US degree may become passport to green card

Washington: To attract the world’s “best and the brightest”, a group of top Democratic senators on Friday proposed immediate green cards for foreigners with advanced degrees from American institutes who also have job offers. This is good news for India which sends a large number of students to the US.
At the same time, they have proposed tightening of rules for H-1B and L1 visas, popular among Indian technology professionals.
The proposals being put forward by a coalition of powerful Democratic Senators are aimed at fixing the country’s broken immigration system.
The proposals “will reform America’s high-skilled immigration system to permanently attract the world’s best and brightest while preventing the loss of American jobs to temporary foreign labour contractors,” said a report drawn by senators Charles E Schumer, Harry Reid and Bob Menendez. At the moment, high-skilled workers are prevented from migrating to the US due to restrictive caps on their entry, says the 26-page conceptual proposal for immigration reform.
“In order to accomplish this goal, a Green Card (permanent residency) will be immediately available to foreign students with an advanced degree from a US institution of higher education in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, and who possess an offer of employment from a US employer in a field related to their degree,” it says. India sends the maximum number of students for higher studies to the US in the field of science, mathematics, engineering and technology and is therefore expected to benefit the most.
Under the current system, Indians have to wait for several years to get the coveted Green Card. “To address the fact that workers from some countries face unreasonably long backlogs, this proposal eliminates the per-country employment immigration caps,” the proposal said. PTI
Class Act
A group of Democrats in the US have proposed immediate visas for students with advanced degrees from American universities who also have job offers
If approved, India would benefit the most since it sends the highest number of students to the US
The senators argue that the proposal would ‘attract the world’s best and the brightest’

Source – Times of India dated 2nd May 2010

Reasons Students Participate in ADVANCED PLACEMENT (AP)

A recent survey of 2,598 high school seniors who had received a 3 or better on select AP Exams asked questions about the students’ reasons for taking AP courses, and the intended uses of the AP Exam grades in college. Here are some of their responses:

• 83 percent of the students reported that they  took AP courses to improve their chances of getting into the college they wanted
• Over two-thirds reported that they took AP courses in order to get into advanced classes earlier
• Over half took AP courses in order to make time to take more electives in college
• Less than a third indicated that they hoped to  use credit from AP Exams to graduate from  college sooner

“AP success serves as an effective placement tool.”

Source : www.collegeboard.com

Admissions – “Wait listed” category – how to handle?

“Wait list” is a different category of decisions on the part of college admissions’ officers. It may prove helpful to many of our readers if they understand this process.

First, there is a clear upward trend line each year in the number of students being placed on individual colleges wait list. This a standby category that can feel like being put in limbo.

What is behind this practice and what does it mean to an applicant?

Students now apply on average to eight or nine colleges. This makes it close to impossible for the admission staff to know how many candidates they should admit in order to arrive at their target first year enrolled class. They know that only a percentage (which is unpredictable each year) will actually choose to accept their offer of outright admission. Therefore, the admissions committee will offer the standby category to a large number of applicants with the idea that if they underestimated the number of admitted students who will choose to enroll; they can then turn to their wait listed candidates. This policy is fundamentally a safety net for the college to be certain that they attain their desired student enrollment.

This policy can work to your advantage, if you are placed on the wait list of a college that you have a strong interest in. You or rather your counselor should keep in touch with the admission officers indicating your desire to remain an active candidate.

Essay Topics – worth practice

Select one of the following essay topics and practice a writing sample. We highly recommend that you take your time and thoughtfully prepare your essay.

• Discuss an issue of state, national or global concern to you.

• If you could live your life, fighting for one cause what would it be and why?

• Describe a time you did not meet expectations and what impact did the experience have on you?

• What gives meaning to your life?

• If you wrote a letter to yourself to be opened in 20 years, what would it say?

• Where do you see yourself in ten years?

• Why are you the right fit for ABC college ?

• What book that you’ve read recently would you recommend to a friend and why?

• What is something you are passionate about?

• If you were given 1 million dollars today what would you do with it?

• If there was one thing you could change about yourself what would it be and why?

• Define “success”.

• What’s the value of failure?

• What sets you apart from your peers?

• If you could sit down with any one person for an hour, who would it be and why?

Optional Practical Training (OPT) Rules for F-1 Students

New OPT Rule

As of April 8, 2008, a new interim final rule regarding OPT has been established by the Department of Homeland Security. The highlights of this new rule are:

Extension of OPT for students in specific fields

Student’s, who have completed a degree program in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) are eligible for a 17 month extension of the OPT approval.

STEM Fields include:

– Actuarial Science
– Computer Science Applications
– Engineering
– Engineering Technologies
– Biological and Biomedical Sciences
– Mathematics and Statistics
– Military Technologies
– Physical Sciences
– Science Technologies
– Medical Scientist (MS, PhD)

Additional eligibility requirements include:

–  You must be currently authorized for a 12-month period of OPT and working for a US employer in a job directly to your field of study
– You must have successfully completed a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree in a field on the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program
– At the time of application for the 17-month extension, you must have a job-offer or be employed by an employer registered with the “E-Verify” federal employment verification system.
– You must not have previously received a 17-month OPT extension after earning a STEM degree.

