Pursuing MS/MBA in the U.S.A on F1 or H4 visa

One way to go about answering these questions is to do some or all of the following -

1. Conduct a Google search for the degree you are seeking. Find out which schools offer this degree. Locate some reputed schools especially Ivy league schools. Visit their websites and read about their programs. They will usually mention what their curriculum covers and what sort of jobs it prepares you for. Look at their alumni information if given. See where they are employed and their profiles. Also look at the faculty. Visit the web pages of the faculty and study their student profiles/research interests etc. This will give an idea of the sort of work you will be doing upon graduation. One school that has a lot of programs in Health Management, Hospital Management, Public Health etc. is the Johns Hopkins University. Visit their website and see what information they offer.

2. Visit some websites and discussion boards meant for people in your prospective field of study. Interact with them and ask your questions. Try About.com or Wikipedia. They might link you to other useful websites.

3. Meet and talk to faculty advisors. Ask all your questions without hesitation. If possible ask them to help you get in touch with their students, both current and past. Email them and ask your questions.

4. Post your queries on Yahoo Answers. Out of the deluge of deviants, sometimes you will receive really helpful answers from people who are working in that domain.

5. Many universities have Indian Students Associations. You can find their email IDs under the departments or campus organization lists on a school's website. Email people and ask for information. Most people will be very helpful. This is what I did when I applied for my MS program.

6. Visit job sites like Monster and Yahoo HotJobs and search for job opportunities in your field. Try various keyword combinations. Read the job profile and see what those companies are looking for. Visit the company website and read about their work and hiring practices.

I know this seems like a lot but most people walk into a school with their eyes closed and then halfway through the program they realize that they didn't want to be doing this after all. Know your options beforehand and finding a job will become that much easier. As they say forewarned is forearmed!

H1B's are sponsored for pretty much any field where the employer can show that sufficient in-country talent is not available. Health services definitely qualify under this criteria and I do know some people who are working in the health domain on H1Bs. In fact some health related jobs qualify as critical to national interest and are exempt from the H1B quota. I cannot tell you offhand which ones but I know that such jobs exist. I will try to get you more information about this. Here too searching for job profiles on job sites can help. All employers clearly state whether they will sponsor a visa for that job. This will help you gauge how many opportunities exist in your field of study.

If you have any more queries, do let me know.

 

Yes your recommenders will have to write a letter for each school, seal it and mail it. A good idea is to send them a packet with prestamped envelopes and mailing addresses so that they can just print the letters and send them out. Another option is to get them to print the letters and seal them in blank envelopes. After that you can put them in your application for each university. If you are doing everything online and your school accepts emailed recos then just ask them to email it to the correct address. In my case my references were my old engineering school teachers. So they each wrote one reference letter for me. Printed out as many copies as I needed, added the schools name and their signatures. Then the college registrar sealed them for me and I just added the recos to my mailing packet.

You or your parents will have to take the forms to your engineering college and ask them to fill it out and seal it. I am sure many students from your college must have applied for MS or MBA and your college staff must be familiar with the idea of a transcript. It is a tedious and time consuming job and your poor parents will have to do a lot of back and forth for you, but that is the only way to get it done.

I still remember when I was trying to get my official transcripts from the Pune University the damn registrar used to make me wait all afternoon and then disappear on the pretext of tea and never come back. It took me two weeks of up and down to catch him and get him to sign and seal my transcripts. All this bureaucratic work is very painful in India but there is no simple solution. The only good thing is that if you pester them enough they do get the job done