<p>hi everyone, i'm attending BU this fall. the thing is, a university orientation is mandatory for all incoming freshmen. and for the college that i'm attending, july 25 is the last date for the orientation. i cant use my f1 visa because the earliest i can go to the states on that visa is august 4.</p>
<p>so how am i supposed to attend the orientation assuming i already get my f-1 by then? help anyone going through or went through the same thing?!?!?!</p>
<p>I can think of two options:
You can try to enter the States on a tourist visa to atttend the orientation program, leave the country again (either go home or take a short trip to Canada) and then re-enter the States with your F-1 visa. If you decide for that route, get a letter from the university explaining your situation and be able present an air ticket (or at least a train ticket, e.g. Boston-Montreal round trip for $71) for leaving the country again. The second option is to request another I-20 from BU with a beginning date that allows you to enter the States in time to attend orientation.</p>
<p>Edit: A third option: Contact BU and ask them how other international students deal with that situation.</p>
<p>I'm just curious, why is the orientation so much earlier than when the classes start? I assume your classes start on September 4 since you said the earliest you can arrive is august 4 (one month earlier)? Why is the orientation one and a half months before that? What does BU expect the international students to do during that window? Shouldn't other international students be also facing the same problem?</p>
<p>Do you want to correct e.g. 5000 writing assessment tests in a week? Or issue 5000 photo IDs within a few days? Or is it legitimate to budget some extra time in case not everything runs as smooth as anticipated?</p>
<p>perhaps i am thinking more in terms of the context of LACs which are much smaller so less of the admin stuff to process, but still, isn't 1.3 months a stretch even for a huge public uni? not to mention BU isn't that big actually...</p>