Submitting your documents to VFS Office - Things to do for your US VISA interview - Part 3

Submitting your documents to VFS Office

After you have booked you visa date and paid your SEVIS fees, you have to submit following documents at the VFS Office.

• Completed DS 156/157/158 forms downloaded from visa application website.
• Make sure you sign the form and have a 2" x 2" (50mm x 50mm) pasted on the form. The photo should be front facing on the white background - with your face in center of photo.
  
• A copy of your I-20.
• A print of visa appointment confirmation letter downloaded from the VFS website.
• A copy of HDFC reciept.
• A document checklist checked and signed by you downloaded from the VFS website.

These documents should be submitted atleast 5 days prior to Visa appointment date.

Hope it helps.

Regards,

Divine Devil.

Paying Sevis Fee - Things to do for your US Visa - Part 2

Paying your Sevis Fee

To pay the SEVIS fee you will have to visit the website http://www.fmjfee.com.

Here you will have to fill up I-901 form and pay $100 as SEVIS fees. Print the reciept (I-901 form) you get after paying the fees.

Note : Use a computer with printer attached to it while paying your SEVIS fees as you wont be able to access the I-901 form (SEVIS fee reciept) afterwards. So do not forget to take the print out at the end of the payment.

While paying the SEVIS fees you have to mention the University name. So pay the fees only if you have finalised your university. You can pay SEVIS fees upto 5 working days prior to your visa appointment date.

Things to do for your US VISA application and interview - Part 1

Part 1 : Booking date, paying fees and submitting application

Step 1 : Booking your visa date

Below is the procedure for booking your visa date

1. Visit https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/Home.aspx . This is US Consulate site in India and gives you details on visas. You will be requiring a F-1 visa.
2. Pay your visa fees at HDFC Bank center (procedures and requirements are listed on the above mentioned site). https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/ApplnForms/RulesAndFees/VisaFees.aspx . You will have to pay only the Application Fee (MVR) and Service Charge. This would be Rs. 4600/- + Rs. 276/- approx.
3. Schedule a VISA appointment online for visa interview (same site as above). You will have to wait 2 days after you have made your payment to schedule an appointment.

If the date is not available online, dont worry. Just save your application and exit your browser. You can always get a date trying later or visiting VFS office if required.

See here(https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/ApplnForms/FeeDetails.aspx) for the list of HDFC branches that accept visa application fees and the VFS office address.

You can book the date with the first I-20 you get. Later, 1 week prior to actual Visa Interview date, you can change the University name/details, if required.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Web Artist.

Hurdle One : Getting Organised!

Hello,

Well, till now, I have been only thinking about the visa, but after getting it, lifez been more exciting and at the same time uneasy.

My immediate plan to the US migration was to collect info. from my seniors living there. I needed answers to most of my how, where, what and when kinda questions and got them easily. The thing was, I have very good Diploma college friend on mine staying over there from last one year. So, it made things easy for me.

I was told to find immediately some roomies, so that we can take up an appt. and live comfortable. Her advice to me was to stay in New Jersey City, NJ and travel via subway to Manhattan, NY, which took around 45 mins. approx. The reason is NJ is cheaper than NY, in terms of living, food and everything. Besides me being Gujrati, it helps to be in and around Gujju people outside India. Another of seniors, who studies at NYIT told me to take up place in Jakson Heights, which also primarily is Gujju community, but little on an expensive side. Also people there arent that much friendly, thats what i heard from others.

Well, rite now, am totally confused as to where should I take up the accomodation. Also, I am also on a look out for roomies, who are ready to share a room wid physopath like me. :p

Things are gearing up shopping side. Just started my shopping from buying Big Bags! Now what should be next on my list!?

Points that will help you after you get your visa :

1. Join Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, Orkut Groups related to students attending same college in same semester.
2. Start finding roomies. Living alone is not an option.
3. Ask your seniors about which books to carry, what kind of clothing should you bring along exactly.
4. Start Shopping immediately. Make a list first and then start shopping [Sample Shopping List]
5. Book your airline tickets, it gets tough to book ticket at later time. Preferably, block for differnet airline. Blocking tickets is totally free of cost so that should not be a problem.

Will add more points if it goes thru my mind.

Good nite for now. Have a great weekend.

Regards,

US Bound Kid aka Divine Devil

My List of Universities - Sorted and Accounted For!

Hello,

Well I am back with my list of Universities which I applied to in my score range with my acads.

I choose on the wise path of going for more ambitious in the pack then the other way round.

I had already planned on applying in 10-12 colleges. The reason was clear, I had to get admit from good school coz I did not have any other way out. Its obvious, after preparing for more then 5 months, you would not want to get into any mediocre college, would you?

So after consulting with my counseller, I made my mind to go in for 7 ambitious, 3 mediocre and 2 safe colleges.

Sorting it out like this would help you get an clear idea on which colleges you can take if the admit letter comes in. Gets easier to make the final decision. Also try to sort them out in the category list also.

The colleges I applied were :

For Masters in Electrical and Computer Engg.

• North Eastern University, Boston - Very Ambitious
  
• Southern Methodist University - Very Ambitious
• Illinous Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinous - Very Ambitious
• Syracuse University, New York - Ambitious
• San Diego State University, San Diego, California - Ambitious
• State University of New York at Binghamton, New York - Ambitious
• CSU Sacremento, Sacremento, California - Ambitious/Mediocre
• New York Institute of Technology, New York - Mediocre
• New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Jersey - Mediocre
• CSU Pomona , Pomona , California - Safe
• Texas A&M University, Kingville, Texas - Safe

For Masters in Telecommunications Engg.

