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Living The American Dream

myasmine.com

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Re: Living The American Dream

#71

Post by [deleted] »

sireat wrote: post #65
throawa wrote: post #16

Just wanted to share my story too (throwaway account). I first came to the US when I was 16 on a high-school "exchange" program, which was actually a one-way "exchange" (nobody went to my country from the US), sponsored by the US government in order by promote democracy, American way of life and thinking, etc., across the world, and especially in the former Soviet Union, where I was from. The American plan was to imm…

Fascinating story that rings true to my heart, but how did you manage to send out 200-300 applications and find the full ride? I remember applications costing money($30-50) in the early 1990s. My biggest regret in life is not having had a good advisor in choosing which colleges to apply to. Upon applying to college, I was being given reasonable advice as an American high-schooler in California when in fact I was in a…

[deleted]

Re: Living The American Dream

#72

Post by rdtsc »

madina_a wrote: post #68
rdtsc wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for sharing. Yeah the program was called Freedom Support Act. And you probably had a J-1 visa. That was a great program and I wish there were more of those kind of programs that would bring in kids from other regions of the world. It is unfortunate about the 2 year requirement for your particular case. Since it was a US govt. sponsored program they paid for your stay, travel and allowance while here. It was no…

Hello, Nice meeting you here. I also came to the US as a Freedom Support Act exchange student in high school. I never went back to my home country, got accepted to a University, graduated and was out of status for a while. I married a US citizen and now I am dealing with a 2-year requirement. I applied for a waiver based on "no objection" from the home government. I received a favorable recommendation, but the exchan…

Did you just create this account to make that post?

Also did you read the whole thread? Nobody mentioned that you can _actually_ pay back for the 2 years and actually get a waiver for it. It was a hypothetical ("what if" type scenario) that the original poster suggested in response to my claim that US govt. spent the money on these "future leaders" not to help these kids easily become American Citizens, but to share and spread American culture, ideas and ideals in their home country. So hypothetically since you didn't fulfill that goal (the 2 year stay is a proxy for it) _in theory_ you can think of them letting you pay back all the expenses they incurred having you in this country.

You can try another country like the original poster did. Canada is a great country and probably better than your home country at the moment.

> ... applied for a waiver based on "no objection" from the home government.

Yeah not sure I see how that would work. I can imagine any post Soviet block country having a "student exchange program monitoring and tracking system". So who wrote that "favorable recommendation"? Be honest. Was it someone in your family and then you paid someone to sign. I am saying it because that is how things run in my home country and that is why other (let's say "Western" governments) don't really trust letters, transcripts or recommendations from any such places.

Re: Living The American Dream

#73

Post by [deleted] »

rdtsc wrote: post #72
madina_a wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hello, Nice meeting you here. I also came to the US as a Freedom Support Act exchange student in high school. I never went back to my home country, got accepted to a University, graduated and was out of status for a while. I married a US citizen and now I am dealing with a 2-year requirement. I applied for a waiver based on "no objection" from the home government. I received a favorable recommendation, but the exchan…

Did you just create this account to make that post? Also did you read the whole thread? Nobody mentioned that you can _actually_ pay back for the 2 years and actually get a waiver for it. It was a hypothetical ("what if" type scenario) that the original poster suggested in response to my claim that US govt. spent the money on these "future leaders" not to help these kids easily become American Citizens, but to share…

[deleted]

Re: Living The American Dream

#74

Post by madina_a »

rdtsc wrote: post #72
madina_a wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hello, Nice meeting you here. I also came to the US as a Freedom Support Act exchange student in high school. I never went back to my home country, got accepted to a University, graduated and was out of status for a while. I married a US citizen and now I am dealing with a 2-year requirement. I applied for a waiver based on "no objection" from the home government. I received a favorable recommendation, but the exchan…

Did you just create this account to make that post? Also did you read the whole thread? Nobody mentioned that you can _actually_ pay back for the 2 years and actually get a waiver for it. It was a hypothetical ("what if" type scenario) that the original poster suggested in response to my claim that US govt. spent the money on these "future leaders" not to help these kids easily become American Citizens, but to share…

Please no need to be so rude. Thank you.

Re: Living The American Dream

#75

Post by throawa »

throawa wrote: post #67
sireat wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fascinating story that rings true to my heart, but how did you manage to send out 200-300 applications and find the full ride? I remember applications costing money($30-50) in the early 1990s. My biggest regret in life is not having had a good advisor in choosing which colleges to apply to. Upon applying to college, I was being given reasonable advice as an American high-schooler in California when in fact I was in a…

Thanks! This was 96-97, applications were all free, except for the postage. There may have been some higher-end schools that required money, I probably didn't even consider those. My algorithm was to go through Kaplan's (or one of those) catalog of all US colleges and universities, request an info package from each college where it seemed I can get a full-ride, receive it a few weeks later, fill out the enclosed appl…

Actually, I take that back. You're right, there were fees for the applications. And I didn't send out 200-300 applications. I just received >200 info packages (not even sure anymore of the estimate, but it was a lot). Out of those info packages, I applied to several schools (probably five or so), which clearly stated their criteria for qualifying for a full-ride scholarship (usually GPA + test score combination).

Sorry for the unintentional lie, I wish I could edit the original post. I guess so many years do weird things with memory.

Re: Living The American Dream

#76

Post by sireat »

throawa wrote: post #75
throawa wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! This was 96-97, applications were all free, except for the postage. There may have been some higher-end schools that required money, I probably didn't even consider those. My algorithm was to go through Kaplan's (or one of those) catalog of all US colleges and universities, request an info package from each college where it seemed I can get a full-ride, receive it a few weeks later, fill out the enclosed appl…

Actually, I take that back. You're right, there were fees for the applications. And I didn't send out 200-300 applications. I just received >200 info packages (not even sure anymore of the estimate, but it was a lot). Out of those info packages, I applied to several schools (probably five or so), which clearly stated their criteria for qualifying for a full-ride scholarship (usually GPA + test score combination). Sor…

You did a lot of legwork to get achieve your dream, I really do admire your drive and focus.

Canada isn't a bad place to end up after all.

Re: Living The American Dream

#77

Post by wassem »

jacques_chester wrote: post #19
noonespecial wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a fascinating idea I've been kicking around for a while now. What if a country recruited citizens? The US almost did in a way at the end of WW2 and we more or less got a space program out of it.

Immigration to Australia is based on a points system. Your chances are substantially improved if you have certain qualifications or experience.

I am Engineer Arch.
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