I thought applying for an MBA was hard...  Clearly I hadn't simultaneously dealt with a financial institution, the US Department of Homeland Security, the Financial Aid office and the International Students Office at Columbia!

I thought applying for an MBA was hard...  Clearly I hadn't simultaneously dealt with a financial institution, the US Department of Homeland Security, the Financial Aid office and the International Students Office at Columbia!

Being an international student presents its own difficulties and when dealing with those groups above, people fall into one of two groups:

What I needed to get done...

To successfully get my visa for entry into the US, so I could start at Columbia, these 3 key steps need to be followed, in this order:

Now, if you do the maths, you will see that the process takes up to 10 weeks.  Now if you're planning a holiday, as I am, that's a long time to block away and also means I'm limited in my ability to travel, based on the consulate appointment.

Another issue is that from Step 1 (at least in my case), Citibank would not issue a conditional approval for the amount requested, until they received an I-20 form!  Unfortunately, an I-20 form can't be issued till you have a conditional approval letter!  I'm sure if I waited (I was assured by Financial Aid) that the right papers would come through.  Unfortunately, that also means waiting the full 10 week time-frame. 

Short-cutting the process

Thanks to some lovely people along the way, I was able to short cut the process down to about an estimated 5-6 weeks.  Having said that, I still haven't received my final visa yet, although things are looking rosy.

Firstly, for Step 1, I contacted Citibank on three occasions.  In the first instance, it was re-iterated that I needed an I-20 before they would issue a conditional approval letter.  On the second call, I spoke to someone who eventually understood my dilemma and so after discussion, agreed to send out a conditional approval letter with the dollar amount (a requirement for the I-20).  The letter came through, but still without the dollar amount!  I contacted Citibank again and then got a "Type 2" person (from the types I listed at the beginning).  However, they did insist that I was already credit approved, but could not tell me that in writing!  That was no help!  So, I settled on including a screen capture of my Citibank online account, showing the words "credit approved" and the amount that I had applied for.

With this information, I sent it through to the International Students Office (who manage the I-20 and visa process) and I spoke to a fantastic person, who not only said that that was sufficient (note that I had previously sent a conditional approval letter from Citibank, but it was insufficient, as it lacked a dollar-amount on it), but also she could process the paperwork for the I-20 on the same day!  What's more, she invited me to call back on the following day to request the details so I could apply for my visa interview.  Now, THAT'S service!

And as per instruction, I contacted the office the following day and received the necessary codes and numbers needed to apply for my visa interview at the consulate.  My visa interview is now booked for a few weeks from now and hopefully the I-20 should be sailing it's way across the Pacific to my home!

What about patience?

I'm guessing that if I was planning on staying in Australia all the way till July, I probably wouldn't have needed to shortcut the process.  But for me, and many other MBA-starters this year, we will be taking a holiday before we start our 2 years of pain.  The processes and systems should really support the global citizens that we are! 

As I mentioned in my opening, it was the people who really went beyond the call of duty to help me out, that helped speed up the process.  Of particular note is the International Students Office at Columbia Uni - they must see thousands of international students each year and probably understand the issues better than anyone else - in my case, they really helped out when I needed it.

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