• University at Maryland, College Park, Maryland - Very Ambitious

Out of this list, I got admits from NYIT, CSU Pomona, TAMUK. Rest of them rejected me mainly due to my 8 semester results. If I would not have had any kts in last sem, i would have easily got into NJIT, CSU Sacremento, San Diego and SUNY Binghamton with some chances on getting in into Syracuse University.


Reasons for selection of each university:

1. North Eastern University : Great University, Top 50, Great program, Great professors, nice reasearch going on, on campus placements are very good, nice location.

2. Southern Methodist University : Well Known university for the EE program, professors there are great and highly experienced. On campus scenerio is very good.

3. Illinoius Institute of Technology : Good program with good placement, lot of on-campus jobs, experienced staff, nice reasearch. Only bad point which I came to know after applying : They only accept students with 60% aggregate in degree - BooHoo!

4. Syracuse University : Well known, established and old institution. Professors are good, reasearch going on is quite interesting, on campus scenerio is pretty neat. Only bad point: Too cold a place to live in.

5. San Diego State University : Situated in silicon valley, nice profs, reasearch partnership with nokia. Great on campus conditions. Low fees.

6. SUNY, Binghamton : Dont know why I opted for this university, but had my chances in there.

7. CSU Sacremento : Good University, easy to get into, good program, good location. Got good reviews from seniors.

8. NYIT : Excellent location, program is good, easy to get into. Reviews were good from seniors. Also, this university makes you ready for the real world, not much research going on but from the job prospectus, its one good university.

9. NJIT : Mecca for the students like me. Even the guy with 930 score can get an admit here. Besides that, not much to speak about. Good location being near to NY.

10. CSU Pomona : Okay college, easy to get into. Not much on high note, was in my safe list.

11. TAMU Kingsville : Another college which gives out admit to anyone. Surely you will get in. Not that good college but you would get a well know banner of TAMU which has good name.

12. Maryland, College Park : I also had my shoes digg into Telecommunications. And as always, I only vouched for the best, Maryland College Park. I tried my luck but didnt work this time.

Another major thing which decides on your no. of admits is your SOP. State of Purpose is very important piece of paper in your application. Most of the time, its the only thing the officers see when giving out the admits. So prepare your SOP properly and very neatly stating clearly why do you plan on pursuing your masters, what made you go for masters, highlight your achievement related to the field as well as off-the-field.

Ground Zero - Prologue

Well, let me introduce myself first. I am an Indian with big I [meaning IQ] but low SQ [study quotient] . Just a normal guy with an engineering degree in Electronics and Telecommunications from Mumbai University. I like making new friends, reading weird books and making websites. Basically I am a net freak and a webmaster of quite a few sites including famous Index Rated Web Directory. I got lotsa friend for which I thank GOD. I am single and always, yes always ready to mingle. A decent and cute looking gujju boy all pampered by his family and friends alike. Although, I have the Devilish side as well if you want any kinda action. Being from a Gujrati background, i have my reservations on the quota reservations going on in the Indian educational system.

I am a typical guy with an below avg. percentage in my engg. degree. One thing I like about it is that I have enjoyed each and every part of my engg. career uptil now. Be it the good results, KTs, viva goof ups or simple classroom pranks. Be there and seen that! Be unfortunately, the employers do not see this as Good qualities!

It was due to this that i made my mind to go for higher studies abroad, coz i knew i had no or very bleak future in india with all the biggies MNC coming up. Fate had choosen its prey!

I started preparing to the admisssion for my masters in US in late august. I gave my GRE and TOEFL very quickly coz i was told that i had very little time. Should have got more voices before i jumped on that decision. Well bygones are bygones. In the hurry, i scored fairly in TOEFL with 267 out of 300. Decent score according most people i asked.

But my GRE had another story to tell. In practice test i used to score in a range from 1200 - 1300 out of 1600. It thrusted my confidence a lot, may be to the point of over-confidence. On the D-Day aka test day, i was able to score good in quatitative side but went steep on the verbal side. Should have joined a convent school..:p . I scored 1060 merely in my GRE with 710 in quant and only meagre 350 in verbal.

With this kinda score, i was left with universities below 50 ranking in US NEWS rankings for the colleges. So i took up counselling and started preparing to apply for my masters to various colleges in which it was considered I would get admitted to. In all I applied to 12 colleges and started waiting for the replies. Eagerly but surely i was confident i would get admit for atleast 3-5 of them which were on the safe side.

I got my 1st reject from IIT [ Illunious Institute of Technology ] , a well known university and on my ambitious-mediocre list. See the list I made arranging my universities in ambitious, mediocre and safe zones. After that, i started recieving rejects from almost all colleges i had applied to. I was very frustrated and was feeling downwards when i finally recieved the only golden words. I had been admitted to NYIT [ New York Institute of Technology ] to pursue my masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering [ MS in ECE ].

After which i started preparing for my visa and stuff which i would discuss in depth during the new few articles.

Hope you liked my prologue on myself :p Thanks for reading. Do keep checking out for lotsa informative stuff...

Regards,

US Bound Kid aka Web Artist aka Divine Devil