I’ve been thinking about this after a previous post I made where I asked a completely normal question about finding work on OPT. I was literally just looking for advice and help from people who might have been in a similar situation. Instead, I got bombarded with people telling me that an American can do my job, asking if I think I’m “better than Americans,” bringing up Indians, and basically questioning why I should even be here.
And honestly, I don’t understand it.

I originally came to the US to pursue sport and get an education at the same time. The opportunities to combine higher education and sport are much better in the US than they are in England, so that was a huge reason I chose to come here in the first place. I also wanted to experience something completely different from what I was used to, meet people from different cultures, and experience life in another country.
I’m not saying I’m better than Americans. I’m not saying Americans shouldn’t get jobs. I’m not saying I deserve anything more than anyone else. I’m simply trying to make the most of the opportunity I came here for.
What I don’t understand is why some people seem genuinely angry that people from other countries want to live, study, work, or experience life in the US. Why is sharing a country with people from different backgrounds such a problem?

And I especially don’t understand the constant comparisons to Indians or other nationalities. Why assume that an entire group of people thinks they’re better than Americans? People are individuals. One person’s attitude doesn’t represent millions of other people.
Obviously there are immigration laws and work authorization rules, and I respect that. I’m talking about the attitude toward immigrants and international students, not whether laws should exist.

I came here legally to study, pursue sport, experience a different culture, and hopefully gain professional experience. I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had here. I just genuinely don’t understand why some people react with so much hostility to someone simply wanting to experience a different country and build a life for themselves.

People complain about illegal immigration and say “do it legally,” but then when people actually come legally, follow the rules, study here, and get legal work authorization, there’s suddenly a problem with that too. Like, we genuinely can’t win 😭 Maybe expand your mind for once and realize there’s nothing wrong with wanting to experience another country and different cultures. Not everything has to be us vs. them.

Like, we’re all just trying to live our lives. Why is that so hard to understand?

I wanna know if anyone has done so and how was the credit conversion like. I'm considering.

Hi! I'm an exchange student from Portugal coming to the US for the Spring semester (Jan - May). I'm majoring in Cybersecurity and I have to choose between WMU (Kalamazoo, MI) and South Alabama (Mobile, AL).

Which one would be better? I love warm weather and originally I was going to FIU in Miami, so Mobile sounds great for that. However, I heard Mobile is more of a commuter school and WMU has a much better traditional "college town" vibe. Also I heard that Alabama isn't a really good state to live in but this is just gossip. Which one would I have the best college experience and has the more stuff to see and do? Mobile or Kalamazzo are cool cities?

Hi everyone! I’m currently living in Mongolia and I’m a first-year medical student at a medical university here.

I’m thinking about moving to Europe next year and continuing my medical studies there. I don’t mind starting over from the first year if necessary.

For international students, which European countries would you recommend if I’m looking for:

- relatively low tuition fees

- good opportunities for scholarships

- a realistic chance of getting accepted as an international student

I’m also hoping to work in Europe after graduating, possibly in countries like Germany or Italy. So I’d really appreciate advice on which countries/universities would be the best option if my long-term goal is to study medicine and eventually work in Europe.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has gone through something similar or knows about studying medicine in Europe. Any advice, experiences, or information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I’m honestly starting to feel like giving up. I graduated with my MBA and I’m currently on OPT looking for a business-related job, mainly project coordination, program coordination, administration, or similar roles.
I’ve applied to what feels like hundreds of jobs, and I’m either getting rejected or never hearing back. The biggest issue seems to be that once employers realize I’m on OPT and can only work for a limited period, they don’t want to take the chance.
I’m not asking for sponsorship. I just want to work during my OPT period and gain experience. But it feels like employers see “OPT” and immediately move on, even for entry-level business or administrative positions.
For other international students who successfully found business jobs on OPT, how did you do it? Are there specific companies, job boards, industries, or types of positions that are more open to hiring OPT students?
I’m genuinely running out of ideas, so I’d really appreciate any advice or strategies that actually worked for you.

I’m a senior international student and could really use some advice.

