The truth about studying in the US

Student Lounge International Students
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<p>I just wanted to warn intl applicants about the current job market in the US.</p>

<p>As some of you might know the congress has limited the # of H1B visas issued every year which means intl students haven't been able to get proper employment status.</p>

<p>I would go ahead and also say that there are only 2 types of companies that are even willing to sponsor intl students in the first place - large banks (+ to some extent some big consulting firms) and computer scientists @ certain big companies.</p>

<p>So if you are intl and are studying engineering (which many you I suspect are) then be warned there are NO entry level engineering jobs available for intl students. Your options as an engineer are to go to grad school (which means PHD not Masters), and then you have a shot @ working at these top engineering companies. If you have the $$ I would much rather go to England where many friends of mine have acquired year long internships and subsequent full time job offers at cool places like IBM, Intel, Apple etc.</p>

<p>Now even if you manage to get sponsorship from a bank, or a company like say Microsoft, employers are being forced to ship these students out of the US after 9-12 months because of VISA issues. For example, Microsoft shipped its new intl hires to Vancouver and banks have been shifting students to London, Hong Kong etc. One of my friends got shipped to Mumbai. </p>

<p>Which brings me to my main point - PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN YOU ACCEPT LOANS. SOME OF THE CONDITIONS OF THESE STUDENT LOANS ARE RIDICULOUS. Because chances are VERY HIGH that you will not be working in the US after your undergraduate studies and hence chances are you won't be making enough to pay back those loans.</p>

<p>Just a heads up.</p>

<p>To summarize -
1) If you have money go to London
2) If you don't apply for FA in the US. But be careful with loans and understand that your chances of working in the US after graduation are almost 0 - so be smart about all your moves in college.</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

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<p>i have heard a lot about this too.
do you think this happens even at top schools like the ivyleague, mit, hmc, etc.
also how are the job oppurtunities outside the us?? like in canada & europe. is it highly recogonized & sought after or is it just doesn't matter??
btw u r doing eecs at john hopkins is it?? which country are u from</p>

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<p>Erm... no one's going to the US to get a job in the first place...</p>

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<p>As far as loans are concerned, its the amount that matters and not the fact that you have a job in the US or not. You could repay a $1000 in a year even with a job in India, but a $40,000 would take most (or the whole) of your life to pay back.</p>

<p>Having a job in the US doesn't come into picture here. You can't rely on your job to pay back 100% of the money you spent on your education. It's the amount that matters and not the job.</p>

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<p>US-Singapore</a> Free Trade Agreement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>

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<p>

Most countries are tightening their immigration laws with every passing year. The basic idea is you need the backing or sponsorship from a LARGE multi-corp like say Microsoft or Morgan Stanley or Delloitte to get a job in places like Austrialia, Canada, UK - but I would say its easier at these places than the US. Unless of course, the Congress changes those VISA cap numbers.</p>

<p>

Lots of people take out loans worth say around 5-10k per annum. That is pretty common. How many rupees is that?? By the time you are finished with your undergrad it'll range from anywhere between 20-40 lakh rupees which is in most cases more than someone's salary for 24 months. Entry level jobs in India pay aroun 8-10 lakhs - please don't think since you have studied in the US employers will prefer you. Without work experience you are going to have to start at the same position as someone who has graduated from an undergrad institution in India.</p>

<p>Those loans could easily become the BANE of your life. Its no fun worrying about those loans during the best years of your life. Plus those figures are slightly skewed in favor of the employee since right now the INR-USD rates are benefiting Indians and plus those salary figures could be lower for smaller cities.</p>

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<p>

Good for Singapore.</p>

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<p>@ EECS@JHU </p>

<p>Precisely my point...</p>

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<p>hey don't scare the hell of these people..its not as hard as you pointed....there are lots of companies that offers H1b offers..</p>

<p>just because you are having a hard time to find a sponsor for your H1b doesn't mean that the chances of working in US are almost 0..that just reflects the lack of ignorance from your part...</p>

<p>Gain some experiences in undergrad..get into research..find some internships and have a higher GPA...you will be fine</p>

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<p>First of all its no longer the matter of companies that are willing to sponsor your h1b, rather its the limit the congress has put on the visas. </p>

<p>And don't worry about me, I have an offer though I too will most probably be shipped out to London/Hong Kong/Mumbai after a year.</p>

<p>san123, are you doing your undergrad in the US? I'm currently at a top 5 school, and even here recruiters are SPECIFICALLY mentioning that they will not consider intl students for even internships. I can only assume it's worse @ non target schools. I assure you this is not bull$hit. Ask any Junior/Senior you might know in the US about their job/internship hunt.</p>

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<p>It is no longer easy to stay, even with an undergrad degree from Wharton. The graduate degree give more hope.</p>

