I'm an undergrad at Dartmouth (sophomore year) and I'm doing a double major in econ and engsci. I'm currently eyeing a winter IBD internship. I've been advised to save at-least 9 months of OPT time to avoid getting screwed over by the H1B lottery, but that would mean I'd only have ONE internship under my belt for the 5 years I'll be here. Now, as I see it, there's only 3 paths I can take. Dartmouth won't let me use my CPT and won't give me internship credits, so I'm in a tough spot.
1) Deplete my OPT and apply for a masters program, getting an additional 12 months. I'd manage to squeeze 3 or even 4 internships, and since I'm at Dart, I'd be able to get into the engineering or engineering management masters program (without a GRE score for the MEM). The MEM doesn't seem to show any BB FO IBD placements though so I have no idea how either of these programs fare on the street. Additionally, I could also apply to the MFin program at MIT and Princeton, and engineering masters programs at other prestigious schools (which is not at all guaranteed in any form).
2) Try and get a STEM extension for my OPT (unlikely).
3) Do internships abroad. I'm not from Europe/NA so this might be easier said than done and getting a work permit would be a nightmare. I also have no idea if companies recruit for internships abroad at my university.
If any of you can give me any advice on what to do if you've ever been in a similar situation, I'd really appreciate it. What should I do?
Why won't they let you use your CPT? Is it because your major is not directly related to IB? Usually schools are not very stringent in this regard; try to talk to your advisors again to see if they can work with you. If CPT is absolutely not an option, you could either get an unpaid internship in the US (no need for CPT/OPT), intern abroad, or get a STEM degree for the OPT extension (the best course of action in my opinion).
Currently, I wouldn't touch the OPT until I graduate (for the few firms that do sponsor, not having the full 12 months would be an immediate deal-breaker).
Been there. You don't TRY to get STEM OPT. your major code in your I-20 has to be in the list of STEM majors qualifying for the extension. If it is, you get the extension, if not, you dont. Is your major code on I20 based on the engsci major? I know people who double major in econ and engineering that have listed code qualify for the extension. If not just switch to a similar major that is on the STEM major list. It's not worth doing a masters right away. It's wise to save the masters in case you fail the lottery all of the times while on stem extension, so that you can get another opt and extension by going back for masters. I strongly recommend you change your major to something on STEM list if it's not.
Easiest way is to do internships abroad. It's really common for schools that don't allow CPT. I went to one of these and they flat out say that undergrads cannot do CPT, absolutely no exceptions. Lots of international students, including myself, intern abroad after sophomore year and only use OPT for junior year summer. Some do unpaid internships during the year without reporting, which is technically illegal I think, but people do it. For the ivies, I know that Brown, Penn, and maybe Princeton? allow you to use CPT for internships, while Columbia, Yale, and I guess Dartmouth, don't. It sucks that you miss out on some cool opportunities, but you do want 9+ months of OPT left by the time you graduate even with potential extension just to be safe. I used 2.5 months of OPT junior year summer and working a full time job now waiting for next lottery.
My engineering science major is eligible for the STEM extension, but sadly, IB isn't classified under e-Verify so basically my desired employers are the reason I can't get the extension. Would you happen to know anyone in particular who managed to get the extension for IB? It'd help reasoning with my university's office.
Also, if you don't mind me asking, which country did you intern in? I'd love working in London, HK, etc. but my citizenship is absolutely useless, so I'm worried the work permit might be tricky.
What do you mean IB isn't classified under e-verify? e-verify applies to the entire company and not specific role. Pretty sure every major bank is an e-verify employer. You are technically supposed to work for something directly related to your major during STEM extension so maybe that's what you're talking about, but there's a lot of flexibility in how that is defined. I don't currently work in banking so don't personally know people using the extension for IB, but heard of of people who have. You can do some research and just need to convince the school I guess.
I interned in my home country, but I also interviewed for/got offers for positions in HK, Singapore and London; BB's and large companies in those places often sponsor visas, and look pretty good on your resume. All the interviews I got for HK and Singapore offices of BB IB were from online applications without any networking and that's pretty common unlike the US. Some banks in HK do prefer Mandarin speakers but I got plenty of interviews without being one and my citizenship didn't matter.
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