Reporting requirements for students

All students on OPT are required to report and update the following information to the ISS office:

– Change of name
– Change of residential or mailing address
– Name and address of employee
– Change in the name or address of employer
– When employment changes or terminates

In addition, students with an approved 17-month OPT extension must report to the student’s DSO within 10 days of any change of:

– legal name
– residential or mailing address
– employer name
– employer address, and/or
– loss of employment

You must also provide a report every six months to the ISS office to verify the above information.

Limits period of unemployment while on OPT

During post-completion OPT, F-1 status is dependent upon employment. Students may not accrue an aggregate of more than 90 days of unemployment during any post-completion OPT. Students granted a 17-month OPT extension may not accrue an aggregate of more than 120 days of unemployment during the total 29-month OPT period.

Changes in OPT application deadlines

The rule now allows student to apply up to 90 days before program completion and 60 days after program completion.

Helpful web resources available on the new OPT rule:

Department of Homeland Security Announcement click here

US Citizenship and Immigration Services Q and A click here

NAFSA: Association of International Educators Resource on the Interim Final Rule click here

Text of Interim Final Rule
Text format, 27 pages click here
pdf file, 13 pages click here

Linden U.S. University fair at TAJ Lands End, Mumbai India – 15 Sep 2009 ( India Fall 2009)

For those, who could not attend this Linden University fair, here are a few highlights:

The fair was well organized locally by U.S. – India Educational Foundation (USIEF)

Quite a number of universities were present and here is a list ( alphabetical order) of few universities, which impressed the audience with their high ranking programs ( both undergrad and graduate), merit based scholarships to international students (Indians in this case), quick offers including application fee waivers on the spot :

Adelphi University

Fairleigh Dickinson University

Florida Institute of Technology

Foothill and DeAnza Colleges

Iowa State University of S & T

Rochester Institute of Technology

Roger Williams University

Stony Brook University

University of Buffalo

University of Michigan

University of San Francisco

What do colleges mean by “accepted range of SAT for middle 50 % is 1850-2080?”

The middle 50% statistic means that the middle half of the entering class at a college scored in this range on the SAT (or ACT or GPA). That is, 25% of students scored below this range, and 25% scored above this range. If you are in the middle of the middle 50%, then, at least on the SAT statistic, you are in the target range for this college.

What is Early Decision (ED) application process ?

From the National Association for Admission Counseling Statement of Principles and Good Practices:

Early Decision (ED) is the application process in which students make a commitment to a first-choice institution where, if admitted, they definitely will enroll. While pursuing admission under an Early Decision plan, students may apply to other institutions, but may have only one Early Decision application pending at any time. Should a student who applies for financial aid not be offered an award that makes attendance possible, the student may decline the offer of admission and be released from the Early Decision commitment. The institution must notify the applicant of the decision within a reasonable and clearly stated period of time after the Early Decision deadline. Usually, a nonrefundable deposit must be made well in advance of May 1. The institution will respond to an application for financial aid at or near the time of an offer of admission. Institutions with Early Decision plans may restrict students from applying to other early plans. Institutions will clearly articulate their specific policies in their Early Decision agreement.

If you are accepted under an early decision plan, you must promptly withdraw the applications submitted to other colleges and universities and make no additional applications. If you are an early decision candidate and are seeking financial aid, you need not withdraw other applications until you have received notification about financial aid.

How to handle “typical” questions in an admission form ?

Generally you come across the following questions in your application/ supplement form:

• How would you describe your personality?

• What areas of personal development you need to improve upon?

• Why admission committee should give you admission?

The admissions officers want an honest self appraisal of what you are like in terms of  your personality (shy or outgoing, confident or unconfident, mature socially or immature, disciplined or lacking in self discipline, serious about studies or casual, goal oriented or uncaring, independent or dependent  upon others).

You should be honest to state what aspects of any of the above areas you believe you can improve upon.  Honest responses always impress the admissions officers.

The admissions committees are asking you to tell what makes you a strong candidate for their rigorous programs. You want to tell them that you are a serious student, motivated to learn, independent, determined to become a professional pharmacist, intelligent, and have a solid academic foundation to take on specialized higher educational studies.

This assumes that you can honestly state these positives based on your school performance and personal activities.

How to Convert Your GPA to a 4.0 Scale ?

Colleges report GPA (grade point average) on a 4.0 scale. The top grade is an A, which equals 4.0. This is the standard scale at most colleges, and many high schools use it.

If your high school uses a different or weighted system, you need to convert your GPA to a 4.0 scale for this tool. Talk to your school counselor or get a rough conversion by substituting these values:

A+ (97-100) = 4.0
A (93-96) = 4.0
A- (90-92) = 3.7

B+ (87-89) = 3.3
B (83-86) = 3.0
B- (80-82) = 2.7

C+ (77-79) = 2.3
C (73-76) = 2.0
C- (70-72) = 1.7

D+ (67-69) = 1.3
D (65-66) = 1.0
E/F (below 65) = 0.0

Source : http://www.collegeboard.com/