Advantages of applying to MS / MBA for Summer term in US as International Student ?

Most of the international students apply for Fall or Spring when planning for MS or MBA admissions in US. It is the normal process and in fact, Fall admissions in US Universities has many advantages for TAs, RAs, Scholarships etc over Spring admissions. Most of the students do not even talk about summer term for applying because for the matter of fact that not every school accepts international students for Summer term. If you can plan Summer admissions in such universities, there are some advantages and I will explain about those in this article.

Enrollment requirements for Summer Term:

Summer is an optional term for most of the universities that follow Fall, Spring and Summer term format. What it means is, you do not need to necessarily take any classes even if you are a full time international student.  You have the option to take classes, but not mandatory. Also, you can take only one class if you like; there is no requirement for enrollment to be in full time status like 9 credits or 3 classes.

Advantages of Summer Admissions in US Schools :

There are advantages in few areas. I will break these down as sub sections for easy understanding and explanation. Before you read subsections, few things you need to know what are TA, RA and GA in US Universities and On campus Jobs .

Teaching Assistantships (TA), Research Assistantships (RA) and Graduate Assistantships(GA) Advantages :

If you do not know, TA is usually offered to someone who already have taken the same course or a similar course. Because of this reason, many seniors advise you that you will get funding in second semester because you have done some course work and will be eligible for TA in that courses or similar lower level courses. The trick here is, imagine if you come in Summer and take just one class that might have TA openings in Fall, you are one step ahead of everyone. You will be offered TA in Fall itself. In fact, you are just paying out of state tuition for just one class in summer and then getting funding in fall. Think about it.  Same situation is with RA. Professors usually give RA to students who have taken classes under them and proved to be talented by scoring an A or being good in class. If you are enrolled under a Professor who has Research Grants and you do well then you have chances of getting RA in Fall. Also, for GA,  depending on department sometimes they ask you to have some background in some classes, if you talk to such departments in summer and takes that classes, you will ge that in Fall.  You are one step ahead of everyone coming in Fall !

On campus jobs Advantages:

As you know the enrollment is optional in Summer, many international students work full time i.e., 40 hrs during break. The key thing is, they will have to switch back to 20 hrs or part time once the break ends. Imagine, you are there in summer and you know the seniors who work such 40 hrs in two different on campus jobs, you just talk to them and you get an on campus job in Fall. If you do not do well in class and do not get a TA at least you have high chances for On campus jobs. In all reality, because you come one semester ahead of regular Fall, you get to know the campus where jobs will be open in fall term and you can apply before anyone. You are one step ahead in terms of on campus jobs too…

Internships Advantages for next Spring :

Because you are ahead of everyone by a semester, you will be eligible for applying for internships in Spring term itself. You should have 9 months before you start working in CPT, but if you plan well, you can start working on CPT in February of next year.  It helps you do 3 full semesters of CPT and get 3 credits. Because some schools give only 1 credit for CPT for a term, coming in summer lets you take 3 terms of CPT and get full credits for CPT.

These are few advantages, but in all reality not all good schools offer summer admissions, if you can find a school that gives you admission for summer, you can reap some of the benefits as listed above. Also, it can be tricky to find good classes for summer…

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