Dear Fellow Internationals: it is time we woke up and demand deferral
For those of us still expecting to attend a US bschool this year, we are being tricked. After a few emails and exchanges with the program I was accepted to, I was able to get a deferral to next year. I think it shows the lack of ethics that these schools pretend they "dont know what will happen" and "they are dedicated to helping us navigate this challenging time." In reality they just want us as revenue:
1) Visas are being shut-down, and more is to come (OPT/F1 are still next to be cut):
- Trump banned green cards, then extended it this week. Read the press releases...they hinted this would happen and continue to further hint at this being extended. Our schools made us think H1B and J1 were off the chopping block, we learned this week they were not...
- Weeks ago, reports were saying there would be more immigration bans. We learned this week that became true. H1B and J1 and some more are gone. Press releases hinted they willbe extended. We should operate under the assumption that they will be extended. I keep hearing lots my friends say "oh by the time we need jobs the suspension will be over," that is naive.
- Press releases still point to OPT and F1 being next to be suspended (and then, of course go through more extensions of suspensions). We should not expect to be on campus this year or even most of next year. At the least Trump plans to hold the suspensions as a bargaining chip to enact real immigration law reform.
- These developments are unprecedented and we should not be expected to take a $170K investment risk on an investment that should be SAFE. If i wanted to gamble this much I would take that money and invest in start-ups or start my own company.
- Many embassies are still closed and backlogged, I dont expect Trump to allow them to open until winter of 2021 or start of 2022. He will use the virus as an excuse to cut immigration anyway he can
2) The next wave is coming, and classes will be 100% virtual for the whole year with 100% virtual internships to follow, and even a 50% virtual year for '21 to '22:
- Go to virus dashboards and see that cases are yet to sky rocket in some countries. When they do, we will be restricted for immigration (see Brazil)
- Cases did not even decline in the US. Look at the dashboards, they are INCREASING in many states. US is highly interconnected and there is no way to contain it
- The winter is coming, any break we may have gotten from the virus is expected to worsen. 95% of transmissions happen inside. No program is ready for outdoor classes...especially in the winter
- Any programs keeping students on a string and saying they dont know what the class format will be these next few weeks are showing their lack of ethics. It will be almost entirely virtual but they want to make sure we enroll first before telling us. I have friends who work in admissions (not at my program, but at others) and this is the conversation happening on the inside
3) The economy looks okay now but it is unstable and very few will be hiring when things hit the fan. Even if we can enroll and recruit virtually for the whole year, getting a job will be a GOOD job (the job we go to these schools to get) will be a bloodbath:
- Even the top 3 programs have recruiting challenges in depressed economies. Fewer companies recruit and career opportunities are less sexy. Look at the '08 recession, reputable firms were retracting their offers as a result of the downturn (even at schools like GSB and Wharton). Poets and Quants has many stories from this time
- Even if a vaccine is found it will likely only be circulated to healthcare professionals and essential workers. Even the well-off won't have access to the vaccine for 2 years after it is founded. Look at prior pandemics and how the vaccine was distributed. If the US can't distribute testing correctly, what will make us think they can distribute a vaccine more effectively.
My recommendation is to be persistent. A lot has changed this week and we have seen the writing on the wall. We should not let us convince them that things are "uncertain" or we are "still waiting to see." My program told me "no" and gave me lots of anxiety when I asked for a deferral. I made a respectful case and continued to follow-up with my concerns. At the end of the day, there is some good people there. And many of the people on the staff at these schools have a good heart and can see things changing. Good luck and let me know if you are looking for further advice on how I went about it!
EDIT: We learned recently the US is restricting F1 visas, as some of us had predicted would happen. WSJ does a good job of explaining specific details of the new ruling many of the publications missed, which says students will not be able to take online class in their home country if they can't make it to the US (difficult to do with embassies backlogged and closed). Clear your cookies, open on brave browser, open on incognito mode, or just buy a subscription to get beyond paywall, no other publication has this important detail (that I can find): https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-rules-detail-how-foreign-students-canand-canttake-classes-at-u-s-colleges-this-fall-11594056119
Or better yet go read the details here. They hid it in the fine print, classic: https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/bcm2007-01.pdf