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<p>are you from MIT? If that's the case, then there's really lil hope</p>

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<p>jhl are you from MIT? If that's the case, then there's really lil hope </p>

<p>ceebrown It is no longer easy to stay, even with an undergrad degree from Wharton. The graduate degree give more hope. </p>

<p>u both were being sarcastic right??
u people scare the **** out of me. i have been preparing for 1 to 1.5 years for U.S colleges and now u say it's almost impossible to get a job</p>

<p>i am applying to best schools - ivy league, mit, stanford etc.say i get into these schools(which itself is unpredictable) and participate in all activities like research, clubs etc and have a good GPA and some good internships how easy is to get a job offer before i graduate?? </p>

<p>after all i am going to the u.s to eventually work there and not to go back to india or china. then what is the whole point of u.s education other than research, exposure to different cultures etc. </p>

<p>i cant beleive this happens even with top schools.then what about the idiots who go to low level schools.
please help!!</p>

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<p>People who go to "low level schools" are not idiots. </p>

<p>From what I understand visas now have quotas. I believe that every international can work in the US for one year. If the employer wishes to employ that employee for more years the employer then tells the government. Then that applicant's name goes to a lottery. I am not certain what the quota is, but at least according to a firned of my brother's it's like 75,000 spaces for 200,00 applicants.</p>

<p>Decisions are not made according to which school the applicant went to. It is all based on lottery. A 4.0 student from Harvard might not be given the visa, while a 2.0 from Nebraska State University might be given the visa instead.</p>

<p>Please correct me if I am wrong</p>

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<p>danhernan my question is how easy is it to get that 1 year job period and how good that 1 year job will be
i am sure a 4 from harvard will get a better job than a nebraska state 2.0 and also faster
however as u say after the 1 year it is just lottery</p>

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<p>danhernan is right about the harvard vs Nebraska thing.</p>

<p>Heres what happened last year:
There is a date when applications for h1b visas open (I think its 1st April or something). Congress has set a limit to say 60,000 visas. All the companies that want to hire intl students then proceed with the application. However last year on the first day itself the govt received more than 100,000 applications. Which means if your application reached a day late denied. And for those whose applications made it during the first day, there was a lottery to pick which applications are accepted and which aren't. Therefore an applicant from Nebraska has the same shot as someone from Harvard.</p>

<p>Now getting a better job will obviously be easier for the Harvard grad, but for visa issues, the govt does not differentiate between schools.</p>

<p>Also all this discussion is applicable to ppl who want to stay more than 12 months. If you only want to work for 12 months then you can use your Optional Practical Training Permit (OPT) for that duration. However if you want to stay for say around 2-3 years then all these visa issues arise.</p>

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<p>Again all of this might sound scary etc. But its better to know whats going on so that you can plan accordingly. </p>

<p>I believe that applicants are better off knowing this information.</p>

<p>ceebrown is not completely right. There are still many ways to stay in the US. Studying more is a good option, and makes getting a visa easier. Once you get an h1b then its just a matter of time (albeit a long time) before you get a green card and get on with that process etc.</p>

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<p>While working in the US would be my first choice, how hard will it be to secure a job overseas ie. HK or London under a US company? This is with the assumption that one goes to a top-tier university. Will you get paid US wage in that case?</p>

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<p>what JHU said is right on the mark. Even if you don't plan on getting an employment in the US after you graduate, I must warn you that the opportunities for you to do ANY kind of work even during your studies is extremely limited because many internship, research, fellowship are restricted to US Citizen or Green card holder. Some because of security reason, some because well.. companies just don't want to take internationals. Of course there are some opporunities but not widely available. After all, US schools are for USC not for internationals. Also, it's illegal to work part time "off campus" even if you are on student status... I think this is not true in other countries like Japan, Australia. </p>

<p>I would advise people who plan to work after graduation or people who are looking for "fairer" opportunities during school year (like do part time job or do research in outside companies while you're studying) to go to Australia or Canada or UK and not the US. Unless you plan to marry here or already have a spouse and just want to bring them here to give birth so your child can be a USC :D</p>

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<p>EECS@JHU
Yes i am in a US university right now..not in the top 5 but am in the top 10 US Universities [USNEWS rankings]...i still feel that your comments are exaggerative.. I understand there is capping and last year all the application spots were filled in the very first day...but in addition there are 20000 more H1B quotas for masters+...which lasted till the end of april......you must agree there are thousands of companies who has been accepting employees who need H1B...and as ceebrown said even if your H1B is denied cause you were unable to apply on the first day, the company that applied for your H1B will allocate you to its branches in a different country which i dont see is that bad at all {assuming you want to make money}....</p>

<p>...the best option for now though or I would say what I am going to chose is to go to a grad school and then you won't have any trouble finding a job and H1B,,,</p>