@rhandco Yeah, I know the number is kind of high, but I guess that’s the point about having a dream number you know. How hard is it to get into these Ph.D programs? Can someone without engineering background get into a Ph.D program about engineering? And do you know about the job prospects for someone with econ Ph.D?
It’s doable but requires quite a bit bit of preparation. For example, to be competitive for an economics PhD program, you’d want to take a good number of math classes in addition to your economics classes (a double-major wouldn’t hurt). You’d want to work closely with your professors to gain some “research experience” prior to your senior year. Letters of recommendation are super important, so make sure that three different professors know you outside of the classroom.
Yes, but probably in a lower-ranked program. You’d start in some kind of “remedial” status where you spend your first 1-2 years taking undergraduate engineering classes. It’s less likely that you’ll get funded like a regular PhD student while you’re making up undergraduate coursework.
An American business school like Babson or Wharton (part of UPenn and the like) seems like a better fit for you than a small liberal arts college. You’d also be more likely to find peers with similar goals at those types of schools. I’m actually surprised you even applied to Earlham, which I see as having a more liberal and “hippy” vibe.
For a job in Canada, your best bet would be to start out by going to college there. Do investigate that.
No one gets an H1B straight out of college with a bachelor’s degree. You need to get work experience with your OPT first. After that, on some rare occasions the employers of people who have bachelors degrees in engineering or computer science do manage to get those people an H1B. I have never heard of anyone getting an H1B at that stage of their career unless the major was in engineering or computer science.
As b@r!um has pointed out, it is relatively easier to get an H1B after finishing a masters or a Ph.D. Still not easy to do.
If your goal is to stay out of Turkey, then you should look at Canada and Australia very carefully. Both of them have good universities, and have much more favorable policies than the US does when it comes to work permission while students are studying and after graduation.
My employer sponsors a handful of recent college graduates for H-1Bs for “policy analyst” positions. (We’re exempt from the H-1B cap as a non-profit research organization.) However, we seem to hire many more employees on OPT than we sponsor H-1Bs. Most F-1 students are let go at the end of their OPT eligibility.
Alas, H-1B employees seem to earn significantly less than their American peers at my company.
I’ve heard that too about H-1B employees. I’ve also heard of employers who require that would-be H-1B employees pay all of the legal fees.
True.
It costs a few hundred bucks for legal and application fees.
^ A few thousand dollars in H-1B petition fees alone, plus the salary or fees of someone who prepares and manages the petitions.
Oh really???Never knew it costs much more than a few hundreds…cant u do that on your own?
In addition to the regular visa filing fees, the H-1B has big fees tacked on just to discourage American employers from abusing the H-1B program. Like a $1,500 “American competitiveness” fee and a $500 “fraud prevention” fee.
Doesn’t that make employers even less eager to sponsor H-1B?
Yup it does. there’s a huge problem with H1B right now - those are our most productive, efficient, educated potential immigrants, and we lose them to other countries with less bizarre immigration policies, which is an irony considering we’re the US, a land of immigrants.
That’s the whole point. We don’t want employers to hire foreigners to fill positions when there are qualified Americans available (after a bit of training, if necessary). Alas, employers right now are only required to pay foreign H-1B employees “average” wage for their profession and experience. When they should really be required to pay them as much as their American employees PLUS a bunch of fees to discourage hiring foreigners in the first place.