Hello ppl.

Admits

It's March and you should have gotten a couple of replies for your applications.

There's still a lot of time, you can get admits till even late April/May. Just keep your cool and keep track of your friends(if you have a couple of universities in common).

If you have gotten admits, congrats! That's one small step. Decide if you want to accept it or reject it outright if you have a better admit.

If you can't decide, you can stretch it till the last reply date and then make a decision. If you can't decide if you want to go to a lesser-ranked university with aid or a higher-ranked university without aid, decide very very carefully. You can end up making a hole in your parent's pockets, not to mention the big loans you will have to repay once you are finished, if you choose the latter option. Going to a university with aid makes things a lot easier for you; your finances will be easier to handle and you will not be in a lot of constraint. On the other hand, you might feel that you are missing out on something if you opt for a lesser-ranked university. Make the choice carefully - a loan will require proportional collateral.

In case you are sweetly spoilt for choice, ask your seniors or email students in those universities.

If you have a quite a few admits and are still waiting for a reply from your favourite university, and the deadline for the ones you have is approaching, here's what you can do - tell them you are accepting the admit, get the I20s, and then decide once you have the all the I20s in hand. As far as I know there is no rule anywhere which makes it a crime to be in possession of two or more I20s, or not go to a university after accepting the admit. But - this I would not suggest as you would be spoiling the chance of someone down the line - someone might be waiting for the university you have accepted but decided not to go to - for e.g., A and B applied to UCincinnati(I had missed that she was also applying), she got an admit from Johns Hopkins, and then from UC. A was obviously going to JHU and B suggested A to reject UC as soon as possible, A no problem whatsoever in rejecting it straight away. Then, a couple of weeks later B got an admit from UC - so B got admittion only because A rejected UC . So remember - you might be spoiling someone's chances, and it could happen to you too.

Make sure to check the status of you application online; if you have sent all the documents, it should say 'application complete' or 'decision pending'. However, if you have sent all you documents and the status says 'application incomplete', email them and ask; or send the required documents again. Many have sent their application again

Finances(if you do not have aid)

If you have full aid, well and good. If not, you have some work to get done. And as mentioned in the ROTGAD, it's a catch-22. For the visa interview, you have to show one years' expenses-worth of finances(i.e. for whatever amount mentioned on the I20). But banks will give you hard money only after you clear your visa interview. So basically you have to get whatever money is required and put it in the bank atleast for the interview. From where do you get that money? Relatives, mostly.... But, it also has to be legal - so if you can't explain the source of your money to the Visa Officer, you will be rejected outright and earmarked for *financial fraud*. So you have to get all that money, and it has to be legal - basically you have to show it's legal. Some 'legal' sources are fixed deposits, from blood relatives(first circle of relatives). Remember, you can't cook up any excuses - VOs have years and years of experience, so they will know when a source of money is true or not. What I'm saying is, if you get money from some previously unknown friend, and you say you to the VO you got it from nowhere or another bank account or some sale of property but you can't show proper proof of money, you're done for. Let me try and list all the examples I can think of which will pose a problem to your getting a visa.

* You : I got this money from land my family sold
VO: Do you have the sale deeds?
You No
VO: Sorry visa rejected
* You: I transferred it from another bank account
VO: have you brought that bank pass book?
You: No
VO: Sorry visa rejected

VOs will ask if they see a sudden spurt in your bank passbook(by the way, you have to take all the financial supporting documents with you, that means the appropriate passbooks too) which cannot be explained well, it will raise suspicions. For example, there was a guy whose father was a clerk in a bank, mother housewife, and he had shown a lot of money in his bank account, VO asked, did not get proper explanation, visa rejected.

However, as I mentioned earlier, provisionally sanctioned loans are also accepted. So that is a very good option. Agents who promise a new bank account, money at monthly interest - VOs know all about them. So you have to be as straight as possible and try to avoid them.

Visa interview and the preparations(As best as I can remember; details may have changed)

VOs will even call up the college or the bank if they get suspicious. Legend has it that when the name of the college changed from REC to NIT, one senior had to wait while the VO called up the Dean's office to verify if such a college existed(!).so we paticulry at manit should be cautious better to contact seniors and ask wethet to use mact or rec b or nit b or manit

Hope you have your college documents safe and ready - transcripts from semester one, GRE/TOEFL marksheets.. And, you should get your final transcript and provisional degree certificate soon after you write your exams. Make sure you put pressure on the Dean Academic to release the results early.

Why I'm telling you this is, if you get your results early, you get your certificates early, you can book your visa interview early, and you can get done with all the mess really early.
For the visa interview, you will have to book it online, after paying the fees in an HDFC bank. The thing is, you will get dates easily for May/June, July will be like booking tatkal rail tickets for Diwali. So that is why early results will help in booking an early interview. You can appear for an interview without the final marksheet and without provisional degree certi, but you will have to come to the consulate again to submit the documents. But there is no guarantee the VO will buy your case that you have done sufficiently well to pass the final exam. So it's better to get all the required documents and then go for the interview.After booking the interview, you will have to print the online confirmation and with all the documents needed go for the interview.

To put it up straight, you will be talking to a stranger; so how you impress the VO is up to you. Rather than talking smart, it would be better to be straight forward. Like answering to the point. As I said in the previous para, if your credentials are good, the interview will just be a 'formality'. So the only questions you will be asked will probably which university you're from/going to, GRE/TOEFL scores, if you have had any supplies, why America and maybe an unexpected question you have to answer well. There's not much you can screw up. Most of us have good credentials, so you shouldn't worry too much about not getting a visa. You can be 98% sure of getting a visa; with the help of a consultant, that increases to 99%. Now, if you need an easier approach to the visa interview, you can go to a consultant. . They will cost some money,around 3.5k for documentation(making sure all the documents are in order and the forms filled up for the visa interview were correct) and for interview-briefing(or interview coaching if you need).

As most people i know are from south they went to the Madras consulate; you have to look up the jurisdiction of the area you stay in to know which consulate you have to go to. If you are heading to the Madras consulate, we r luck because in old times you had to stand in the sun or the rain outside... Now I hear you are transported by bus from another waiting room. You are lucky we
And, I hope your passport and all supporting documents have the same name and spellings.if get it corrected