ahlatsiawa

Roll Right - In the country where I come from, having a degree is like having a key to a thousand doors. Everything from job offers to marriage proposals are based on a person having a "degree". That is why everyone is willing to do whatever's in their power to get their names on one. And, unsurprisingly, those with large pockets or access to other resources try to get them by unfair means. The situation is so bad that a few years ago when the supreme court ordered the national education commission to carry out an investigation into the submitted educational records of the country's parliament members, more than two-thirds of them were found to have forged or fake degrees. So what I'm trying to say is that in a society where so much emphasis is placed on getting your hands on a piece of paper that endorses your skills rather than spending the time and money on actually developing those abilities, things like this are bound to happen.

So my emails to the university's office for off-campus residents did not receive any response. Today I got a one-liner from the property manager saying my application has been processed and asking if I am still interested. Now as I said earlier, I don't want to sign the lease until I see pictures of the actual apartment I will be renting. So should I send her a blunt message asking about them now? I do not want to risk losing this apartment just because she thinks I'm too pushy, even though she is incredibly uncooperative herself.

Not related to the topic but sharing it for the lulz. When my dad was in college he had this professor who used to be extremely careful when behind the wheel and, as a result of this cautiousness, would drive very slowly. Once my dad was going with some of his friends from one department to another within the university campus. So this professor happened to come along in his car and offered them a lift. So one of the guys responded, "Thank you very much, sir! But we are in kind of a hurry."

Thank you everyone for such helpful replies. I am trying to find someone in the graduate program to take a look at the apartment for me as that will not only fetch me pictures and their personal review of the place but the property manager will also have a face to associate the deal with until I get there. Although I do have a few options on standby, I don't want to let this one go. My application fee will reach them on Monday and she said she will start processing my application then. I hope I can get hold of someone by then to make a visit otherwise I won't have any other option left but to ask her once more. Thanks again guys.

So after an extensive search I have finally decided upon an apartment for myself. It's located very close to the university, has good online reviews and the rent is reasonable. I sent in my application yesterday along with a detailed email requesting for some pictures of the apartment. I explained that I am an international applicant and since I can't visit in person to take a look at the apartment, I would appreciate if she considered my request. I also asked about available lease terms since their website did not have any information regarding lease terms but their ads on other places stated different terms from 6-12 months. In her reply she totally ignored my request for the pictures and gave extremely short, almost rude answers to my questions. Also, she said there is only a 12 month lease available. Please guide me on how I should respond to her now. I most definitely do not want to sign the lease without seeing the apartment and also would like to ask for a 6 or 9 month lease. How do I do this in a manner that doesn't look either too pushy or too desperate?

Wow that must suck. I'm glad I won't have to go through that every year.

TakeruK if you wouldn't mind me asking, are the friends that you have mentioned in your post on F/J visas? If so then that is surprising news for me.

Still it won't cause any problems in my opinion. If you absolutely don't want to take any risk, there is always the option of submitting another DS160 and updating the reference number on your visa interview application page. But I would advise against it.

Sometimes the school adds an additional 6-12 months on the I-20 in case, for any reason, the student is not able to complete his/her studies in the expected time span. This is perfectly fine and should not be a reason for concern. Does your admission letter or the program's webpage indicate five years as the expected time period? If so, please carry it with you to show the officer in the unlikely event they decide to ask you about it.

TOEFL should be a piece of cake if you regularly watch English TV shows/movies, read books, have a basic knowledge of sentence construction and a moderate vocabulary. I myself have never lived in an English speaking country and 90% of my UG classes were in my native language, but I still managed to score 114 on the test. So yeah, unlike the GRE, the TOEFL is not challenging at all.

From what I understand, your plan is to complete one year of graduate school at a local university and then transfer those credits to a US university. Speaking from the little knowledge I have of this subject, it is very difficult to transfer credits in graduate programs, even more so from abroad. Usually the school will ask you to retake many courses which means you will likely end up enrolling in the full course over there and your previous credits won't help you much. Now in case you are not planning on attending Ivy League or top 30-50 universities, I would suggest applying for the Spring '15 season to a few universities where you think you have a good shot and seeing how everything goes. Remember a sub 3.0 doesn't necessarily mean you won't get accepted anywhere. Good recommendations, respectable GRE scores and a killer SoP can turn things around. I myself was able to get into Syracuse with a 2.67. All the best! Also, I am from Pakistan too so if you have any other questions please feel free to PM me.

Status changed to "Issued" today. Now waiting for the pickup call.

Thanks! I also just asked a friend who was issued his visa about a week ago. He said his status also remained the same for about five days and then changed to issued.

The thing is I have a Muslim name and belong to Pakistan. One of the questions the officer asked me was if I had ever traveled to Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran. Though I thought the question was a bit weird, I didn't give it much thought. Do you think they are probing into it?

I appeared for my visa interview yesterday. After the interview the officer told me that my visa is approved and that the courier company will contact me. She kept my passport. She said you will get your passport in a week. When I got back and checked the status of my visa it appears under Administrative Processing. From what I have read online Administrative Processing is shown when the case requires further background checks. I was never given a 221g form. What is going on guys?

I would most definitely recommend signing a lease online. I am in search of a studio or 1BR and already in trouble as many places I was interested in are already taken.Try to get an apartment with the minimum lease term so you would be able to relocate to another one if you do not like it once you get there. Waiting till August would not be wise in my opinion.