International Student with no job experience and no job offer nearing graduation.

Are you an international student in the US who is struggling to get a job offer while your friends are bagging top offers? Yes, I was one of them.

I moved to the US at the age of 17 to pursue my undergrad at UMass Amherst. At 17, I had no clue about what I wanted to pursue as a career. I bounced off from one major to another. I started with Engineering moved to Biology (Pre-Med) the first week, then Econ and Math to finally Computer Science.

Engineering → Biology(pre-med) → Econ/Math → Computer Science.

To say that I was confused/lost would be an understatement. Going to a liberal college exposed me to different fields and I enjoyed them all but I decided to end up with CS. I had made this decision in my Junior year two years to late as some might say but I didn’t give up. I front loaded on classes so that I could finish my degree within the remaining two years.

Nearing graduation I had a shocking realization, I missed out on scoring myself an internship. In earnest I delayed my graduation to Fall (added an extra semester). NOTE: It is important that you get you i-20 updated otherwise you lose your legal status in the US.

I spent the summer looking for a co-op, luckily I scored one too but my university failed to provide a CPT for me to pursue the opportunity. Although disappointed I was not deterred because I knew I would do what it takes to be in this country. In my…