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Hello Tashkenty, Awfully sorry to hear about visa denial. My visa interview here in Toronto was a long, tedious process too. However, I presented a LOT more information than you to convince them to grant me the student visa. You are almost treated like a criminal and you have to prove yourself innocent. I think you should take everything I list below to convince them that you are only going there to study, and not to immigrate. The consulate office sent a letter prior to the interview which listed all of the following things to show them to make my case, and I took every single thing along and more: 1) all the application forms that were required to be filled out (including the sevis payment) 2) my current letter of employment as a summer research assistant at the University of Toronto 3) the letters of employment indicating the salary and position of my Mother and Father, since their income is significantly greater than mine 4) my own and my parents' pay slips and tax documents 5) school letter from my new university showing my research assistantship, which will cover all of my first year expenses 6) property deeds here in toronto 7) I-20 8) The family's monthly bank statements. My credit card statements to show I have always paid them on time. 9) GRE scores official letter, final transcript from my former university Perhaps this is a personal question, and might have also struck the visa officer as odd if you didn't explain it to her, but WHY aren't your parents the financial support source instead of your aunt? Maybe she considered the relationship not as strong as a parent-son/daughter relationship? I don't know, just a thought. I pray you receive your student visa the next time you apply. I suggest you take all of the above-mentioned things to your next visa interview to make a stronger case to the consulate officer. All the best to you (Y)

Thanks Awhig!

Hello all, I received my F1 visa in Toronto. The sticker attached to the passport says that it expires on 29 Jun 2010. But when I was in the line to get the visa last week, I saw a couple of students at the consulate office who were their to 'renew' their student visas. I'm not quite sure what they meant by renewal. As stupid as this may sound, am I going to have to renew my visa every year till 2010? Or is my visa valid all the way to the last date? Thank you!

From my own experience - I wrote the GRE twice (1130 (630q, 500v) and then 1540 (800q, 740v)) - as long as there is a significant improvement in your test scores, most universities will ignore the first score. Surely, you should be able to improve that GRE score considerably. Barron's How to study for the GRE is a great study resource. Use it well if you have access to it, before taking the test again. I didn't write TOEFL so I have no idea about that.

If you need to go to the US 30 days before the date on your I-20, you have to get a visitor/tourist visa (or maybe you are from a country that has the visa-waiver deal with the US, in which case you don't need a visa for a tourist trip). However, you MUST mention to the officer at the port-of-entry that you are NOT entering on your F1 visa. I got all of this information from the visa officer who gave me my F1 in Toronto, Canada, just last week. Hope this helps :grad:

EECS at MIT does not need GRE.

I think you have a great chance! In my opinion, UPenn is a great choice for chemistry too. I think the admissions committee knows that a lot of people screw up first year. Besides, hardly any of the first year subjects are critical. Seeing that your GPA has improved considerably from first to second and third year shouldn't go unnoticed and I would make it a point to say something about that in my SOP. Doing the senior thesis will show that you're serious about research and don't worry about not publishing by the time you apply, it is not an expectation of an undergraduate. If you have it, it will only aid your application, but not having it is by no means detrimental. Your extracurricular activities and your teaching award is commendable and they will surely take note of it when it comes to making decisions on which applicants to award TAships to. Finally, Your GPA isn't all that bad. My friend got into Cornell material science and engineering with a 3.5 GPA from the University of Toronto. Keep your head up and be positive :)! Let your enthusiasm for research shine in your SOP and all will be well.

I completely understand your feeling about a 95 and an 85 both being a 4.0. But that's just how it works at the moment at UofT and at the top US universities. Besides, the GPA is just one thing they look at, i'm sure they will examine your transcript carefully to look at your percentages and the respective class averages. They will also look at GRE scores, extracurricular activities, statement of intent etc. I would say just calculate the GPA like the US universities do it. Here is a useful link for the way Duke University calculates the GPA: http://www.gradschool.duke.edu/Admissions/requirements.htm#ugpa As I mentioned earlier, they use 3.8 for 80-84 (A-) .

Hi CK6, I graduated from UofToronto and our school uses the same GPA system as yours. However, they calculate both the percentage as well as a GPA (and a cumulative GPA) for us. The cumulative GPA is worked out based on the credits allocated to each course. So if all the courses are worth the same amount of credits, then just take the average of the GPA numbers (eg. in the example above it would be (3*4 + 3.3 + 2.3)/5 ). Else, you multiply each of the GPAs by the credit for that course, sum the results, and then divide by the total number of credits for all the courses. Hope that makes sense. Note that some US schools allocate 3.8 for the 80-84 grade range, while UofT gives only 3.7, so you might want to watch out for that.

Hi All, Question 24 on the DS156 non-immigrant visa application form asks: 24. At What Address Will You Stay in The U.S.? My interview is on june 30 and I have not finished arranging my accomodation (apartment + roommate) in the US. I am afraid that this may not be completed by that date. So, can I simply state the address of my research lab at Duke University? Please let me know what options I have. Thanks so much :)

wow, that's fantastic advice! Thanks MsDemeanor :)

**Sorry Erin, I wasn't sure where to post this one. Please move it if it's inappropriate to post it here! Thanks :)** Hi Guys, could somebody please tell me of any web forums where people are talking about becoming roommates once they move to their respective schools in the US? Secondly, if any of you are going to Duke, please give me a shout :) Thanks!

Hello all, There will be courses I will have to take that where the people with BSEs in EE will have a head start over me. This is because I've just completed my undergraduate degree in BME (with some EE courses along the way - DSP, linear controls, circuits, comp organisation to mention a few I can remember :) lol). Does anyone have any suggestions on how to prepare for a post-bachelor's phd program in EE? Also, from the research point of view, is it worth contacting the Prof who will be funding my RA to ask him whether I should be doing anything (background reading etc) over the summer? I really don't want to be so keen, and I kind of want to enjoy my summer. But it would be wierd to show up at his office the first day to say "Hey! What's up?" Your comments will be greatly appreciated :) Thanks!

MS/PhD in ECE @ Duke University :D

Hi all, I have a choice between staying in Canada at the University of Toronto (with full funding for masters in Rehabilitation Engineering), or going to the US for a post-bachelor's PhD. I have admissions with full funding for PhD in ECE (Biophotonics) at Duke and Boston Universities. Would anybody care to comment on how I should make a decision? Any comments about either of the 2 US universities (and their respective locations - MA and NC) would be greatly appreciated. Thank you :)