Hi,
Yesterday I had a chance of going out with a few maters grad students and
recent grads to see places in DC incl www.ssvt.org . One was a recent grad in
Journalism from Salt Lake City , Utah though hailing originally from Salt Lake
City, Kolkata, India!! Our discussions nearly gave me a sour throat -so much to
talk. He had worked at UNI, Delhi and was a graduate of India's premeir IIMC
(Indian Inst. of Mass Communication) and was a scholarship cum TA recepient.
Currently i DC looking for a job.
Others were all IT/Telecom grad students as are most of my new room/house
mates all from big Indian cities . I am surprised how much they can afford to
spend on branded clothes , even cars (under $1000) but I imagine that since
Delhi and Mumbai have land prices equal to those of DC or New York they can
afford it -- alongwith paying tuition in full (28,000 USD or Rs14 lakhs) -from
own pocket or Indian student loans - a regular thing for their city folks I am
told - esp for programs in IT/ Telecom. A large number have no work experience
- straight here after bachelors degree in India (mostly non-IITs, noon RECs)
CALCULATIONS: I am told that even from lower rung US Univs like www.gmu.edu
or www.umd.edu telecom and IT grads get average pay packets of $60,000 per year
(95% get jobs within one year of graduation - inlc work visa sponsors) However,
many students are so confident of getting jobs fast that intend to apply for
H1B work visas within 9 weeks of graduation (strange system of allowing
graduation in December - most univs inlc Harvard allow general graduation in
June/May). Students can work in US for a Year on OPT visa but many choose to
just work 3 months get a job and sponsor and apply for the ever-shrinking visa
rate.
Even if they have to go back to India - I am told they can expect pay packets
of Rs 3 lakh per year atleast ($6,000) for a start. As you know one can live
well on $2000 pa in India. Still they can pay of the student loan of $30,000 in
a few years.
Ofcourse IITians etc can expect scholarships for PhD - just after bachelors
-like the one I met at Stanford Univ inside a bus shuttle (
http://cs.stanford.edu/People/phd_students ) - a grad from IIT Mumbai in CS.
But there are a lot of Indian students who have found workable calculations to
pay for their US IT/Telecom education.
Any comments?
Umesh
Umesh Sharma
Washington D.C.
1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
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