It's tough to study abroad

Most students dream to go to the United States of America to pursue higher studies. Rosy as it may seem, many know that it’s not easy to get into the American universities. Even if one has a good academic record and is selected by the college there, the visa-related troubles are hard to get by. So most students start preparing months in advance.

However, the students of certain clinical courses like pharmacy and medicine, face more problems than the others when it comes to applying in American universities. Though it’s not impossible to get admission, these students have a tougher time than the others simply because of the nature of their courses. 

A student of pharmacy, Vrinda aspires to do her further studies in the USA. “Students of pharmacy may face difficulty in getting a visa since their course is related to drugs. Besides, the masters programme in the US is highly clinical where as our course is more industrial,” she says. “Also some American universities prefer a five year undergraduation in pharmacy and our course is just four years.

It’s only recently that the DPharm course was introduced. It is a six-year doctorate course in pharmacy which can be pursued at the undergraduation level,” she adds.
Hrishikesh Shinde, who recently completed his course in chemical engineering from M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology, is all set to go to the US to pursue his masters in the same.

“I haven’t booked my visa yet so I still don’t know if I will face any problem. So far, it’s been a smooth process,” he says. “But I have heard that chemical engineering students face problems due to the nature of their course,” he adds.

Another chemical engineering student, Rahul, will be going to the US in August to pursue a masters in aerospace engineering. “Certain engineering courses are a little delicate and the US government monitors the students of these courses who have applied there.

That’s because it’s a question of safe immigrants. However, these problems arise only in the latter part of the application process,” he says. “In my case, more than the nature of my course, I faced problems because of the huge jump I had made from chemical to aerospace engineering. So I had to do certain research and show them,” he adds.

It’s not really a disadvantage, feels Rajeev, an office manager working with Study Overseas, an education consultancy. “Many Western countries are a bit apprehensive when they get internationally registered students for clinical courses like medicine, dentistry, physiotherapy, pharmacy etc.

These are basically courses which require a licence. Apart from the nature of the course, it’s also because they don’t consider our courses to be on a par  with theirs,” he says. “I have personally seen many dentists and physiotherapists getting refused despite obtaining a good score. And even if they do have an offer, the visas are difficult to obtain,” he adds.

According to him, the United Kingdon is more open than the US. “That’s why many students of clinical courses opt for a masters in a non clinical course in the USA and then pursue a shorter clinical course on the side,” he sums up.