Part Time jobs Do's and Dont's Part 2.

Q: Look, my parents and I are spending a lot of money on my college here. So before I even accept an admission, I need to know my chances of getting a job after graduation. How do I ensure this?
A: This is a good time to be in academia. The US economy might recover by the time u finish ur studies. So try not to finish in 3 sems. If u r doing thesis MS, take it thru the 4 sems. If u get admission into a well known univ, ur chances of a job are higher, BUT NOT GUARANTEED. But my belief is that no one can predict the US job market. It takes some effort to apply online for jobs. A lot of my friends from India all have jobs now after MS. Some are doing PhD and applying for jobs at same time.

Q: Is the thesis option for MS better for job?
A: Not only for job but its overall better.

Q: If i had work experience in India, does that help?
A: For prof funding it doesnt, but for full-time job it does. U just have to phrase ur self well when u describe the job so that u show u r a responsible job seeker.

Q: Wait, how do I phrase myself? whats that even supposed to mean?
A: let see an example: Suppose Ford seems interested in u coz of ur academics u put on ur resume at career fair or online. Now when they look at the experience section of ur resume, if they see:

Mahindra Automative Engineer: project was to improve the fuel effeciency of a new hybrid vehicle. Worked with Mr. Y. Project involved team of 10 ppl. and blah..blah abut the project

But what Ford wants to know is what YOU did on the project. So re-word ur resume and ur speech by saying what u did. You could say "I analzyed the field data for fuel consumption, I initiated 3 reports, I performed thermal analysis."
Its all about "I", "myself" and ",me". You have to blow ur own horn. Thats what these goras do. Get used to it.

Q: You talk about me doing the effort to go to career fairs, meetings, resume workshops, etc etc,. Did you forget that I have 3 classes and they all have assignments, projects and exams?
A: Nope, I did not forget. When u arrive here, one of the things u have to learn and pick up is time management. At first it may seem overewhelming, but trust me, with the right attitude, u will be fine in no time.

Q: What do you mean "right attitude"?
A: There are 2 kinds of ppl who come to the US> One kind is the person who wants to live the same way he did in India. The other kind is the person who wants to adapt to the US work styles.
What i mean is, dont try to make USA like India. thats never gonna work and u will get frustrated. Instead pick up the work habits of the americans. Dont pick up their culture, just their work ethics. If you get used to it, u will be able to become proficient in doing ur studies, applying for jobs and funding at the same time and still have some time for pav bhajii, chole, chai etc etc with friends.

Can you elaborate on working style of Americans?
A: In the workforce they work hard 9 to 5, then totally not do anything work-related on weeknds.
In college, they tend to want to underastand something, not mug it up. Generally they will try to get as much as they can get while studying. They will mostly say "can u show me how to solve it?" rather than "can u show me the answer".
Mostly they pay attention to the little details. Sometimes thye also like to leave stuff for the last minute like u and I do . But copying and plagirising is a no-no for them.
My intl' student advisor at penn state told me that in general, Americans dont like being taken for a ride or being made a fool of. They prefer if u admit ur mistake no matter how much scrwed up it may be. Trust me, those guys make more dumb mistakes than we would. They also love to party hard on weekends unless an exam is next week.
Keep in mind that they dont like (i found this firsthand) to discuss their grades or how many marks they got in ur exam. They follow the 'personal space' funda. Grades n stuff r generally personal. But there are ppl who r willing to share their personal info if u r good friends.
The location of the univ makes a difference. A college like NJIT isnt in the best parts of town, so u may find more aloof students. Whereas in central Pennsylvanai or Virginia or Maryland, I wud say its a much better crowd.
Q: Is it true that Spring students CANNOT apply for summer 2010 interships?
A: Unfortunately, that is true. Spring students can only apply for internships or co-ops in Dec 2010 or later. Fall 2009 students can apply for summer.
Reason is, the rules say:
1. U can apply for intership as an F1 only if u have
(a) One year of lawful presence in the US
OR
(b) 18 credits earned in college ( I'[m not sure if its 18, but its def not 9 or 10 credits).

Why Fall students can get internships?
(a) Since they have completed 2 sems (fall 09 and spring 10), they will have 9 credits per sem at least, so they will have the 18 credits required.

Spring students will take 3 courses in spring 2010 sem so they will have approx 9 or 10 credits, so that will not make them eligible for internships in summer.

Q What if I am not getting funded right now ( during the admit) and expecting to get funded in the second sem I happily take the admit. And what shld one do if we are not funded in the second sem to??/ Will the part time jobs salary be good enough to pay for the second sem. Or else do we need to again take the money from our parents which would be like little embarrassing (I hope evry one knws what I mean).
Answer: Well, we gotta make sure what we mean by "expecting to get" . Its hard to generalize this answer. But part time jobs can pay for living expenses, not for tuition fee. Like I said before, you can only work 20 hrs a week while school is in session. I would suggest taking a loan for your education anyway. If u get funding well and good.

Q How is the education system over there.??? Is it something like the south indian educational system where students literally mug up and get marks. Or is it with full fundas?
Answer: I think I answered this question already when I talked about working style of americans. But in short, no mugging,.... if u dont understand the material, then u r screwed in the exams :D . But the system is such that u have to study everyday to keep up. U cant expect to laze around (like we did in india) and then mug up for finals. The finals may be worth only 20% of ur grade, but the homeworks and project account for 50% or more of your grade. So u gotta pay attention to those hws coz the exams are very similar to hws. And remember that in grad classes, YOUR instructor sets the paper, NOT the univ. So basically if he didnt teach u siomething or talk about it, he cant put that on his exam. And since u have him for classes, u will know the style of his/her exams.

Q Supposing that we get funded for some research project, what's the worse case that we get kicked out from there. ??? ( I have gud projects under my belt, but the technology they use, it keeps me wondering abt am I good enough???
A: In short, once u r funded unless u really screw things up, u will still have ur funding for the next 2 yrs. Dont worry, they give u enuf time to prove urself. They first give u easy stuff to do and it might frustrate u, but they are testing tio see how much of a worker u are. So as long as u know ur theory , the technology u will learn for SURE!