They hand out a substantial amount of aid if you bothered to read any of the info. Plus, international students make up a huge part of the the classes of those top law schools. </p>
<p>You need to get a hold of what you’re saying. OP came onto this forum to receive some friendly advice, not to have his dreams crushes by two opinionated people who haven’t actually gone through what he’s planning on doing.</p>
<p>OP came here to know whether s/he could “lie” for her visa, confusing her dreams and her plans. The answer is that they’ll question her plans to see if she plans on being a student. She does. Therefore, whatever she hopes/dreams of next isn’t part of the interview. The embassy representative does not care about an applicant’s hopes and dreams post college, just whether the applicant really intends on enrolling in college or is trying to cheat the system and pretend-enroll in order to work illegally or engage in nefarious activities. That’s it. The applicant has to be convincing, speak about his/her <em>college</em> plans, what s/he plans to major in, why that college and why in the US, and if asked about work should speak about work-study and only if they were awarded one that is present on the college acceptance letter with financial aid offer form, that the officer will have read before the interview. </p>
<p>Right now, OP is in 10th or 11th grade. Law school, in the US or elsewhere, is a long way off. S/he’ll tackle that once s/he is in college.
Although happymomof1 knows what she’s talking about so…
And, beside the point, but: why would one want to go to law school in the US when right now about 80% law school graduates can’t find work in their field? If one wants to study law and work in law, one should study French and go to Canada where they badly need lawyers (who must speak both French and English, although a 3d language is appreciated). And yes it’s possible to work for a top firm in Canada if you got a Law degree from Canada after getting your BA in the US.</p>
<p>The visa interviewer can deny the visa if they believe that the person applying for a visa intends to seek work in the US after graduation as it defeats the purpose of the ‘non-immigrant’ F1 visa. </p>
<p>As I said it my original post before all that other stuff was brought up, you have to show the interview that you have a good reason to return to your home country on completion of your studies (be it college or law school) and that you intend to do so. So you may have to ‘bend’ the truth slightly. </p>
<p>Yes, some institutions do offer some aid for students that they truly desire (merit aid), or who are fortunate enough to gain admission (those top institutions on your list that do offer need-based aid). However I fail to see how that negates my original statement “There are very few scholarships for law school and the cost of law school is staggering.” because the facts remain that there are indeed very few scholarships for law school, and the cost of law school is indeed staggering.</p>
<p>I am not remotely interested in stomping on anyone’s dreams. What I am interested in is helping all college applicants (international or domestic) understand the realities of their situations. In almost every case, it is more cost-effective for international applicants to pursue their first professional degrees (law, medicine, engineering and the like) in their home countries, and then to travel to the US for advanced studies. Are there exceptions? Of course! But those are few and far between.</p>
<p>Even if pkulev is truly extraordinary, the likelihood of this whole plan coming to fruition is very, very, very slim. pkulev needs to have a solid set of back-up plans to draw on if (or more likely when) the original plan fails at some stage in the process.</p>
<p>I wonder if some of you posting are actually international students. As one who has gone through the process, the main goal is securing the visa. As such, the truth will have to be bend, any international student understands this. And as peter1412 alluded, any suggestion of a desire to work after the completion of studies may hinder the receipt of the visa. </p>
<p>Unlike what one poster said, the only repercussions for lying on a visa are if you decide to go back home after the visa expires and it is evident that you finished your program and decided to work. As a result, it would be tricky to get another visa to come back to the U.S. </p>
<p>Do not let them fool you. As long as you have a valid I-20 and are taking classes fulltime in the U.S, you will be ok even with an expired visa. Once you get here, it’s all about the I-20.</p>
<p>In addition, as peter1412 said, there are schools that provide need based financial aid, and yes international students make up a good portion of recipients. I and several other international students I know have benefitted from such. And to answer happymomof1’s query, yes, a large portion of the expenses are covered. Out of $51,000 of annual tuition, I was only responsible for $3000.</p>
<p>I have researched this from a Canadian perspective, which may be different for prospective students from other foreign countries. I have also worked in the federal government on immigration, and it’s safe to say that if an interviewer is even suspicious of mis-truths or lying, they will deny your application, no matter if it is relevant to the application or not. </p>
<p>While it is impossible to know all the questions that may be asked in the interview for your visa application, it would probably be safe for you to say that you are focusing on this current application and it would be presumptuous to speculate beyond that. </p>
<p>On the other hand, there is nothing wrong for you to say that your ultimate goal is to obtain a law degree, as there are usually two years of university required before you can even apply to any law school. Or some law schools may even require you to have a undergraduate degree. </p>
<p>The first degree is a natural stepping stone to a law degree, so it shouldn’t matter that you want to pursue both. That shouldn’t affect a decision to receive a student visa - but you should research that issue in your own country.</p>
<p>If your intent is to ultimately work in the US, once you are in possession of a US student visa, you can apply to work in the field of your studies for up to one year following graduation. After the year of work, your visa expires and you would have to return to your home country.</p>
<p>MYOS1634… Saying that one must study French to practice law in Canada is like saying you have to study Spanish to practise law in the US! To study and practice law in Canada, you do not need to have a second or even a third language - you need a strong GPA and LSAT score to apply and need to graduate and pass a bar exam to practice. </p>
<p>Having an additional language may help anyone’s employment prospects in any field, but to say that it is a requirement of lawyers in Canada is pure fallacy! Not sure why you would recommend that the original poster should apply in Canada instead of US - that makes no sense as he/she would still have to apply for an international student visa anyway.</p>
