F1 Visa Interview – MBA in International Finance – CSU, Fullerton

MBA F1 visa interview experience for California State University- Fullerton by Khushboo.

I have been reading Student Visa interview experiences at HSB since I started preparing for my visa interview and other’s experience has helped me a lot, Now I am sharing mine. I was nervous wreck in days leading up to my interview. I am Patel, a potential immigrant in eyes of VO.

I had to give GMAT twice to get my score straight and have plenty of relatives scattered all over USA. If I was asked any of question related to above aspect then I was sure to go down. Another unusual part is that my grandfather is the one sponsoring my studies and not my parents.

Again a weak point unless I prove to VO effectively that he has all intent of sponsoring me through out my course. But things happen nothing like I imagined.

This is how the interview went.

MBA F1 Visa Interview Experience

VO: Good Morning

Me: Good Morning

VO: How many admits you have? (here I stumble and had to ask her to repeat the question)

Me: 4 VO: Why did you choose this college? (California state university- Fullerton)

Me: Mam, I am planning to work in Mergers and acquisitions after my MBA, hence International finance and financial engineering are 2 most important subjects. The faculty work at this college was very comprehensive and advance so I chose this college

VO: Who is sponsoring your studies?

Me: My grand pa

VO: He must be retired

Me: yes VO: What does he used to do?

Me: He was an electrical engineer

VO: Ok your visa is approved, You will get your passport within few days

Me:Thank you have a nice day.

I couldn’t believe myself, I thought I must have made some mistake and left my passport there.

But I manage to gather my self and exited the consulate.

Here are the few things I have learned about student visa interview

• The VOs are not biased and not at all unfair. They give everyone a fair chance to present themselves. It is up to you to make most of it.

• It is advisable to have all necessary documents ready but don’t go overboard. They want to see you and not your documents. Present them only if asked. Don’t shove them under VO’s nose.

• The VO’s are interested in you and not your documents. If it’s only the papers they wanna see then they can be mailed or uploaded, why bother with the interview? It’s you in person they wanna see.

• Don’t reach the consulate too early. It’s not going to help your stress level. Reaching like 45 mins prior to your interview time is good enough. My interview was at Mumbai Consulate and I gotta tell you that the security and other staff is very efficient. Doesn’t take more then 10 mins to usher 1 lot of people inside.

• While waiting in the queue avoid chattering with other people.

• Dress the part. With me everyone advised me to look like a student and dress casually. But I was like If I’m a professional and going for something like MBA, then I have to dress like one. So I went for formal shirt and skirt, and it was good enough.

Interview Dress

• With formals you can never go wrong. With casual you have to be careful.
• Avoid torn and faded jeans. Loose T shirts are also negative.
• Sneakers are Ok,  but sandals and flip flops are big no no.

Finally every student is different and so is their experience.

My interview barely lasted 50 seconds, while other were grilled for good 3-4 mins.

It is ok to ask others for tips, but you have to know the parts where you become different from them.

If what everyone is telling is different from your instincts, then follow your guts. Thank you to Happy School Blog and good luck to you all.

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Great interview experience and thanks for sharing.

Your visa interview tips are awesome and must read of any student attending student visa interview.

Your name has got nothing to do with visa interview. You are given opportunity to present yourself and you did good.