Visa and OPT for international students

[Quantenthusiast]

Hi,

Given the uncertainty arising due to Covid-19, it is highly likely that one semester of these MFE courses will be taught online (I do agree that networking and face to face interactions are the USP of these courses but given the uncertain times we have to make do with whatever we get). In such a case, international students will not be eligible for internships for the summer of 2021 will not be possible (one of the requirements for OPT is to have completed one complete year of residence in US while studying).
Are you guys still going ahead and paying the non refundable fees with the probability of not being able to get to US at the right time to be able to be eligible for internship? Basically the question I guess I am asking is are you guys going ahead with enrollment to these courses even if it means you will not be eligible for internships?

Brief background: I am currently working in London and have been admitted to Cornell's FE course. The deadline for deposit is fast approaching for me (May 15) and I am in a fix as to if I should pay the fees.

I also do understand that if I don't go for a master's this year, my profile wouldn't change a lot for next year's application (given the job market)

Any advice in this regard will be appreciated

 

[cheron_jrm]

I was to do Princeton Mfin, but I am going to Cambridge (part iii of mathematical tripos) instead. The situation makes switching continents less appealing for me. It is a possibility that immigration laws become more restrictive in the near future so countries can protect their workers, while one can argue that, for internships, visa conditions may be waived because of online courses. Overall, the situation is not fixed and a lot of scenarios are possible. I decided to go for the safest choice (The offers I had in Europe helped, of course), but I have friends in my class that are going to Princeton Mfin/Stanford ICME, and who are pretty confident it will be ok !

 

[Onegin]

fwiw, almost all of the large banks and many asset managers require first 1-2 rounds be submitted remotely anyway. First pass is often behavioral, second is a coding test. I suspect these are filtered based on ranking of the school. Networking is still quite important, but potentially less due to the standardized intake process.

 

[VPoneday]

one of the requirements for OPT is to have completed one complete year of residence in US while studying

hi, sorry i wasnt aware of this, could you share with me where to find this info? I didnt know that its also the case for internships. I thought the one year requirement is for Full time job
Because my school, purdue, is pushing back start date by 1.5 months and said that it would still be considered to meet STEM OPT application

 

[Quantenthusiast]

Hi,
You can find it on the requirements for eligibility section for opt and cpt on the US Visa website.