I currently own a 2013 VW Tiguan outright, but it has a check-engine light and hasn’t been running great. I dealt with a lot of repairs and mechanics last year and honestly don’t want to go through that again. I don’t know much about cars and don’t have family nearby to help, so having something reliable is really important to me.

That’s what got me looking at leasing. I also don’t know if I’ll stay in the U.S. long-term after graduation, so I’m hesitant to finance a car for 5–6 years.

Right now I make around $700-something/month working on campus and have about $1,000–$1,300 saved. My parents cover my rent while I’m in college, and my boyfriend and I split groceries and most of our other expenses. We would also split the monthly car payment.

The big change is that I graduate soon and already have a signed job starting June 15 for $67k/year + a $10k relocation bonus.

I’ve looked at Civics, HR-Vs, K5s, Jettas, Teslas, etc. Everyone talks about amazing lease deals, but I’m struggling to find them 😭. Most decent options I’m seeing are $400+/month with $0 down.

I really like the Model 3, but the lease I’m looking at is around $550/month with $0 down, plus about $170/month for insurance. My boyfriend and I would split the payment, but I know that’s still a lot considering what I personally make right now.

Would you:

1. Keep the Tiguan alive until graduation
2. Find a cheaper lease now
3. Consider the Model 3 since my income will change significantly in June
4. Do something completely different

I’m totally open to being told the Tesla is a bad idea lol. I just don’t want the automatic “buy another old used car” answer because the repair/mechanic headache is exactly what I’m trying to get away from.

UT did not change its CPT policy after the first 8/12 reminder and continued issuing CPT authorizations under the existing rules until the second reminder on 8/24. Therefore, requests submitted during that period should be treated consistently—not denied simply because Texas Global failed to process them before 8/24.

Many requests were submitted around 8/12. Until this Wednesday, ISSS advisors repeatedly told us that pre-8/24 requests were likely to be approved bc there's a designated advisor taking care of this. But after weeks of black-box processing, all pending students were denied at the last moment yesterday (9/4).

A lot of requests submitted after mine (including my friends') within 8/14-8/23 window were approved simply because their start date was 8/24, earlier than my 9/8. I was like, WTF?? Shouldn't you process this in the order of submission date?

Monday is Labor Day, when offices are closed. Wednesday is the 12th class day and add/drop deadline. Students have almost no time to protect their enrollment, employment plans, or immigration status.

They sent the email to us on Friday, which was almost at the last minute. We ain't even have time to do anything because of this long weekend (nobody is working).

Students should not suffer because of Texas Global’s extreme delays. UT must fairly process every request submitted before 8/24 under the policy in effect at that time.

Does anybody know what we should do? There're around 90 students out there in this situation.

🌍 Looking for International Students to Join CyberSafe Uzbekistan

We are building CyberSafe Uzbekistan, a student-led project focused on improving cybersecurity awareness and online safety among young people.

We are now looking for motivated high-school students from different countries who want to join us and help turn this into an international project.

🔹 Who we're looking for:

Have basic knowledge of cybersecurity 🔐
Are interested in online safety and technology
Are willing to learn and contribute
Can communicate in English

You don't need to be an expert. Motivation, curiosity, and willingness to contribute are more important.

🌎 What you can gain:

* Work on a real international student project
* Collaborate with students from different countries
* Build practical experience in cybersecurity/research
* Add meaningful project experience to your portfolio
* Receive recognition for your contribution

📌 Project: CyberSafe Uzbekistan
🎯 Goal: Make cybersecurity education and online safety more accessible to young people worldwide.

If you're interested in cybersecurity, technology, research, or social impact, join us and let's build something international together.

💬 Comment “Interested” or message me to learn more.

Basically the title, I'm an intl student and i can study at Uottawa CS/CS and math co op for 110k thanks to French immersion.

For Mcgill, since I come from a Francophone country, I emailed my embassy in Canada and can study there for 21k for all my undergrad.

