Nicole

Hello, everybody! I would like to share my visa interview experince. I am from Romania, I got accepted at UConn, they offered me full tuition waiver+a graduate assisstantship+a small fellowship for the first year. I got an F1 visa for 5 years (mai 2004-mai 2009) a couple of days back. I am telling you the interview is A MERE FORMALITY if you are fully funded by the university. The only document that was carefully studied by the visa officer was my I-20. She didnt ask me to show my GRE or TOEFL results (but I had them with me, just in case), she didnt look at all at my acceptance letter that I got from the Department. The inteview took less than 10 minutes and the questions I was asked were in this order: 1.Where do you work now? (I told the name of the company and my job) 2. Do you plan to work in the United States? (I said: no, because it s illegal. But I will assist the Economics Department for 15 hours per week) 3. Where are you going to live there? (I said I would arrange for on campus housing) 4. Why did you choose this University? 5. What do you plan to do with this diploma after graduation? She didnt wait for elaborate answers. I answered in a sentence or maximum two. And while I was answering her questions, she examined the I-20, ticked the form that I filled in and checked something in her computer. My advise is to be short in answering, do not give looong explanations because if the officer needs them, he/she wont hesitate to ask more. Good Luck to those who are waiting to get a visa! Nicole

Thanks, Tino, for the "encouraging" news. C'est la vie!:o Yes, I am in Romania and I accepted UConn's offer (for PhD in Economics). I wonder why I might be rejected as long as the University offers me full aid and I dont plan to say at the interview that I intend to remain in the USA after I complete my studies.

hello, does anyone know how long ,on average, a F1 visa interview take ? please post your experiences. thank you. nicole

Hi, Chadefa Thank you very much for your suggestions. You know, some schools actually motivate their rejection in a sentence or two, the most frequent pattern goes like this: "too many excellent, brilliant applicants this year, blah, blah, blah for only (and here comes the number) slots". Nicole

hi, all! i dont know which is the polite way to write declining emails. I believe the short&sweet way is the best; but is it enough to thank them and say "I regret I cannot accept your offer" or it's good to add to these the reason(s) of declining in a sentence or two? waiting for your suggestions. thank you. Nicole

messenger id nicoleta_iliescu

hi! I also applied to NYU and haven't heard anything yet which means I am out. I could write the grad secretary but it's useless (and painful) to have confirmed something which I know in advance....This is not surprising at all after what I ve heard about nyu (if only I knew it was such a select univ, I wouldnt have applied to it :shy:) indiana also sent out their decisions...you should email or phone them. maybe you're still in if you don't have any news from them. i am waiting news from UNC, Rutgers, Fordham and Emory. And what I really care about is UNC decision because the others were my safe bets. The best offer (financially speaking) I have from uconn so far. the rest is either incomplete funding or promises of late funding... Good luck! Nicole

hi! I got a rejection email from Rochester too. They said they got 520 applications this year and couldnt admit into their program all those very talented applicants, blah, blah, blah...:crazy:. C'est la vie! Are you 100% sure Duke and OS wont give you any aid for the first year? I wish you good luck with Georgetown! are you waiting for other decisions to come?

Can you be more specific, please?

Congratulations! do you expect to get any financial aid from temple? (BY the way, I am in at Temple too..Economics PhD Program- Fox Business School...). I got the same message of acceptance on my status page. Now I am waiting for a snail mail with more details and maybe some financial aid :) Nicole

Hello! Thank you very much everybody! (The director of the PhD program in actually nominated me for a fellowship :).Keep your fingers crossed for me :o Yeah, I think you should try to contact them. I had an intense exchange of emails with one of the Grad School representatives and she was really helpful and very prompt in her replies. Nicole

Hello, Hendrik, Congratulations and good luck at Stanford! You must be thrilled! Nicole

Hello! What is your specialization? Did you check your on line status? I got admitted to their PhD program in Economics (and I found out that just checking my page). Now I am waiting for an official letter via snail mail (I hope the'll send any soon). Nicole

Hey, Sunxcat Congratulations! Great news! I hope you ll hear soon a lot of positive answers from other places where you applied to! (along with substantial financial aid, of course :). Nicole

Congratulations on your achievement!