Visa Interview

My visa interview was on 21^st May, 2007 in New Delhi at 12:45 PM. Advice is take your visa date as early as possible to get the morning slot, otherwise rush keeps on added up towards the end. My visa was in the month when there are very few numbers of student visa and rush is acceptable. Reach around an hour before your visa time as they allow you to pass an hour before your interview start.

I reached an hour and 5 mins before the visa interview. Don’t forget to sign your DS-156 form and right your name in your native language in one of those forms. I join the Queue outside the embassy at 11:40 AM and slowly moved ahead. Upon entering embassy your thumb impression of left and right index finger would be taken. Since it was lunch time less no. of counters were operating. I would advise to talk around the fellow members (in English) to cool down tension, know more about fellow US travelers. I was in Queue for two and half hours and learnt a lot about visa rules of business, tourist and J-1 travelers. Carry cash with you as you can buy snacks and other food items inside.

Visa Interview: My interview was taken by a young American lady

I pass her my I-20 and she reads “CASE Western “. Her Response, “WOW”.

She was about to ask my financial but cut herself short and says that, ”you must have got Grades, Show me your grade card”

I passed it to her. Nods in between and smiles. Then she asks for my GRE and TOEFEL score and I say them blah blah.

She reads the course that I am pursuing in CASE Western; it was Engineering Management and asks some questions about it.

What is this course about?

Why you want to do it?

She reads that some amount has been reduced in I-20 and asks about that. I tell her that I have 25% fellowship. She says,”WOW and asks for my admit letter”. Given reads it.

VO: CASE Western is a good college, but not cheap. So how are you going to pay for your college? What does your father do?

Me: My father is an Executive Engg in Municipal Corporation Delhi(She writes this down and lots of other thing parallel on her computer)

VO: How much he earns?

Me: I said ___. Before she asks me anything, I said, ”My father has worked for more than 25 years and over this period he has made lots of investments. He purchased four properties long back and their net value has increased several times. I have the CA statement for that and original property papers (This I did to put upfront our financial strength and to take her into confidence before waiting for questions).”

VO: Show me

CA Statement given, she turns to second page where property values were mentioned. She looked at that and says”WOW, and says your father is a smart man”.

VO: Ok, Mr. Arpit you are eligible for VISA.

It was a cool experience and I would say Visa interview is all about confidence. One thing I would seriously recommend is a CA statement that lists assets of family serially. Keep that letter in the front and arrange all the other documents according to that. An Important thing is that, just a bank statement is from your bank that you have xyz lakhs in your account is not sufficient. You should have Pass book or Bank statements to confirm that.

Just go out there confidently and trust me you would get your visa. Wish you all, Good Luck.

Arpit Gupta

arpit.decompiler@gmail.com

Strategy

So here I am in the wee hours of 13th April of my final year of Under Graduation. About 15 days back I finally decided to zero down on my final future option. This decision of my life would have an ever lasting impression of my life ahead and I have taken an utmost care and spent a lot of time deciding about it. So, after the completion of my under-graduation, a Bachelors in Technology I would be flying to pursue Masters in Engineering Management in no time. I must have considered a hell number of options for me. It was like a Chess game and deciding on final strategy was no easy game. Now that I have no tension as to where I would be or the questions of similar nature for at least few more months, I would relax and enjoy my final month at DA-IICT.

In past week I understood my course curriculum at case and I am excited to attend classes starting June. To give you an Idea course is fairly an integrated one concentrating on all areas of a firm namely technology, Management, finance, accounts, etc. Now all these areas do not work in secrecy to each other. I believe the success of firm be it technology intensive, service or a products industry rely upon the co-ordination of each of these domains. Some of the book I have read in past week are:

1. Creating Blue Ocean Strategy
2. The Power of Six Sigma
3. Production Process and Development
4. Engineering economic analysis

and lots of other. This collected reading has empowered me to appreciate the true meanings of Engineering Management. I think this program would open up my thinking or I should say Applied Thinking in understanding Engineering Processes and its coordination in a Management Scenario. I am right now focusing on Product Strategy techniques for new Technology Products. As of now my career plan is to be a Consultant as an Analyst in a challenging company. I am open to change my plan and in fact looking forward to understand various possible career profiles for me.

Apart from all these I donated blood on 18th March. It was a good feeling and felt more matured towards my society needs. Also I walked on the Ramp on 11th March in Synpase 2007. I have lot to write about it. This was one hell of a of experience and would write about it soon. Also made a visit to Mehsana Water Park. This was again a cherished experience spent with my best friends.

I look forward to our Farewell Party, my Visa interview(date not taken yet), B.Tech Project Presentation, lots and lots of moments with my friends in next month.

After the first call

It has now been more then a month since I last posted about my Life, which I have termed long back as endless joy for myself. So, a lot has been going after my first university call for Masters. I enquired a hell lot about the admitted university, passed on lot of information, guided lot of student about this program and reassured lots of prospective candidates aspiring for CASE in Fall’07 about their admission. I made some very good contacts in this process, learnt a lot from many of them about Advertising, Marketing & what most future engineers want to do(without knowing what it means) Management.

In my life, I always had an obsession to lead and to control (This was in my SoP) and I have always spent a good amount of time thinking what I want to do in life, where I want myself to be. This has also resulted in me concentrating on different things at same time. Many of my close friends consider that this keeps me away from being successful, but my opinion is that it gives me a strategic advantage as I am always able to build a big picture of business and industry.

Sorry for that Detour. For past couple of weeks, I am spending considerable time reading blogs on Entrepreneurship (This word means a lot to me, but I can never spell it right in first attempt), Startups, Business, Internet Marketing and lots of other by those who led successful startups. I am kind of now motivated towards the aspect of Start-ups. With blogs and other reading that I am able to do in library, I am building some solid understanding of the startups in various domains. And yes, it’s my ultimate long term cherished dream to start a successful venture. That dream would never wane, no matter what lies ahead in my life.

And yes, apart from this serious stuff I would soon be putting in some joyous moments from my life.

Finally !!

I shouted with immense joy to mark my selection in CASE Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio for Master of Engineering Management program (M.E.M) with 25% tuition waiver.

I have waited for this from 1st Feb as University said they would be ready with decision. I am happy and is difficult for me to express myself here. Important point is that program is of one year starting May 30, 2007. This is too early and I would have to act fast to get loan and Visa thing done.