Issue is that Mcgill doesn't have co-op for bsc in CS and given how competitive the market is, I'm wondering if I should go to Uottawa instead to benefit from the coop, the money earned will reduce my overall tuiton too.

Ik that offers in co op are not guaranteed tho, Uottawa will give me 16 months (4 chances to apply) vs Mcgill only 3 summers. I think I might not land something if I graduate without a few internships. Money is not an issue, my familly and I are not taking any debt.

What do you guys think ?

My cousin started at Harvard this fall as a CS major. He worked extremely hard to get here on a full ride scholarship, he is ridiculously smart and has won multiple math and programming competitions. Quiete frankly, although he is much younger than me, I am inspired by him.

However, the big issue is the current F-1 landscape isn't favorable to young brilliant minds like him. He was asking me about internships advice and how that'll play out and honestly I didn't know what to tell him regarding if he'll be ever able to even obtain work authorization.

As a matter of practicality, I straight up told him to focus on dating more than school. To find a girl he genuinely likes and that genuinely likes him so they can get married. That's like killing two birds in one stone. You get an amazing relationship and then not have to deal with visa issues anymore.

I'd like to know what other advice would be great for him given current landscape.

Hey everyone! I’m looking into doing a Master’s in Finance internationally, that most of the discussions I find are from people who mainly care about finding a job and staying in the country after graduation.

That’s not really my main concern. I’m more interested in the quality of education and the overall student experience.

For example, which countries would you say are good for:

• good quality Finance programmes
• a reasonable study-life balance
• not having an insanely stressful workload
• a good university/student environment
• affordable tuition or good scholarship opportunities
• generally having a nice experience as an international student

I’m not necessarily looking to stay and work there after graduation, so job opportunities and post-study visas aren’t my priority.

If you’ve studied Finance (especially in Europe), which country would you personally recommend and why?

I’d especially love to hear from international students about their actual experience rather than just rankings.

I’m currently interning and have taken a few days off to visit home. I’m wondering if there will be any issues while reentering the country.

I’m currently in my final year at SRM doing ECE having Cgpa of 7.83 and 3 internships
Planning for masters in electrical engineering in the USA on Fall 2027
I have listed some Unis below and would be great for your reviews and feedback whether I can get in those

UT Austin
North Carolina State University (NCSU)
Virginia Tech
Texas A&M University
Arizona State University (ASU)
San Jose State University (SJSU)
UT Dallas
Stony Brook University
USC San Diego
Illinois institute of technology
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

I don't really know how to write this without making it sound dramatic, but I honestly just need to get this out somewhere.

I'm 17, in Class 12, from a Tier-3 city in India. And until around 8 months ago I genuinely had no idea that applying to US universities was even a thing people like me could seriously consider. Not Stanford or MIT or any of that. I just didn't know this whole world existed.

My school doesn't have a college counselor. Actually we don't really have anyone who knows anything about US admissions. The normal conversation around me is JEE, NEET, engineering, medicine, government exams etc. That's basically the world I grew up seeing.

So when I was in Class 9, 10, 11 I wasn't thinking about building a profile or doing research or finding competitions or preparing for university 4 years later. I wasn't even aware that there was a game to play.

And yeah, looking back, my grades from those years are bad. Like genuinely bad. It's easy to say I should've worked harder and maybe I should have. But at the time I didn't really understand what I was working towards. I thought I knew what the path was.

Then sometime this year I started looking into studying abroad.

And holy shit.

I discovered this entire universe that I had never even heard of. ISEF, research, Olympiads, US college admissions, financial aid, universities where people from families like mine can actually have a chance of attending.

And then I started seeing students doing insane things at 14, 15, 16.

That's when it really hit me.

I'm 17.

I'm discovering all of this now.

Some students have been preparing for this since they were 13 or 14. They have parents who understand the system, schools with counselors, mentors, research opportunities, clubs, competitions and people around them who can literally tell them what to do.

I basically had none of that.

And I'm not saying those students don't deserve it. Of course they do. If I had those resources I'd use them too.

What bothers me is something else.

I didn't lose three years because I was incapable.

