Nonsense Eliminator
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
Posts: 5212
Location: Toronto
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 Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 3:53 pm Post subject: |
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Patrick --
I'm from Guelph, Ontario, and spent 3.5 years as a grad student at Indiana. All of my applications occured pre-9/11, so things may have changed somewhat, but I believe the basic procedures still apply.
On the issue of scholarships and funding, my experience was that being an international student didn't hurt at all. All the applications seemed to be evaluated pretty much equally, regardless of nationality. This may be different at other schools, but IU certainly didn't seem averse to attracting foreigners. I was fortunate not to need any -- I had an assistantship for all but one semester -- but my understanding is that most US schools qualify for Canada Student Loans and/or your provincial loan program.
The visa issues will mostly be taken care of by the school. The only unusual documentation I had to provide was proof of support -- that is, that I had access to funding for tuition and living expenses for one year. You will not get a visa without showing this. The amount of support you will have to show will be quite high. (If you or a relative can obtain a line of credit, this is a good way of showing proof of funding if you don't actually have a big pile of cash sitting around. You don't need to touch the line of credit, just get a letter from the bank saying it exists and what it's for.) Here is a VERY important tip that often gets overlooked: make absolutely sure you have a copy of those documents showing proof of support when you first cross the border into the US. In order to issue you a visa, you will need to show your I-20 (issued by the school) and proof of support. I have heard of people being turned back because they didn't have this, even though it seems ludicrous because the school won't issue the I-20 without proof of support.
One other issue you will encounter is work eligibility. Any assistantships or work study at the school is legal from day one. For anything else, however, you have to apply for Curricular Practical Training. That will allow you to do gigs and whatnot. However, you cannot apply until your second year of study. Until then, your only option to gig legally would be to apply for a work visa through your AFM local at home. One can sometimes find under-the-table work, but you can't get a Social Security number until you have your CPT. After you graduate, you can also apply for Optional Practical Training to be eligible to work for one more year.
Hope that's useful!
Richard Sandals |
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