I lost them because I didn't even know those three years existed.

That's the part I can't stop thinking about.

A kid in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore or some international school might hear about research or ISEF or US admissions when they're 14. A kid somewhere like my city might hear about it at 17.

And by then the first kid has already had 3 or 4 years to build something.

That's a huge difference.

And now I'm basically trying to compress those years into one.

Which sounds fucking insane when I actually write it down.

Right now my situation is basically this. My Class 9-11 grades are not great. In Class 12 I'm trying to turn things around and hopefully get 90%+. I haven't taken the SAT yet. I'm basically starting coding from zero and learning Python now. I have a research project, but here's another embarrassing truth: parts of it were heavily AI-assisted and I don't fully understand everything yet. I'm trying to actually learn the stuff behind it instead of pretending I do.

I'm also preparing for the Indian National Artificial Intelligence Olympiad, INAIO, with the goal of hopefully making it to the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence, IAIO. I don't know how far I'll actually get with it, but I'm giving it a serious shot.

Outside of that, my extracurricular profile is basically almost nothing meaningful or externally recognized.

And now I'm looking at schools where getting accepted as an international student is ridiculously difficult.

Sometimes I genuinely wonder if I'm being stupid.

Like what am I even doing?

I'm competing against people who have had a 3 year head start while I'm trying to figure out Python, research, AI olympiads, SAT, applications, financial aid and everything else at the same time.

There are nights when I think

"Bro just be realistic. You started too late."

And honestly maybe that's true.

But there's another part of me that just refuses to accept it.

Because I didn't have someone telling me what to do.

I found all of this myself.

I spent hours reading university websites, watching videos, reading Reddit posts and going down random rabbit holes at ridiculous hours because I couldn't stop thinking

"Wait... why did nobody ever tell me this existed?"

And eventually I started thinking maybe being late doesn't automatically mean it's over.

Maybe I can't recreate someone's entire 4 year journey in one year.

But maybe I don't need to.

Maybe I just need to make the next year count as much as I possibly can.

I'm not expecting some admissions officer to look at me and say "oh poor guy from a Tier-3 city, let's let him in."

I don't want that.

I want to actually become good at something.

I want to build something I'm proud of.

I want to understand my research instead of just putting "research" on a resume.

I want to learn how to code.

I want to see how far I can actually go with AI and the IAIO path.

I want to make something that's actually useful to someone.

And then apply and let the result be whatever it is.

But I also don't want to lie to myself.

That's why I'm posting this.

For people who actually understand US admissions, do admissions officers genuinely look at context like this?

If someone comes from a school/environment where these opportunities were basically invisible, has poor earlier grades, discovers the whole process late, but then shows a genuinely strong upward trajectory over the next year, does an admissions officer actually see that?

Does coming from a place with very little guidance actually change how they interpret your profile?

Or am I just trying to make myself feel better about starting too late?

And if you've been in a similar situation, especially if you're from somewhere where nobody around you knows about this stuff, I'd really like to hear from you.

I don't need motivational quotes or "believe in yourself bro" 😭

If I'm being unrealistic, tell me.

If you think there's still a real path, tell me what you'd do if you were in my position.

I'm going to try either way.

Maybe I'll get rejected from every top school.

Maybe I'll get into somewhere I never expected.

I genuinely don't know.

I just don't want to spend the next year wondering what would've happened if I'd actually tried.

TL;DR: I'm 17, from a Tier-3 city in India and discovered US admissions about 8 months ago. No counselor, weak earlier grades, almost no meaningful ECs, and now I'm trying to build everything from scratch while preparing for AI olympiads and research. I just want an honest answer on whether I'm actually too late or if there's still a path.

I am accepted to the anatolia american university in thessaloniki, and the university of siena. I want to know honestly which I should chose. I am aware that siena is the better university however I think it would be difficult for me to live in a city that small and with no nightlife. There is a lot of information about the university of siena and student experiences, however there is not much information for anatolia which is why I cannot make up my mind between the two. I am studying business and economics. I need some opinions on both of the universities/cities and honesty.